Pros
The benefits of any federal job are usually what keep people there. The APHIS mission is admirable, and takes a disease risk approach to regulatory decisions. There are many dedicated and intelligent people working for this agency, many of whom are in the field. Training opportunities are available (although this is at the discretion of supervisors, some of whom feel a more well-trained employee is a threat to their position).
Cons
- Management is often short sighted: they treat the symptoms but not the overall problem when dealing with personnel issues. - Nepotism - "Old boys club" mentality with few opportunities for women and working mothers to be promoted without sacrificing family and personal time. There are structural issues that do not allow working parents the flexibility that is often advertised in federal jobs (ie Teleworking, Flexible hours, Flex time, etc). The "perks" are reserved for upper management only, while lower level employees are forced to choose between coming into work or using vacation/sick time to attend to personal matters. Often times, having a more flexible schedule would alleviate much of the stress associated with work/family obligations. - Inability to remove under performing and insubordinate personnel. - "Chain of Command" mentality that forces lower level employees to only be able to report problems to immediate supervisors. Should these supervisors choose not to take action on problems brought to their attention, the employee often has no other recourse, shot of filing a complaint, which can take years to address. - Few opportunities to advance: there are few positions to advance into within states and often times the only way to advance is to 1) wait for someone to retire 2) wait for someone to unfortunately pass away 3) relocate to another state. - Employees who are high producers are often overworked to make up for others who are not as motivated. ^Caveat to above: employees who are "low" performers are not penalized for their work. However, often times, there is resentment from those employees who feel the "high" performers are making them look bad.