The most truly dysfunctional organisation I've ever worked in - Anonymous employee Environment Agency Employee Review

The bureaucracy at the Environment Agency is paralysing. It means that the pace of progress is glacially slow, and this slow pace means that staff are essentially facilitated in doing very little actual work, which compounds the problem. There are a huge number of process-driven activities which mean that in reality teams, particularly in head office, spend very little time discussing or problem-solving the issues they're actually seeking to resolve. I spent 4 years at the EA and I went 2 whole years without having a single team meeting that involved a discussion that directly concerned the problem we were supposed to be addressing. Rather, my team continually discussed how to advance the bureaucratic processes surrounding its management. There are opportunities to progress at the EA, but they require an employee to avoid any attachment to a given area of expertise and to essentially become a mercenary. If you hope to work in the EA in your chosen field of expertise and progress up the hierarchy at a reasonable pace, forget it! The means of interviewing for and attaining new positions involves a bureaucratised system of assessment that relates only obliquely to your achievements and expertise. Succeeding at the interview stage within the EA is a skill in itself that has very little to do with how good you are in your current position, how much experience you have, or how good you might be at the one you're applying for. Neither good nor bad performance is recognised here. My performance was called into question as many times for failing to accept the poor performance of other departments, as it was rewarded for having done very little over and above my expected duties. If you do decide to work at the EA, don't stay for more than a few years, because I think becoming institutionalised there could seriously damage your chances of attaining and retaining employment elsewhere. Having worked in both the private sector and in public service, I would not consider employing an EA employee who had been there for more than 5 years.