US Department of Veterans Affairs FAQ

Pros

Federal employee benefits, 5 weeks paid time off for annual leave, additional generous leave for illness, federal pension, generous pay.

Cons

The Rocky Mountain Regional VA hospital is currently very poorly managed, and that has caused many problems. Inpatient RN morale is very, very low right now (3/2021).

Pros

Great for young families. Recession proof. Benefits package aside from pay is better than the private sector.

Cons

Difficult to move up. Difficult to get past HR.

Pros

Good pay, free ice, good a/c (gotta dig deep for the Pros)

Cons

Highly unprofessional environment. Contractors are marginalized and underutilized (very wasteful to pay people to do nothing for hours per week). Poor communication & collaboration: there is so much "documentation" that contains conflicting policy and is adhered to inconsistently. Causes rework (more waste). Watch out in Austin: if you're a contractor, you'll likely be walking a couple blocks from the parking lot in east Austin.

Advice to Management

Use your contractors! Why are you paying so much if they are just sitting there? And you're paying A LOT for them, if the salaries are still good after going through 3 subcontractors to staff the position. They are professionals, often with MUCH more REAL WORLD experience than government employees.

Pros

-Great retirement benefits -Competitive pay -Great options for health, vision, dental insurance -Amazing patient population

Cons

-Often understaffed -Weak union -Politics/bureaucratic -Under-resourced -Safety issues (regarding staffing- I am frequently charge nurse with up to 5 patients at a time) -80 hours per pay period. No on-call. No cancelled shifts. No flexing. (Six 12 hour shifts + one 8 hour shift, always) -No disability insurance for employees (broke my foot at home and they didn't allow me to do modified duty/made me burn through all my vacation/sick time)

Pros

Pay vcs card union discounts

Cons

Benefits are high they don’t offer paid maternity leave they don’t hire from within management is nasty to many deductions coming out of pay

Advice to Management

Stop showing favoritism