The Department of Homeland Security really sucks to work for. That’s not just my opinion, though. It’s the opinion of DHS employees.
The results of the 2006 Federal Human Capital Survey are in, and the Department of Homeland Security came in dead last, or near last, in virtually every metric the governmentwide survey tracked.
Consider, for instance, the survey of 10,400 DHS employees shows that 49% could not bring themselves to agree — even somewhat — with the statement, “I recommend my organization as a good place to work.”
“Obviously, we are somewhat disappointed,” Paul A. Schneider, the department’s undersecretary for management, said in an interview. He said the department’s secretary, Michael Chertoff, and its deputy secretary, Michael P. Jackson, take the survey results seriously and are focused “on turning this thing around.”
To a large extent, the 2006 responses by Homeland Security employees closely track what employees said in 2004, an indication that the department may face a significant morale problem in some of its bureaus. Schneider said the response rates varied dramatically among bureaus and that “we have a lot of work to do to understand where we have these problems.” — Washington Post
That’s the same thing they said after the 2004 survey, too.
Low morale has been a persistent problem at Homeland Security since its creation.
Part of the problem is that DHS has trouble attracting and retaining good senior management. Another part is that it has trouble getting rid of bad senior management.
As a result, DHS employees ranked management worst in the federal government at:
a) Hardworking DHS employees who do a good job are not recognized for doing a good job
b) Not-so-hardworking DHS employees who deliver a poor performance are not being held accountable for their poor performance on the job
c) Hardworking DHS employees do not get raises according to how hard they are working while poor performing employees get raises based on something other than their poor performance. — The Aviation Nation
Annie Jacobsen also reports that Chief Operating Officer Michael Jackson said in a department-wide email, “What you said shows that DHS is not where any of us wants to be. . . . on the whole, it is not significantly changed since OPM’s 2004 employee survey.”
If you have senior management experience and a severe masochistic streak, or perhaps a sadistic streak — or you just need a job that you can walk away from in a few months without having done much of anything — the Department of Homeland Security might be just the place for you.
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Brock
Feb 01, 2007
Expect Chertoff’s head to roll in 5.4.3.2…
Oh, wait. Nevermind.
Michael Hampton
Feb 01, 2007
You think you can oppress us more effectively than Michael Chertoff?
Q
Feb 01, 2007
DHS is such a disaster, but I guess it’s a symptom of their mission, which borders on oppression of the weak. If I could have control of that agency for a year you would see a real difference.
anyone remember their original mission, what they were supposed to do, they haven’t done any of it, instead they’ve wasted time and resources chasing file sharers, and people with hair gel. ridiculously expensive IDs that are easier to duplicate than a standard drivers license, there are so many options that could improve efficiency, the customer experience at airports, the way people perceive the agency, but they suck ass and will continue to until they get their heads out of their asses and stop perceiving the American people as the enemy, if I Didn’t know better I’d say this government has declared war on it’s citizens, And for the record I’m extremely uncomfortable with all these mysterious helicopter crashes that are killing our solders in Iraq, is it faulty equipment, or sabotage?
It’s amazing how paranoid Americans can be, and completely overlook stuff like that.
Q
Feb 01, 2007
LOL, no I would change the scope of their mission to be something that’s actually useful and helpful to our nation, not just a waste of time and money.
Old Plainsman
Feb 08, 2007
In regards to the DHS treating us like the enemy, remember the old adage of “follow the money”. Here is a link to start the process.
Feb 08, 2007
GAO: Lawyers stonewall Homeland Security oversight - Homeland Stupidity
Feb 14, 2007
FEMA goes on hiring spree - Homeland Stupidity
H to the Q
Feb 17, 2007
If you want to see the lowest morale in all of FEMA, check out FEMA’s HQ CR Cadre in D.C.; -that’ll make for a sure fire muckraking ‘Upton Sinclair’ level of ripping open a Pandora’s Box. I triple dog dare this website to take that one on. -You’ll see your online web ‘hits’ skyrocket if you can really whup butt with coverage on that suck ass Cadre from hell.
May 03, 2007
Congress probes low morale at DHS - Homeland Stupidity
Jul 14, 2007
Homeland Security management positions vacant - Homeland Stupidity