Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities Employee Reviews about "work life balance"

Cons

I can't think of any real downsides.

Cons

Toxic environment, two faced, insensitive leadership. Double standards

Cons

Management is inconsistent throughout the organization, and that helps create pockets that are good to work in and pockets that present certain challenges. Make sure you have a sense of how your manager knows if things are going poorly or well, and how your manager engages with the people they manage. In my experience management was very removed from day-to-day work, and relied on secondhand input from a subset of the work group. Ask if folks seem to feel equally listened to, and if both issues and successes get attention. Try to talk with at least 3 folks you would be working with. Ask if your manager can provide specific, actionable feedback. Ask if management sets clear and reasonable expectations, and provides the resources you need to meet these expectations. In my experience, I saw several cases of people needing to spend 3-5 years convincing management to do something that was obviously needed. I also saw straightforward changes get stonewalled by shifting requirements. Ask about what kind of autonomy you would have to take initiative to improve things and what level of control management exerts. In my experience, taking initiative often ended up with effectively a ‘stay-in-your-lane’ response and made me feel like I would have been better off keeping my head down. In larger government workplaces, work roles are often carefully prescribed, and I think that applies here. Depending on your manager and role, there can be little allowance for professional development. Ask about 5 types of professional development employees have been allowed to do in the past year or two. It was hard to be allowed to do anything outside of taking the professional development classes offered internally. Learning new job functions is based on what management wanted you to learn, and is based on management saying its ok for someone to spend time training you and its ok for you to spend the time learning it. I saw a pattern across my department and other departments we worked with of forgetting what had been discussed and decided after hours of meetings discussing that decision.

Cons

Drama within the organization cam be too much.

Cons

As with any job, office politics can be a drag

Cons

Middle management jobs seem very challenging and political. Management seems out of touch with the needs of operations personnel.

Cons

No defined procedures, no clear training or career track, and also most people of color work as front line bus drivers, etc. Once you get into the regional administration offices it's increasingly white and male.

Cons

There are lots of politics to get through to get projects done just like any government organization. There has also been a lot of restructuring without good communication and this makes things confusing. There needs to be clear direction so project work and any decisions can be made.

Cons

The average employee age is 50 years old so it is not the best place for a young working professional.

Cons

The rarely promote from within. It just as difficult to move laterally as well. Lots of egos at the management level that get in the way of moving projects forward. Highly political atmosphere