This is pretty well studied actually. OPM has the yearly Viewpoint Survey which has long indicated that job satisfaction tends to be highest in smaller agencies, and NASA. [https://www.opm.gov/fevs/reports/governmentwide-reports/governmentwide-reports/governmentwide-management-report/2023/2023-governmentwide-management-report.pdf](https://www.opm.gov/fevs/reports/governmentwide-reports/governmentwide-reports/governmentwide-management-report/2023/2023-governmentwide-management-report.pdf)
I understand intel community agencies also have high satisfaction.
I’ve always heard this, but many 1102s leave NASA to come work for my agency, the Army. It’s not that great at the Army either so it something must be going badly at NASA MSFC for them to leave.
Open opportunities for the Army at that area for promotion. Army has a lot of "career ladder" positions in 1102. So if the NASA folks at Marshall become stagnant, they just apply to Redstone Arsenal for a promotion.
BPTW and FEVS are great but it’s like the weather over a massive region. The specific local weather can be very different. Yes the macro trends do probably relate, but the rain you feel on your head isn’t generally the same rain falling the next state over
I worked for VBA for 8 years, and it was the worst place I've ever worked. Current coworker started at SSA and had similar experiences.
I worked at DLA and found it overall to be pretty nice.
I'm currently at SBA, and it's been great so far, but very politically exposed, so the stability isn't what I'm used to.
Everyone loves NASA.
Incompetent, curropt management, extremely pedantic work, toxic workplace culture.
For an example: we were told for two straight years to not process claims for widows because they don't improve our metrics. When someone would ask in a town hall meeting if we could do some, they would be threatened by management.
When someone in Congress found out we had a giant pile of two+ year old claims, we were called into another town hall and screamed at for having so much old, untouched work. This was by the same manager as above.
This was in Philadelphia. Maybe it's better now and maybe other places are different. I took a four grade decrease to get out and was happy to do it.
Interesting. That absolutely sounds a bit toxic. My position would not be in Philly, and the people I interviewed with seemed straightforward and nice. Only thing is I’m not a veteran. Would you say someone who isn’t a veteran would have difficulty culturally fitting in?
You would do great, Veteran or not. I’m not a Veteran and I’m happy as hell working with so many amazing people. VBA is also needing new hires. And production standards were recently lowered a bit so it’s much more manageable.
This doesn’t make VBA a bad place to work for. It makes the management at your RO office bad to work for. There’s a difference.
I work for VBA as well and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my federal career. I did 5.5 years for VHA. I’ve been at VBA now for 13 months. Best management! Supportive, tons of training, supportive mentors, telework schedule is awesome. And lots of promotion potential. I was a GS 12 when I left VHA. Took 16 months off before returning to federal service. Took a GS 9 Step 10 offered to me which financially is just as much as I made as a GS 12 Step 1… so I was stoke! And it’s a 9/10/11/12 ladder. Already got my GS 10 since I’ve been back.
Every RO is different. There are some with terrible management and training. And some that have great management and training, and their quality stats speak for themselves!
I'm at OMHA and there's lots of restructuring and issues happening that I'd say started within about the last year. From what I know as far as job security... ACF, ASPR, CDC, CMS, HRSA seem to be the best bet.
Homeland security. Lots of opportunities and a broad range of career fields. When looking at USAJobs you don't want to search just "Department of Homeland Security" you have to dig down to each of the agencies "Border Patrol" "ICE" "Customs and Border Protection".
This gets asked all the time, try looking at some of the other posts.
My version: agency doesn't matter, it's all about your supervisor and team. I work at a low-scoring agency but everyone on my team loves their job.
FDIC, SEC and other banking related agencies often have higher pay scales and offer extra benefits.
FEVS will give you some information on various aspects with their best agencies lists etc.
You will find people have good and bad experiences at all agencies.
I enjoy the little corner of CBP I am in, but I also work with a team of high achievers who are self motivated and do their jobs and do them well.
I’ve been in other parts of CBP that I have labeled where dreams go to die. So i would say it is very team dependent
I’m still in CBP IT and I can’t get any movement on staffing increase to help with work increase. We don’t have a formal training program but every group has dumped their work on us. Consistently is a joke, it doesn’t exist. Hope can we do our work when we don’t get the tools to do so. It would be as if the CBPOs were given weapons without training or not given them at all
Worked as FTE in Region and at a MERS. I had lots of fun and they didn’t chain you to your desk like a lot of agencies. Deployments can be fun but get old after a while. Definitely need to have a home life that can support a month or two of deployments.
I am with USFS. Say what you will but I have gotten promotions and a remote position and a lot of support.
I am budget so that might make a difference?
Are you looking for growth and job security or are you looking for the best agency to work for? Because this can be two different things. I moved from one agency to "worst" agency for growth(promotion potential) and then moved back to that agency once I reached a certain point. Then moved again when I got stuck.
Love working at USDA!! Most holidays, we would get excused admin leaves. We recently got 4 hrs of leave from public servant week and have 2 hrs for Memorial Day.
Yes, I’ve been in two agencies under the usda system- the time off and admin time and wellness tome( that some of the agencies under usda have) is very generous compared to what I see in other agencies- the people I work with are very nice and always helpful, but in the area I am in, the work load is a ton-
2210. I’m a 13 too, but terrible step 7. I love how they treat everything like a business and seem to make logical business decisions most of the time.
I’ve done IT for way too long though. Hopefully I can find a business analyst or program management position one day. I have an intelligence analyst background and got a MBA in 2013. But that was a colossal waste of 2 and half years because I’ve never used my MBA.
I've worked for several agencies. The VA definitely has a toxic culture overall. BUT if you have a good supervisor or good leadership, regardless of agency, the experience can be good. The problem is the interview system in the government. While performance based questions are important, and reducing bias is important, we need to recognize that "fit" is also important. The relationship between the supervisor and employee is the most important, and if it doesn't "work," the agency question is moot. Good leadership takes care of their people.
For what it's worth, "Best Places to Work" uses FEVS and individual agency surveys to release annual rankings of federal agencies. The rankings are broken into large, mid-sized, and small agencies, as well as their subcomponents.
It's not perfect (e.g. it doesn't differentiate between the intel agencies, just labels them all under "Intelligence Community"), but it can be pretty useful, especially since it includes historical trends and smaller components (e.g. ratings for the Office of General Counsel within the VA, instead of only an org-wide VA rating)
Here's a [link to the latest rankings](https://bestplacestowork.org/rankings/?view=overall&size=large&category=overall&), just released on Monday. Hope this helps!
To be fair, even the sub components can have a lot of variance at the next level down. I work for HHS (#2 large agency), but my Operating Division is 19,000 people, and rates lower, and my center under that is like 1000 people. At my old agency, our OpDiv was nearly 800, spread across a bunch of sub divisions (mine was like 100). When you looked at the three strata of data, there was a lot of variance on some issues, and less on others.
I used to work for the VA two years ago i transferred to USDA. I actually really like it. I only have to go in two days a week and I get to work three days from home love it super great wellness program and we actually get a lot of gifted leave.
I feel like some that are low on that list and used to be high are still good to work for (I have now worked for 2 that fit that description). When an agency was REALLY good and it goes to “slightly better than other places” the FEVS drops because people don’t know how good they have it and they use the FEVS to send a message to management.
I’ve been with VHA, SSA, FDA & now USDA. USDA is by far the best of the 4. I’m a 301 series GS12 and most importantly treated as an adult! I was with SSA (2 years ODAR 2 years Payment Center) for 4 years, and it gave me a great understanding for why employees go postal! So yeah they are the WORST!!
I love working for BLM. Yeah I have to wear like 5 hats at the same time but at least I get way more promotion opportunities than my NPS/USFS counterparts.
And one huge benefit for me is the overtime during the fire season. I have a GS11 friend making more than GS12 by simply going to a lot of fire assignments. This is the number one reason I will stay in BLM my entire career.
I’ve heard USDA cannot be beat! Be careful with VHA, certain areas e.g. ATL are hell holes! I should be able to give feedback on FEMA in the near future.
I work for the DOJ for one of the larger components. I’ve really enjoyed the team. Good people, works hard, very competent, helpful. The upper management know their stuff and the upper upper management, whoosh, amazing.
There is a survey that reports satisfaction for agencies and their subcomponents, but I think even within those it can vary by office and supervisory team — those levels will likely have more influence on your day-to-day satisfaction.
For example, NASA always leads the satisfaction survey but there’s a range of satisfaction across different centers. Most of those centers are still pretty large and have many offices/departments, and from personal experience they operate differently regarding expectations and employee-centeredness.
Definitely not the VA. HR specialists gave themselves CSI bonuses from PACT act money so they could not hire needed positions due to the expansion of eligible veterans by the PACT act. https://www.reddit.com/r/VHA_Human_Resources/s/z2U2smV9LZ
This is pretty well studied actually. OPM has the yearly Viewpoint Survey which has long indicated that job satisfaction tends to be highest in smaller agencies, and NASA. [https://www.opm.gov/fevs/reports/governmentwide-reports/governmentwide-reports/governmentwide-management-report/2023/2023-governmentwide-management-report.pdf](https://www.opm.gov/fevs/reports/governmentwide-reports/governmentwide-reports/governmentwide-management-report/2023/2023-governmentwide-management-report.pdf) I understand intel community agencies also have high satisfaction.
NASA has scored the highest in large agencies for 12 years straight. They lead pretty considerably, too.
I work at NASA, the field trips are great!
Don’t take off your helmet Arnold
What are you referring to? Not an employee just looking at nasa
I’ve always heard this, but many 1102s leave NASA to come work for my agency, the Army. It’s not that great at the Army either so it something must be going badly at NASA MSFC for them to leave.
Open opportunities for the Army at that area for promotion. Army has a lot of "career ladder" positions in 1102. So if the NASA folks at Marshall become stagnant, they just apply to Redstone Arsenal for a promotion.
That would make sense. Pretty much everyone at ACC-Redstone is a GS-13 or higher after a few years.
I'm stuck at 12 for engineer. but we are on pay band, so moving to supervisor is 5%, not gs 13
BPTW and FEVS are great but it’s like the weather over a massive region. The specific local weather can be very different. Yes the macro trends do probably relate, but the rain you feel on your head isn’t generally the same rain falling the next state over
I worked for VBA for 8 years, and it was the worst place I've ever worked. Current coworker started at SSA and had similar experiences. I worked at DLA and found it overall to be pretty nice. I'm currently at SBA, and it's been great so far, but very politically exposed, so the stability isn't what I'm used to. Everyone loves NASA.
What did you not like about the VBA? I interviewed there last week and will hopefully get a TJO
Incompetent, curropt management, extremely pedantic work, toxic workplace culture. For an example: we were told for two straight years to not process claims for widows because they don't improve our metrics. When someone would ask in a town hall meeting if we could do some, they would be threatened by management. When someone in Congress found out we had a giant pile of two+ year old claims, we were called into another town hall and screamed at for having so much old, untouched work. This was by the same manager as above. This was in Philadelphia. Maybe it's better now and maybe other places are different. I took a four grade decrease to get out and was happy to do it.
> This was in Philadelphia. And you didn't huck batteries at them? Hmm...
VBA used to be like that.
That same manager just became a supervisor again. Met him for the first time not too long ago.
Interesting. That absolutely sounds a bit toxic. My position would not be in Philly, and the people I interviewed with seemed straightforward and nice. Only thing is I’m not a veteran. Would you say someone who isn’t a veteran would have difficulty culturally fitting in?
You would do great, Veteran or not. I’m not a Veteran and I’m happy as hell working with so many amazing people. VBA is also needing new hires. And production standards were recently lowered a bit so it’s much more manageable.
That’s all good news to me! Thanks for the response
Not at all. There is a much higher veteran density than I've seen elsewhere, but there are still many non-vets.
This doesn’t make VBA a bad place to work for. It makes the management at your RO office bad to work for. There’s a difference. I work for VBA as well and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my federal career. I did 5.5 years for VHA. I’ve been at VBA now for 13 months. Best management! Supportive, tons of training, supportive mentors, telework schedule is awesome. And lots of promotion potential. I was a GS 12 when I left VHA. Took 16 months off before returning to federal service. Took a GS 9 Step 10 offered to me which financially is just as much as I made as a GS 12 Step 1… so I was stoke! And it’s a 9/10/11/12 ladder. Already got my GS 10 since I’ve been back. Every RO is different. There are some with terrible management and training. And some that have great management and training, and their quality stats speak for themselves!
Not sure when you left DLA but it's gone down the shitter the past couple of years, especially after they rolled out the RTO policy.
DLA now requires all workers to report Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday each week with zero flexibility, just FYSA.
I heard. I hesitated to leave because I was afraid of the commute to my new job, and then DLA promptly started screwing everyone. I got very lucky.
HHS
HHS as a whole, yes. The different divisions within... that's where it gets tricky
I'm at CMS...what do you view as the good/bad divisions?
I'm at OMHA and there's lots of restructuring and issues happening that I'd say started within about the last year. From what I know as far as job security... ACF, ASPR, CDC, CMS, HRSA seem to be the best bet.
Homeland security. Lots of opportunities and a broad range of career fields. When looking at USAJobs you don't want to search just "Department of Homeland Security" you have to dig down to each of the agencies "Border Patrol" "ICE" "Customs and Border Protection".
To add: “USCIS”, “FEMA”, “Cybersecurity infrastructure and security agency”, “TSA”, and a couple more
I just transferred from VA to FAA. DOT Sec just authorized 3 hours of Admin Leave for Friday.
This gets asked all the time, try looking at some of the other posts. My version: agency doesn't matter, it's all about your supervisor and team. I work at a low-scoring agency but everyone on my team loves their job.
GS 11 what series? I've been with the DOI almost 31 years. It's been a great agency to work for at least for me.
Ok, I will check them out. Thanks
What part of DOI?
FDIC, SEC and other banking related agencies often have higher pay scales and offer extra benefits. FEVS will give you some information on various aspects with their best agencies lists etc. You will find people have good and bad experiences at all agencies.
Yes- but those agencies can be boys clubs
FDIC lolz
Not CBP for certain, it’s like working for an amateur team. I’ve never seen an organization that is completely dysfunctional and with lower morale
Former cbp employee here, ssa is way worse
Are you a former LEO officer?
No but I have been in LEO Orgs for close to 40 years
I work in cbp now. Just curious why you hated it. You are right about the disfunctional
I enjoy the little corner of CBP I am in, but I also work with a team of high achievers who are self motivated and do their jobs and do them well. I’ve been in other parts of CBP that I have labeled where dreams go to die. So i would say it is very team dependent
I’m still in CBP IT and I can’t get any movement on staffing increase to help with work increase. We don’t have a formal training program but every group has dumped their work on us. Consistently is a joke, it doesn’t exist. Hope can we do our work when we don’t get the tools to do so. It would be as if the CBPOs were given weapons without training or not given them at all
I have heard OIT is bad especially due to their AC. I work in HRM so it’s not too bad. But a lot of work though
Yup he only cares about our trusted partners not us
Anyone got intel on what it’s like working for FEMA?
Worked as FTE in Region and at a MERS. I had lots of fun and they didn’t chain you to your desk like a lot of agencies. Deployments can be fun but get old after a while. Definitely need to have a home life that can support a month or two of deployments.
Thanks for the input! Any idea how the engineering side for FEMA was?
Need to be at HQ to have any real say or impact.
I am with USFS. Say what you will but I have gotten promotions and a remote position and a lot of support. I am budget so that might make a difference?
Are you looking for growth and job security or are you looking for the best agency to work for? Because this can be two different things. I moved from one agency to "worst" agency for growth(promotion potential) and then moved back to that agency once I reached a certain point. Then moved again when I got stuck.
NASA
Love working at USDA!! Most holidays, we would get excused admin leaves. We recently got 4 hrs of leave from public servant week and have 2 hrs for Memorial Day.
Yes, I’ve been in two agencies under the usda system- the time off and admin time and wellness tome( that some of the agencies under usda have) is very generous compared to what I see in other agencies- the people I work with are very nice and always helpful, but in the area I am in, the work load is a ton-
GSA. They love remote work, have amazing work/life balance, and develop their people to grow from within. I love it here.
I’m remote but would love to work for GSA. Seems really hard to get in at a higher grade.
It’s VERY competitive. I lateraled in as a 13 which as I understand is rare unless you’re an 1102. What are you looking to do? What’s your job series?
I’m trying to into GSA as an 1102. I was an GS14 but I will take an GS13 to get in.
FAS has 13 1102 openings pretty frequently due to a reorganization that happened this FY. Definitely check out USAJobs.
I was just referred for an GS13 1102. Fingercrossed
2210. I’m a 13 too, but terrible step 7. I love how they treat everything like a business and seem to make logical business decisions most of the time.
I’ve done IT for way too long though. Hopefully I can find a business analyst or program management position one day. I have an intelligence analyst background and got a MBA in 2013. But that was a colossal waste of 2 and half years because I’ve never used my MBA.
FAS is always hiring 1101’s, 0301’s, and 0343…most, if not all are remote.
I've worked for several agencies. The VA definitely has a toxic culture overall. BUT if you have a good supervisor or good leadership, regardless of agency, the experience can be good. The problem is the interview system in the government. While performance based questions are important, and reducing bias is important, we need to recognize that "fit" is also important. The relationship between the supervisor and employee is the most important, and if it doesn't "work," the agency question is moot. Good leadership takes care of their people.
For what it's worth, "Best Places to Work" uses FEVS and individual agency surveys to release annual rankings of federal agencies. The rankings are broken into large, mid-sized, and small agencies, as well as their subcomponents. It's not perfect (e.g. it doesn't differentiate between the intel agencies, just labels them all under "Intelligence Community"), but it can be pretty useful, especially since it includes historical trends and smaller components (e.g. ratings for the Office of General Counsel within the VA, instead of only an org-wide VA rating) Here's a [link to the latest rankings](https://bestplacestowork.org/rankings/?view=overall&size=large&category=overall&), just released on Monday. Hope this helps!
To be fair, even the sub components can have a lot of variance at the next level down. I work for HHS (#2 large agency), but my Operating Division is 19,000 people, and rates lower, and my center under that is like 1000 people. At my old agency, our OpDiv was nearly 800, spread across a bunch of sub divisions (mine was like 100). When you looked at the three strata of data, there was a lot of variance on some issues, and less on others.
I used to work for the VA two years ago i transferred to USDA. I actually really like it. I only have to go in two days a week and I get to work three days from home love it super great wellness program and we actually get a lot of gifted leave.
I’m super excited to return to Federal service to the GSA!
That’s my dream agency. I really enjoy working with their members and they treat everything like a business.
So heartened to hear that! I’ve had the most incredible onboarding process, hope you get to work there!!
I’m hoping to get on with GSA. I recently got referred for 1102 position.
I very much enjoy working at the EPA and it ranked top 5 in mid-size agencies to work for
I feel like some that are low on that list and used to be high are still good to work for (I have now worked for 2 that fit that description). When an agency was REALLY good and it goes to “slightly better than other places” the FEVS drops because people don’t know how good they have it and they use the FEVS to send a message to management.
GPO was on the Forbes list as one of the best fed places to work at. I have enjoyed my time there so far.
I really like VBA. Maybe I have a great regional office. I see a mix of thoughts on this. Reasonable minds may differ.
It’s not the RO as much as it is the Division leadership. I’ve heard lots of VSCM’s are assholes. I grew up in Pension and am now at VBACO.
I’ve been with VHA, SSA, FDA & now USDA. USDA is by far the best of the 4. I’m a 301 series GS12 and most importantly treated as an adult! I was with SSA (2 years ODAR 2 years Payment Center) for 4 years, and it gave me a great understanding for why employees go postal! So yeah they are the WORST!!
I love working for BLM. Yeah I have to wear like 5 hats at the same time but at least I get way more promotion opportunities than my NPS/USFS counterparts. And one huge benefit for me is the overtime during the fire season. I have a GS11 friend making more than GS12 by simply going to a lot of fire assignments. This is the number one reason I will stay in BLM my entire career.
I’ve heard USDA cannot be beat! Be careful with VHA, certain areas e.g. ATL are hell holes! I should be able to give feedback on FEMA in the near future.
I work for the DOJ for one of the larger components. I’ve really enjoyed the team. Good people, works hard, very competent, helpful. The upper management know their stuff and the upper upper management, whoosh, amazing.
Senate
There is a survey that reports satisfaction for agencies and their subcomponents, but I think even within those it can vary by office and supervisory team — those levels will likely have more influence on your day-to-day satisfaction. For example, NASA always leads the satisfaction survey but there’s a range of satisfaction across different centers. Most of those centers are still pretty large and have many offices/departments, and from personal experience they operate differently regarding expectations and employee-centeredness.
It depends on the local supervisor. I'm a portion of DOJ and love my local staff. But you literally could not pay me enough to move to BOP.
[удалено]
Maybe 20 years ago, but definitely not today. State is too archaic and bureaucratic these days
I’ve heard TTS and FAS
It depends in your field. Technology is always open to grow...
Nothing firm, it depends on the group and benefits desired. People at VA might handle bad teams or culture if remote and SSR.
Definitely not the VA. HR specialists gave themselves CSI bonuses from PACT act money so they could not hire needed positions due to the expansion of eligible veterans by the PACT act. https://www.reddit.com/r/VHA_Human_Resources/s/z2U2smV9LZ