TSA (Transportation Security Administration) Reviews

Current Employee – been working at TSA (Transportation Security Administration) full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great pay and benefits with potential for improvement and advancement. Great place to break into law enforcement or government work

Cons – Seniority rules all work life. Dealing with large volumes of the public takes some time to adjust but training and leadership aid in the learning curve

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at TSA (Transportation Security Administration) full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Benefits and friends. Meeting nice people that travel thru the airport.

Cons – Directives are interpreted by management & employees, rude passengers, stinky feet on carpet that is never cleaned, standing in one spot for several hours, strict rules using personal entertainment between flights (when working out of public eye) such as magazines, cell phones, etc. NOT allowed. Hostile airport share holders. Public target for overblown stories by all news programs....and so much more to list. Horrible hours take a tole too.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at TSA (Transportation Security Administration) full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Good pay and benefits for some if you can pass simple tests and not be late and be friendly with your boss. That's all there is too it. Why that is so hard for most people there I will never understand.

You do meet and work with some really great people and get to interact with people from all walks of life.

Cons – There are three types of employees at TSA:
1) The crazy, anti-government, Obama hating, gun-nut republican/"libertarians". They hate all the minorities and constantly call them lazy behind their backs. In reality, these crazy, conservatives are just as lazy or lazier than all the minorities they think are.They sit around all day doing nothing then when they're needed to help out at other areas, they throw temper tantrums and think the people they're going to help are just being lazy. I have literally seen several 25-50 year old men throw temper tantrums about having to help other areas with work. Wow.

2) Then there are the coworkers that have no sense of professionalism, i.e. they wear their hats backwards, pants hanging around their ankles, shirts not tucked in, out of uniform, etc. They laugh and play like they're in a high-school cafeteria while working in front of passengers. Plenty of sexual innuendo all day long in front of passengers. They are lazy, constantly late, and disappear from their assigned posts. They are rude to the nicest of passengers. Unfortunately, there are TSOs there that respond with accusations of racism or prejudice when a supervisor disciplines them for their numerous infractions. They know we have a kronos swipe system and their lateness and call-outs are recorded, and their coworkers hate working with them because they're lazy, yet they still think it's racism. Worst part is, they don't get in trouble because racism accusations scare managers so they reverse any discipline by Supervisors. The only way you'll get fired is if you literally stop showing up or get a DUI, but, even then it will be months before the paperwork goes through.

3) Then there are the sane, responsible, hard-working employees (of all races, political, and religous backgrounds, to be clear). We are usually tasked with doing the work the other two types of employees refuse to do or avoid doing due to their "that's not my job" attitudes. We tend to be taken advantage of by supervisors because they know we are reliable and we'll get things done correctly. And, the supervisors are intimidated by lazy employees so asking them is pointless. The other two groups of employees hate us and accuse us of brown-nosing.

 I do make more than most of my coworkers due to PASS. When used correctly, it does benefit hard-working, intelligent employees the most if your supervisor is fair. However, Supervisors play favorites, and you can still be lazy and get a bigger raise than your coworkers if your supervisor is your buddy. I guess that's every job though.

The job itself is mind-numbing, repetitive, and physically demanding. Intellectually challenging? Not in the least. Yet some people still fail at this job's very limited mental tasks. Also, you have to work terrible hours. I've been there 8 years and am still low on seniority and usually work every holiday and all weekends. I've lost the best years of my life to this organization due to the horrible work hours. I've missed out on a lot of special occasions that I will never get the chance to get back and severely regret working here.

The worst part has got to be the nepotism/cronyism. For every truly intelligent employee promoted on their own merits, five more are passed on in favor of a manager's incompetent friends. Most of the management at my airport are either former military or former airline employees. Even then you need to be friends with the other managers to get promoted to the management or HR, or Headquarters level. How does being an airline manager qualify someone to be in charge of security? College degrees mean squat to TSA. They will not help you advance in this organization. I just don't get it.

Advice to Senior Management – I don't know if there is anything you can do to bring this organization to a respectable level. Maybe start by firing the crap employees.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at TSA (Transportation Security Administration) part-time

Pros – Friends, hours, job, people and time

Cons – Passangers, lack of consistency in directives,

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at TSA (Transportation Security Administration)

Pros – Good pay, and benefits without degree, a government gig

Cons – Clickish supervisors and co-workers
Fascist supervisors and co-workers
Rude passengers
Standing in one spot for 2 hours

Current Employee – been working at TSA (Transportation Security Administration) full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – pay
under radar
notices for disciplinary actions

Cons – wants to be everything to everyone

Advice to Senior Management – more resources are needed to be everything to everyone

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at TSA (Transportation Security Administration) full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Get to work with a wide array of people, and you get a lot of customer service.

Cons – There are people at the organization that make TSA harder than it should be. Also, angry passengers that are running late sometimes blame you because of the "inconvenience" of aviation security

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at TSA (Transportation Security Administration)

Pros – It is a federal job so, there are good benefits.

Cons – The downside are the hours the management gets to make up things as they go along. There is little oulet for employees. Having to deal with disgrantled passengers all day in which there is very little that you can do to solve there problems because of policies and procedures.

Former Employee – worked at TSA (Transportation Security Administration) full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Federal Government Job
Pays pretty good for what it is
Good benefits and leave
Room for advancement to management or admin jobs with the right skills and attitude

Cons – Passengers berate you on a daily basis - the worst things imaginable are said to you every single day, no matter how polite you are to them. I have even had people mock me for being nice just because they were in a bad mood.
Media and passengers treat you as a joke. Passengers tell you to your face that "your job is a joke, you should be ashamed of yourself". Media often twists things to make us look bad. Be prepared to feel ashamed and embarrassed of the work you do.
I dreaded going to work every day.
Highly regimented - you literally have to tell supervisors when you have to use the bathroom, and you cannot be even 30 seconds late to work or late from coming back from break. You have to do every procedure perfectly, even when the procedures change weekly and the supervisor forgets to tell you that the procedure has changed.
You can be disciplined severely if you do a procedure incorrectly (hasn't happened to me, but I saw others lose their job on a regular basis).
You are tested constantly. Every day is an opportunity to be covertly tested and potentially lose your job.
We cannot lean or sit for most of the day, and are not allowed to have our hands in our pockets or talk about non-work-related topics in front of passengers (which is pretty much all day). Apparently we are expected to be robots at all times.
No room to get some alone time. You are constantly working with others every second of the day.
Physically demanding job - if you have or develop any long-term disability (that cannot be tied to an owcp claim) and cannot perform all functions of the job you will receive a non-disciplinary removal.
You are basically treated like you need to act like a perfect robot or a mentally handicapped child by management and the public. No room for errors and no room for independent thought or action. I do not recommend this job for creative types.
No holidays and odd schedule - it is hard to get weekends off unless you have been here for years. Seniority rules everything here.
Recent introduction of unions has made things even more regimented and awful.
If you come on board now it is next to impossible to get a full-time job - you will be working a 20 hour week for 4 years before you can be made full-time.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't throw your subordinates under the bus when something goes wrong - watch the checkpoint a little more carefully instead of sitting on your behind in the office checking your email.
Other than that, there isn't much to be done - the culture is a paradoxical mixture of hyper-neurotic micromanagement and laziness.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at TSA (Transportation Security Administration) part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Benefits, they pay. new advancement scale, too bad it depends on idiots to pass.

Cons – They hire the laziest, childish people they can find.

Advice to Senior Management – fire everyone and start from scratch. Also fire yourselves.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company