Pros
Federal holidays, 8 hour work day,
Cons
This is for all the young and ambitious individuals: Do not risk your time and future at SSA. Do not apply to this agency because you will waste your time if you deem your time important. I worked with this agency for three years plus meanwhile seeking opportunities elsewhere. Now that I found another opportunity right now, I left. The manager that hired few employees along me lied to retain us in this agency, promising us as many things as many that you will meet in this agency telling you flowery stories but lie in reality. The nature of work from the top down is extremely stressful and extremely boring. Secondly, this agency lacks proper leadership and management that understands leadership. While an employees' effort is supposed to be recognized, this agency does the opposite. The managers and supervisors keep their employees stuck in one position and do not let their employees grow as they use their employees to produce the statistics they need to answer above. The office I worked in had all employees stuck in one position for over 20 years or so. Each employee, I spoke to in the office complained of not having the opportunity to move on despite their continuous effort. I also faced prejudice and discrimination in this agency. The union proved to be useless as it was unable to resolve any of my matters. The branch I worked in had a manager who made/would make sexual remarks to the female employees, which is why he was pushed to resign to avoid legal action against him. Gladly, the women to whom he made sexual remarks still took him to the court. Many people complained to union for the management not having them promote to next GS level or step for no reasons. The major issues with the agency has been boring work, incompetent management, and gossiping females (majority work force-all elderly women). I also worked under a racist supervisor. She showed extreme prejudice. You will meet many people in this agency who will tell you that they have been “playing this game” for the longest time to be where they are at. This agency also plays another tactful game. They name it as “detail,” which means they will give you a false sense of promotion for few months and bring you right back to the position. My humble suggestion to all of you who want to apply in this agency is to seek employment elsewhere where you are around great people who can nurture you as a professional and those who see your skill set as their strength. Do not waste time here as my time has been wasted dealing with incompetent and prejudiced management that’s extremely horrible. Make a wise move. This agency also lacks proper equipment, means old telephones, old computers, old software, broken equipment. i do not recall a single month where phones worked properly, printers worked properly or had a smooth day. I won't ever waste my time with federal government again.