Washington DC Government Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Washington DC Government full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Steady job, lots of projects. Making a real difference

Cons – long hours, demanding deadlines. Politics can overshadow and delay goals

Advice to Senior Management – Share goals and objectives. Lots of talent but few voices are heard.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Washington DC Government full-time for more than a year

Pros – The work hours are respectable.

Cons – Not a lot of opportunity to advance. Too many salary increase freezes so it is difficult to earn more money.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Washington DC Government full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Stability and No late nights occur at this employer. They don't provide you a black berry and expect you to check mail. Overtime is not allowed.

Cons – No career growth at all. Training budgets slashed all over. Employees are the last priority for this employer!!

Advice to Senior Management – Please think of your employees. No pay increases in 5 years for MSS employees!!!
Senior Mgmt keeps making more demands and employees are always the last resource that is looked after.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Washington DC Government full-time

Pros – Higher than average salary for position. Close proximity to transit lines. Satisfactory benefits. Lots of opportunities to commiserate.

Cons – Poor management drives misplaced priorities. Angry "customers" openly threaten and abuse the staff with no consequences and instead receive rewards. Overly territorial and hierarchical system drives unethical, illegal, and illogical behavior. Rampant cronyism. Outdated or poorly calibrated equipment. A complete lack of organization. Unsanitary work spaces (rats, etc.). Protocol is largely nonexistent, but what does exist makes no sense and changes on a weekly basis. No one really knows anything, because so few protocols are ever written. Training consists of shadowing your co-workers; supervisors do not know even half of what your veteran co-workers know. Managers frequently bully their subordinates and run new employees out of the organization if they go against the grain. Socializing and charisma are considered more important than competence.

One worker was extremely tardy (3-4 hours late), took 2 hour lunches, and neglected her assignments; the supervisor just re-assigned the work and gave the staffer a perfect performance review as a reward for ordering and retrieving lunch for the office on a daily basis. Staffers known for producing high-quality work, on the other hand, are terminated prior to the end of their probationary period if management feels threatened or insecure. This happened at least 3 times in 3 years, keeping turnover and the number of staff vacancies quite high.

Advice to Senior Management – Replace inept managers with credentialed workers with leadership ability. Set reasonable priorities. Develop training and support for staff. Formalize and record logical protocols.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Washington DC Government full-time for more than a year

Pros – Paid on time and correct amount.

Cons – Stereotypes about DC gov are mostly true. They're trying to bring in new people to change that though.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop being cheap and hiring temporary employees so you won't have to give them benefits or leave. (Teacher's pet syndrome has allowed certain employees tenure who really don't deserve it.) Monitor your current employees and I'll bet you see where your problems are.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Washington DC Government full-time for less than a year

Pros – The position sounded stable when they asked me to interview and it was an involved process.

Cons – Work environment, disenchanted coworkers, terrible management, disorganized system, unhappy customers, inefficient, wasteful. Slow hiring process. Sketchy procurement activity.

Advice to Senior Management – Replace managers who don't know how to best utilize talent to prevent high turnover.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Washington DC Government

Pros – Job security in a bad economy is always a good thing.

Cons – Lack of funding for professional training and salary increases

Advice to Senior Management – It will be hard for DC government to keep qualified, motivated talent without offering regular raises and training opportunities.

Former Employee – worked at Washington DC Government

Pros – There many opportunities to gain further training, and to develop leadership skills. There were also a great deal of opportunities to work across agencies, and receive experience in other fields.

Cons – Smaller agencies may have limited advancement for employees, which makes it difficult to achieve some career expectations on may have.

Former Employee – worked at Washington DC Government

Pros – the position pays better than average salaries for giving basic skills and certifications.

Cons – you can lose you job for no cause. MSS serves at the pleasure of administration. If you could be a whistle blower they can you quickly.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Washington DC Government

Pros – Stability. Once you're past the 1 year probationary period, it takes an act of God to lose your job. A good quality in this economy.

Cons – There is little room for growth or advancement because people work there until death.

Advice to Senior Management – Hire and train managers to have leadership skills; not just technical competency.