Advantages and disadvantages of working for the government?

[Bagheera]

I'm a government contractor (DoD) pondering becoming a government employee (DoD again). There's an opening in my area that matches my skill sets. It pays about 10% less than my current position. But people tell me the stability and benefits are worth it.
Have any of you made the transition from private to public employment? What did you like or dislike about it? I made a list of pros and cons below. Does this list align with your experiences?

Pros:
-Stability. Contracts aren't always renewed. DoD likes contractors because they can be hired and fired in waves. Need 1,000 workers right now? Make a 12-month contract with an employment company. Oops, you overestimated and only need 500 workers? Wait until the contract ends and tell the company to fire half of them. Government employees are harder to get rid of.
-Pension. Gov employees gets pension equal to 1% of the average of their 3 highest-paid years times their years of service. Typically that's 20% of their income. I still have 30+ years until I retire. It would be nice to work for the next 20 years then go into semi-retirement.
-401k. For gov workers, it's called the Thrift Spending Plan. It matches 100% of contributions up to 5% of income. And it's vested from day 1. My current employer matches only 50%, and doesn't vest until 5 years of employment. I'm told that's a good 401k. TSP blows that away.

Cons:
-Low pay. Like I said, it's a 10% drop. The "step" pay scale ensure a ~$2,800 raise every year. It would take several years to get back up to my current pay, and I might never catch up to what my pay would have been.
-Government is broke. With secuestration and the two parties at each other's throats, government jobs don't seem so secure. DoD jobs are better protected than, say, USPS. But there's a risk of a government shutdown or cuts.
-Rewards mediocrity. As I understand it, the $2,800 raise is based on seniority, not performance. As long as you work just hard enough not to get fired, you get $2,800 more every year. If you bust ass and really do well, you might get a director to shake your hand, but no bonus or extra raise.

Your opinions?

 

[Geese]

Looks like you've listed all the major things. I'd say that if you weren't taking a pay cut, it might be worth considering. But dropping 10% and accepting inflation covering raises seems much worse. Just save the difference and build up the e-fund. If you're good at what you do, you shouldn't have to worry too much about stability anyway.

 

[Skoop]

Another important con that may affect your overall quality of work life: politics.

As administrations and, hence, parties change, you will experience subtle and not-so-subtle changes in your mission. You may have something you've invested a lot of energy in suddenly be cancelled or, perhaps more often, intentionally crippled by your new bosses. The focus of your office and what you think you do for living may radically change. You might face a furlough each October as the fiscal year changes. Your performance review plan my be completely changed. You may find your office way understaffed due to attrition/promotions and yet your department may be placed under a hiring freeze, which means more stress for you. Make no mistake, you will get new bosses who answer to a different calling than the ones you just had, and with different bosses, your work can change.

None of this is meant to discourage you. You might have the impression that .gov work is pretty mundane and constant, but it's important to understand that you will be an Executive Branch employee and that with that comes change. Public service is good work, especially if you can join a group with good esprit de corps. You just have to understand that there is always change to contend with, and there is always going to be a political party and their constituents who will consider you to be the problem.

Good luck to you. (Sincerely, meant positively.)

I'm a retired Federal employee.

 

[Nitestorm]

I don't know if this is true in general, but in a family of mostly government employees (also in the DoD), they certainly get much more time off (including just about all holidays) than I do. They also get to fly around and go on business trips a great deal more than I do.

Frankly it seems the only benefit I get working in private industry over them is that I get more pay. Honestly I'd like more time off to goof off

 

[Emkorial]

IMHO, the three pros you listed vastly outweigh the cons. For example, you won't be making that 10% more if you get laid off as part of a contractor reduction or your project gets cancelled

I would take the job.

 

[Facekhan]

Sometimes you can get them to match your contractor compensation when you convert or just go in at a higher grade/step than you ordinarily qualify for

 

[LordHunter317]

IMHO, the three pros you listed vastly outweigh the cons. For example, you won't be making that 10% more if you get laid off as part of a contractor reduction or your project gets cancelled

That really depends on a whole mess of factors. Project cancellation doesn't usually directly result in a reduction in force unless it was a substantial portion of the contractor's business and they have nowhere to place the staff. Even then, they typically try to keep the most valuable staff.

It's more typical for a contractor to lose business when contracts are recompeted than for contracts to be out-and-out cancelled, especially in the DoD. And when that happens, it usually means there's a fantastic opportunity waiting for you at whatever company won the contract...

 

[Bright Wire]

I've known people who made the jump and if a solid opportunity is thrown my way I would strongly consider it.

The biggest trade is money for stability. GS are known as slugs for the exact reason you pointed out, they get paid for doing just the right amount of work. Contractors are known as money grubbers because we chase after the dollars. The difference is when you feel you want or need the stability in your life to change from contractor to GS. A girlfriend-wife/family tends to do that to a person. You simply have to decide if you are going to chase the dollars to make you happy or take less money for the seeming stability of GS work. Right now OCONUS being GS instead of a contractor isn't making you any safer or more stable except in IT (which if I remember correctly you do).

You laid out the pros and cons pretty much as they are. The choice is yours. Though as mentioned the base salary is negotiable through comparison of your current pay versus the available steps. If they want you they will negotiate the step you start at to be higher than 1. I recommend getting as high as you can from the start.

 

[Bagheera]

That really depends on a whole mess of factors. Project cancellation doesn't usually directly result in a reduction in force unless it was a substantial portion of the contractor's business and they have nowhere to place the staff. Even then, they typically try to keep the most valuable staff.

It's more typical for a contractor to lose business when contracts are recompeted than for contracts to be out-and-out cancelled, especially in the DoD. And when that happens, it usually means there's a fantastic opportunity waiting for you at whatever company won the contract...

Its true that employees don't get axed when their employer loses the contract. They're usually given an offer by the new company. However companies often win contracts by underbidding the incumbent, and any new offer is usually significantly lower than the existing salary. So the company losing the contract is nothing to celebrate.

 

[Bagheera]

I think I'll push hard for a higher salary (step). If they offer me 3% or 4% less than what I'm making, great. If they offer me 10% less (which is what they'll likely do), I'll pass.

There was no harm in applying. Now well see how the interview goes....

 

[LordHunter317]

While such things are hardly inconviable, it wouldn't really happen for the reason you stated. It's very difficult to tie an actual employee's salary directly to the contract they're on, and contractors can't change labor rates willy-nilly.

 

[Maria_Andretti]

Medical benes are also often an advantage to full time vs. contract; depending upon the contracting co., I suppose.

If you can't get more salary, try for a signing bonus or getting more vacation time. Those are usually somewhat flexible.

 

[Da Fish]

A friend of mine is a DoD employee. He enjoys the work for the most part. The salary is a bit of a negative for him, as right now he's about even with what he could make in the private sector. In ten years, he'll be behind. On the other hand, his job is very secure, the benefits are excellent and it's helped to provide a lot of stability for his wife & child while his wife changed careers.

There are other smaller benefits to be considered. For example, my friend works a slightly longer shift and gets a flex day every two weeks, so he basically gets every other friday off.

You may find your office way understaffed due to attrition/promotions and yet your department may be placed under a hiring freeze, which means more stress for you.

this also happened to my friend. he did not enjoy it.

As a side note, my friend was employed while applying for this job. Part of the interview process was a background check, and the interviewers came in to my friend's employer at the time as part of the check. The employer did not appreciate the disloyalty and promptly fired my friend. Thankfully my friend was fresh out of college and still living with his parents so he had minimal living expenses. But at the same time, he was unemployed and didn't know if he would get the DoD job.

 

[PastorOfMuppets]

I don't think you are appreciating the full value of the greater 401k match, the pension, the guaranteed salary increases, and the stability. Those combined are worth much more than a 10% salary cut.

 

[armwt]

That really depends on a whole mess of factors. Project cancellation doesn't usually directly result in a reduction in force unless it was a substantial portion of the contractor's business and they have nowhere to place the staff. Even then, they typically try to keep the most valuable staff.

It's more typical for a contractor to lose business when contracts are recompeted than for contracts to be out-and-out cancelled, especially in the DoD. And when that happens, it usually means there's a fantastic opportunity waiting for you at whatever company won the contract...

Its true that employees don't get axed when their employer loses the contract. They're usually given an offer by the new company. However companies often win contracts by underbidding the incumbent, and any new offer is usually significantly lower than the existing salary. So the company losing the contract is nothing to celebrate.

Exactly.

We are in the middle of a contract switch-over right now. I've been "on site" for 10 years as of July. New company is treating me as a brand-new employee... that extra 5 days of vacation I picked up in July? Gone. Healthcare? Oh, that will cost 2x as much.

They're "attempting" to match my salary, but by my estimates, they'd need to boost it by at least 10% for me to come out even. (not only am I loosing the 5 extra days of vacation, I'm resetting the clock on 10 years of seniority, so vacation is cut in half, 401K match is lower, and they won't even tell us the vesting schedule, etc).

As a few others have said... if they are "converting" your contract position to Fed, this is ideal. If this is simply a FTE that you're applying for, then I'd still say go for it. If your position is "converted" you can often get credit for time on the job towards retirement. (IE - I could already go in with 10 years towards my retirement). The small raises are the "guaranteed" ones, but once Congress gets off their "let's hammer .gov workers" theme, you'll have the possibility of getting automatic "cola" raises + merit-based raises. IIRC, you're just getting married, or recently did, so the benefits and stability in MY mind are well worth it. Healthcare will likely be cheaper (and possibly better, depending on your specific plan), the TSP has some of the lowest-cost funds of anything on the market, and performs very well on average, vacation time is decent, unlimited sick time accumulation.... I'd try to negotiate a little on the starting salary, but at 10% less, I'd probably still take it as long as you can make it on that. Much more, and I'd think a lot harder, but if I was made the offer right now to do the same, I'd be pretty tempted.

 

[KT421]

I think I'll push hard for a higher salary (step). If they offer me 3% or 4% less than what I'm making, great. If they offer me 10% less (which is what they'll likely do), I'll pass.

There was no harm in applying. Now well see how the interview goes....

If your current salary is somewhere in the grade offered, they might try to match it. For example, I was hired at Step 5 of my the position's pay grade because it was the closest to my salary at my former employer.

The benefits are nice. The 5% matching into the retierment plan is worth... 5% of your salary. It might be different in DoD but I work almost no overtime, and when I do have to come in early/stay late, I get those hours as comp time.

The main downside is the lack of any drive to excel. All you need to do is enough to not get fired. Performing above and beyond doesn't net you much if anything, so most don't. That's been the frustrating part for me; it seems every third person I meet is performing at the bare minimum, and it's impacting my ability to get anything done.

 

[sciencegeek]

I've been in DoD for 9 years now. Definitely has advantages and disadvantages. My pay has gone way up since coming aboard. Started as a 12 step 1 and currently a 13 step 7. If you are in the IT field *most* IT positions top out at 13. Most of the 14 and 15 positions are the paper pushing type, not always but usually. The benefits are outstanding.

The downside from my point of view....your IT skills will slowly crumble. Most of the real hands-on IT stuff is handled by contractors and what little I get to do is very limited and boring. This isn't just my small agency but a few other DoD people I know say the same thing. I've busted my a$$ to get a MS degree in computer forensics/telecommunications from a decent nearby university. I now have about 140k in student loan debt but the two other IT people in my agency are the same grade as me (GS-13) and neither of them even have an associates degree. They are great employees but in the government there seems to be little to no reward for busting your a$$ for additional education.

Oh, remember about the GS pay scale you only get a step increase per year from step 1-4. It takes two years for steps 5,6,7 and three years to hit 8,9, and 10. We usually get a small 1-3% across the board raise in January but that has been frozen the last few years.

 

[TCD]

The downside from my point of view....your IT skills will slowly crumble. Most of the real hands-on IT stuff is handled by contractors and what little I get to do is very limited and boring. This isn't just my small agency but a few other DoD people I know say the same thing. I've busted my a$$ to get a MS degree in computer forensics/telecommunications from a decent nearby university. I now have about 140k in student loan debt but the two other IT people in my agency are the same grade as me (GS-13) and neither of them even have an associates degree. They are great employees but in the government there seems to be little to no reward for busting your a$$ for additional education.

I'm at Dept. of State on the FS/FP scale which is an up/out system. The more we move up, the more we're just managers of IT people, projects, resources, etc. As a FP-2, the amount of hands on IT work you do will be minimal. We do have positions at the SES level, but they are highly competitive. A good person will top out at the equivalent of GS14/15

Most of the hands on "cool" IT work is done by contractors. Working in an OCONUS environment, you can make interesting IT projects for yourself, but, you have to put forth the effort and it always subject to funding which, can be plentiful or non-existent. On the plus side, we change duty locations every 2-4 years either domestic (mostly in the D.C. area) or at one of the many diplomatic assignments abroad which keeps work interesting, even if the core IT functions aren't necessarily as stimulating as the private sector or contract work.

Then again, by nature of our work, we can meet with vice presidents / presidents of national telecomms which is always pretty fun