Ok, first off these are not my rankings but instead actually come from The Best Places to Work Rankings. So basically don’t shoot the messenger.
We’ll do this countdown style so lets start with numero 5.
5) National Archives and Records Administration – This one blows my
mind. I’ve seen National Treasure 1 and 2 and treasure hunting and
curating seems rather awesome to me. Seriously though safeguarding and
preserving the records of our government could be pretty choice.
4) International Boundary and Water Commission – I never thought that keeping clean water and deciding what water was Mexico’s and what water was our would drive a person crazy but apparently it does. But they also deal with flood control which can’t be fun just ask Nashville.
3) Selective Service System – This one I don’t get. I don’t know about you but I would love to bust draft dodgers. Also providing the Army with the manpower it needs is super important so you’d definitely have pride in your job.
2) Broadcast Board of Governors – Head scratcher! These peeps are like the gate keepers for information. They work all across media: TV, Radio, Newspapers and online. I mean we are talking Anchorman here and last time I checked everyone wanted to be Ron Burgundy.
1) Federal Labor Relations – I kind of get this one. I mean if my job
was listening to complaints all day I don’t think I would be super
happy and on top of that the complaints are about people being treating
unfairly which is pretty depressing. But for the people that can do it
and still put a smile on their face a BIG thank you.
Let me know some of the places you wouldn’t want to work and the ones that you would. And stay turned top 5 best to work for coming soon…
Probably a rather moving target:
Suspect it probably would not be a very pleasant experience working for a government agency that gets a significant amount of bad press, whether justified or not, MMS and SEC comes to mind.
When the public doesn’t agree with your mission it can be somewhat difficult to work for that agency, DOD during the VietNam war would be a rather classic example.
When the current administration doesn’t believe that your agency should have a role in the government, Examples would/could be OPM (at least investigations portion) during the Clinton Administration, NLRB during the Bush Administration, FSLIC during Reagan’s administration.
When budgetary restraints are fixing to cause layoffs/RIF’s. This is probably the worst one because of the infighting that goes on amongst people trying to survive.
There are no bad agencies only bad working relationships. (Hey that’s a Tweet!)
Keep in mind, the lack of job satisfactions in these places may have nothing to do with the mission. A lot of it probably has to do with agency culture.
I agree with Tracy’s response. Generally, mission is what gets people in the door. Lack of effective leadership and employee engagement (poor supervisor relations, etc.) is what gets people to leave. As a consultant, I see this all the time — dedicated, smart people who are stymied by broken processes and promises.