Best places to work: Round up the usual suspects, or not?
Where are the best places to work in the federal government? Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says he thinks he knows the winners even though the voting hasn't ...
In the movie classic “Casablanca”, a straight-out-of-WW2 Hollywood evil, evil Nazi officer is shot dead. Deservedly so.
The cynical, corrupt but lovable top French cop who must investigate the apparent murder reports the shooting. Then he tells his men to “round up the usual suspects.”
Get it, the “usual suspects.”
But it happens all the time.
For years now, publications and good-government groups have promoted best-places-to-work, as rated by their employees. Some agencies take it very seriously, others not so much. Some apparently expect to win every years. Others are resigned to be on the loser end of the list.
The Washington Post last week reported that the government is going to step up the program, by inviting members of the public to rate their experiences with agenices of their choice. Or ire.
The General Service’s Administration’s DigitalGov team, the Post reported, will work with Yelp to permit people to give immediate feedback on how well (or badly) they were or are treated by Social Security, the IRS or other agencies. One official said it’s a “warts and all” effort that, while potentially painful, can help agencies “identify problem or chronic problem areas” and, hopefully, correct them.
Good luck with that.
Several times I did features asking feds to identify the best and worst-dressed agencies. It was a fun, mid-summer exercise. The problem is the same agencies always won. The spiffiest, year after year, were the Secret Service, FBI and the DEA. The worst-dressed also tended to be the same places. Low-profile operations that rarely dealt with the public. The first few were fun and funny. But after a while, it got old.
Meantime, the Partnership for Public Service and Washingtonian Magazine are making their biennial search for the best places to work in this government town. Why you work where you do, what you like (love) about the job, and how important the perks (if any) such as day care are. In the past, a handful of agencies have won the “best places” award year after year. So is that because they really are? Do they “encourage” workers to vote? Or are the others so much worse nobody bothers to complain? Is it inertia? Or is it as simple as the fact that those are the best places, and workers want the world to know it.
Would you like to sound off about where you work? First this nepotism spoiler alert: The author of the Washingtonian piece will be number one son J. Michael Causey. I won’t see the results until they appear in the magazine. But I am naturally interested in who the winners are and if there are any changes. In who you pick. And why you like (or not) working where you work. Time to sound off. His email is: michaelcausey@me.com
Do the usual suspects deserve to win again? Have they earned it? Or, is it maybe time to introduce some different agencies into the winner’s circle?
Nearly Useless Factoid
Actor Claude Rains’ memorable turn as the lead role in “The Invisible Man” (1935) was referenced in the opening song of the 1975 film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”.
Source: IMDB
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Mike Causey
Mike Causey is senior correspondent for Federal News Network and writes his daily Federal Report column on federal employees’ pay, benefits and retirement.
Follow @mcauseyWFED
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