I used to want to work for the federal government and once upon a time it was a very good job. Decent, but not the best, pay along with good health benefits, large amounts (in US terms) of leave, extra holidays, and a pension program. Now I don’t see why anyone would want to work for the federal government. A common sentiment amongst government workers are that you are there for at least one of four things:
1.) Early retirement/pension - In the older days you could potentially fully retire as early as 50.
2.) Healthcare - You got to keep it into early retirement and it was typically better than any private or business insurance or medicare.
3.) Stability - Once in you would probably never be laid off or fired.
4.) Ulterior motives - A lot of government workers do what they do because they get something else out of it. Someone working at the EPA might get a sense of fulfillment and earnestly believe they are making a difference. Likewise someone working in ICE might be getting their failed-military-abuse-of-power rocks off on the bit of power they have over others.
Well the stability is gone, the pension only matters if you have the stability to get to 30 years, and the healthcare is getting worse over time.
They also used to have better-than-normal paid time off but non-govt companies have caught up on that, especially in the tech sector.
And they had a good 401k equivalent (403b) match, but again companies have caught up or surpassed this now.
Some of my old colleagues still work in govt and they have been MISERABLE for the past year and a half (return to office, DOGE/deferred resignations, chronic understaffing, and now this shutdown nonsense).
I used to want to work for the federal government and once upon a time it was a very good job. Decent, but not the best, pay along with good health benefits, large amounts (in US terms) of leave, extra holidays, and a pension program. Now I don’t see why anyone would want to work for the federal government. A common sentiment amongst government workers are that you are there for at least one of four things:
1.) Early retirement/pension - In the older days you could potentially fully retire as early as 50.
2.) Healthcare - You got to keep it into early retirement and it was typically better than any private or business insurance or medicare.
3.) Stability - Once in you would probably never be laid off or fired.
4.) Ulterior motives - A lot of government workers do what they do because they get something else out of it. Someone working at the EPA might get a sense of fulfillment and earnestly believe they are making a difference. Likewise someone working in ICE might be getting their failed-military-abuse-of-power rocks off on the bit of power they have over others.
Well the stability is gone, the pension only matters if you have the stability to get to 30 years, and the healthcare is getting worse over time.
They also used to have better-than-normal paid time off but non-govt companies have caught up on that, especially in the tech sector.
And they had a good 401k equivalent (403b) match, but again companies have caught up or surpassed this now.
Some of my old colleagues still work in govt and they have been MISERABLE for the past year and a half (return to office, DOGE/deferred resignations, chronic understaffing, and now this shutdown nonsense).