Pros
During the interview phase, many positives of working at ERDC are presented, and the potential drawback is often limited to ‘living in Vicksburg’. Both of these are substantially true (except Vicksburg isn't that terrible). ERDC is a premier research facility unlike any other. However, there are substantial additional drawbacks not covered during the job screening phase that I encountered in my years at ERDC. My intent here is not to dissuade necessarily but rather to inform, and to fill in a missing piece of information not given in the interview process. In conclusion, take all the information, positive and negative, and use it to make the decision of whether ERDC is the right place for you.
Cons
Middle management A department is called a “branch” and a group of departments a “division”; thus, middle management consists of “branch chiefs” and “division chiefs”. These are employees’ bosses and bosses’ bosses, if you will. These positions are pulled from within the technical staff and are typically held by scientists and engineers with no formal management training and poor soft skills (e.g. conflict resolution, unconscious bias). Branch chiefs are responsible for conducting performance evaluations, despite not actually directly supervising an employee’s technical work. The middle management positions are often difficult and individuals holding them burn out quickly, leading to a system of instability and a “revolving door” management culture. If an employee has a grievance against a supervisor, there is little to nothing that can be done about it if the supervisor has not actually broken any laws (e.g. favoritism, bullying, verbal abuse). Technical management Projects are run by Principal Investigators (PIs) much like in academia. These individuals are technically peers but function as secondary bosses to their team members. PIs are likewise short on soft management skills such as giving feedback, and also tend to be short on harder management skills such as accounting, planning, and documentation. PIs often have difficult personalities but are seldom disciplined out of the fear that they will take their project money elsewhere. If a PI can bring in substantial funding, they are nearly untouchable. This creates problems because many PIs tend to be overly critical of technical staff and feel that they should critique different work styles. Differences in work styles are seen as character flaws rather than personality differences. Some PI behavior is legendary and involves physical assault, sexual impropriety, malpractice, and prolonged psychological abuse, all without consequence. The performance management system is not equipped to handle such issues. Finances Normally, technical staff must bill all hours to the project that they are working on, much like in consulting. However, this is not always possible. When Congress has not passed a budget, which seems to be nearly every year, project money is not available and staff must bill to overhead or scramble to find any funding to charge to. This is extremely stressful, compounded by the fact that some branch chiefs will not allow overhead billing at all. When the budget is finally passed, it is like a fire hose of money that must be spent by the end of the fiscal year. This promotes wastefulness like buying new furniture and unnecessary equipment, or “robbing Peter to pay Paul”. Furthermore, even during ‘normal’ operations, the grind to find enough money to cover every pay period is emotionally draining and there are harsh consequences for failure. Finally, illegal labor practices are common - in the event that an employee does not have sufficient funding (sometimes because it has been spent on someone else without their permission), timekeepers will enter the employee’s hours as Annual Leave (vacation) without their permission. This is highly illegal but widely practiced and has been determined to be acceptable by management. Mentoring The operations at ERDC are so complex that new employees really need a mentor quickly in order to survive and thrive. However, new researchers and senior researchers are technically competitors for the same money, so it can be hard to break into the in-crowd. To their credit, senior ERDC management has realized that this is a significant issue and has created many new formal initiatives, but these are often just given lip service. Participation in these events is hard because there is no labor funding for extracurricular activities and the time must be billed to a project, and not all PIs support such uses of money. Knowledge transfer is a known and ongoing issue, especially in the case of retirees because of a perverse incentive - retired subject matter experts can be rehired as a consultant and pull two salaries. Culture This brings me to the largest issue - the culture at ERDC. I think most everyone expects the unconscious bias to be very strong at this mostly-white, mostly-male institution, and they would be correct. There are other culture problems that are less apparent. First, professionalism is very low. Many individuals have never worked anywhere but ERDC, and so have formed notions of normality based on its culture. ERDC’s culture tends toward a family environment which is problematic due to gossip, poor boundaries, and inconsideration. Second, communication at ERDC is exceptionally poor. People are known for restricting communication lines and expecting everyone to “just know” how they like to be contacted. Some employees never answer their phone, never check voicemail, don’t use certain email addresses, or only use unlisted cell numbers. Responses to inquiries are routinely ignored and one must try several avenues in order to get a response to a question. If an employee is simply unable to get a response after multiple attempts, it is viewed as their own fault rather than the non-respondent’s fault. Third, the administrative and support staff are usually very kind and helpful people, but when things go awry they resort to passive aggression and feigned ignorance. This is indicative of a culture of powerlessness and verbal abuse. They are unable to draw healthy boundaries and so resort to withdrawal tactics. Fourth, by far the biggest issue is that ERDC is impervious to critique. Point out an issue and you will get a response of, “Who, us? That can’t be, we have too much training.” Turnover among the Millennial workforce is extremely high (part of why ERDC sells itself so hard during job interviews). It’s hard to work in a place where your friends keep leaving. A culture that cannot self-correct is one that will become extinct.