You'd think that waking up every day in places such as Yellowstone, Olympic, Acadia, Yosemite or Rocky Mountain national parks would be part of a dream job. But a survey of federal employees shows that those working for the National Park Service are far from being the most content with their jobs.
In fact, according to the 2009 Best Places to Work survey, the National Park Service ranks surprisingly close to the bottom of all federal agencies in terms of job satisfaction: out of 216 agencies, the Park Service stood 160th. Topping the list were the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Government Accountability Office.
Why? The respondents pointed to poor training and development, ineffective leaders, poor teamwork, a lack of strategic management, and poor quality of life when it comes to a work/life balance. Distressingly, the Park Service’s overall reputation as a good place to work has gotten worse in recent years, according to the survey, the fourth annual.
While the latest overall index score of 59.8 was a tad higher than last year's 58.2 overall score, it was down from 62.5 noted in 2005 and 64.1 recorded in 2003.
In some specific categories, the Park Service garnered a score of just 38.5 out of 200 on the question of effective leaders, 38.3 out of 185 in the "family friendly culture and benefits" category, and 40.1 out of 200 in "performance based rewards and advancement. While the highest score was a 78.3 out of 120 in "employee skills/mission match," that was down from both the 2005 score of 78.8 and the 2003 score of 81.0 in that category.
The Park Service's National Leadership Council, which is comprised of the agency's director, deputy directors, regional directors, associate directors and assistant directors, says it is working to reverse the trends, but that it won't happen overnight.
"A number of initiatives in the learning and development arena were initiated in 2008 in response to the 2007 ranking. We will continue to focus on carrying these through to completion, as well as identify further workplace enrichment initiatives in the coming months," the leadership council said. "Emphasis in areas such as communication, supervisory skills development, and work-life flexibilities will support the NPS goal of becoming a best place to work in the federal government.
"Combined with the prior survey results (we're having the analysis done right now that compares 2002 with 2004 with 2006 and now 2008), we take the trends seriously and the similarity of responses to certain questions seriously," added the council. "Our training and development revitalization efforts over the past year-and-a-half are a direct result of 2006 results and simply haven't had time to pay off yet in terms of morale impact.
"It is important to note that real change in morale takes sustained effort over a number of years to find out what are the biggest concerns among the large number identified and to come up with meaningful ways to redress those concerns that will result in noticeable differences in the way the workforce perceives the issue."
Some of the concerns, however, were pointed out to the agency back in 2006 when Julie Elmore, then a graduate student working on her master's degree at Duke University, did her thesis project on National Park Service Employee Satisfaction and Employee Retention. That project, in which Ms. Elmore received responses from more than 2,500 Park Service employees, pointed to a number of areas of employee discontent. Some of the comments were quite biting:
* "In my park, I've seen a job created to employ the girlfriend of upper management as well as to move her entire family stateside. ... I watched my former superintendent play solitaire on his office computer for hours as well as to print out reams of paper from the Internet on recipes and ads for buying a boat."
* "We continue to put out large fires but fail to prevent the fires or see the cause."
* "Today's reality is that NPS managers at all levels are forced to concentrate all their energies on 'putting out fires' all day, every day. 'Doing more with less' is no longer an option. If preservation and protection of park lands is still important to the American people, then the case must be made to increase budgets and to hire and retain quality personnel."
* "We need to show pride and recognition to those who do a good job. This motivation goes a long way. We need to build pride again in our mission and our agency. People will see the difference and want to be a part of it. We have to build it from within, person to person, not with a national campaign and button."
* "Quit pulling out leaders and filling with cronies. Hire good people and believe in them. Let them do their work without the fear that they could be removed if a stakeholder isn't happy."
* "I have a short time left before I am eligible for retirement, and cannot wait. I believe in the mission of the National Park Service and it is extremely difficult to watch how that mission has been purposely and effectively corrupted and derogated over the past six years. Ideologues have hired ideologies."
How might the Park Service improve its overall ranking? According to the Best Places to Work survey, effective leadership at the top of the agency is the ticket:
For the fourth time in a row, the primary driver of job satisfaction in the federal space is effective leadership. While this finding is no surprise, the reasons behind it are. In a first, the 2009 Best Places rankings break down which factors shape employees’ views of their leadership. Conventional wisdom holds that the greatest influence on an employee’s satisfaction is his or her immediate supervisor. However, the 2009 Best Places rankings reveal that it is actually the quality of an agency’s senior leadership that has the greatest bearing on employee views.
Comments
Today, most Park Service superintendents come out of Washington. They are relatives of former Park Service managers or friends of, or friends of politicians. Two simple rules exist for Park Service managers to succeed and move up: 1) Do not do anything to any Park Service family members, those that have or have had family in the service, no matter how incompetent. And 2.), Do not do anything without calling the region first! I should add a third. 3) Before any hiring at the GS-11 level or above, one must check to see if there are any "NPS Family Members" or "Friends" out there who would like the job first.
Yours Truly,
Anonymous
This comment was edited--ed.
Wow, you guys have some interesting stories and experiences. If you don't mind I'll ask a question. I came out of undergrad with an Criminal Justice degree and knew that there was little chance that I'd actually be able to get hired on with NPS or any other federal agency. I didn't want to work with the local police stations (undergrad taught me that). So I joined the military so I could get my foot up on the other applicants. I don't see how being is a negative thing. I knew what it would take to get hired and have given years to my country to build my resume.
So now the question. For those of you who have worked for the NPS would you work for them again? I've got an interview in a couple of months.
Quickest way into the National Park Service is through "Dispatch". This is one place where jobs are always available and advertised to the public, not just open to current federal employees. Once in (6 months), the World is your oyster! LE Rangers get 20 year retirement. Real sweet deal, in most NPS units. Go to an undesireable NPS unit, get them to pay for your FLETC, and away you go!
My interview mentioned above is for a LE position. Do you guys think that a full time LE position is worth persuing? Or am I going to end up working for another gov agency with nepotism? How many hours does a LE ranger normally work? I'm getting out of a career where I make around 70k but work 60 hours a week. To me the trade off between a life and money just isn't worth it.
Any thoughts?
I am a retired industry executive who, decided last year to work with the National Park System - entered a temporary clerk position - project compete in 4+ months - then took a 30 day temporary Park Guide Position - thoroughly enjoyed the work content of both assignments - I have to think that my mistake came when, I made it public that I would like to work in a long term basis - somewhere around the 2nd month of my tenure. All of a sudden, I got a blank look from the Adminstrative Officer - had, on frequesnt occasions, employees come by to tell me that I would never stand a chance - too many people wanted the regular jobs - Next mistake, I persisted, had a new young Supt come in - I did tell him during a conversation that I would like to work at the park - He, immediately, went into how difficult it was - never saying no but, obviously, not encouraging - then, a position (temporary) was posted very near the end of my last assignment - I told them that I had applied - then, suddenly - bizarre things happened - an accusation of improper conduct - not compying with a Policy?? - that, first I had never seen or heard of - and, when I finally found (on the internet) what Ithink they were referring too, I had not done anything contrary to the policy - then accused me of misuse of government time - reason was that I was performin duties outside of my then job discription but, were duties directed by my ex -boss and current boss when I acepted the new assignment -
Once, I received work from NPS that I was highly qualified and forwarded to the Agency for interview - (I had since finished my 2nd assignment) I contacted the Supt to ask him about the status. Firt I was told that it would be a few days because they were trying to get together to talk about it - then, my next contact, he said that they were bringing in a new acting Chief and it would be sometime after Christmas - a couple of weeks later, I inquired again, then I was told that they may not fill the position in 2010 due to filling other positions - I asked which positions - they said "Oh, we don't have any othre positions, we meant we had to think about hiring a permanent Chief.- and, we won't be filling the position now - my next inquiry got the same answer, no filling of the position. My next inquiry, I received no response - I then visited the Park, and lo and behold, they had hired a brand new additionlal"young" student in that position - had actually been there since early December.
Now, besides the obvious subterfuge - out right lying - I know the student may be a recent Vet - I am on old Vet (5 years Army) - and may have been easy to appoint - but, why not just ell me the facts - tell the truth.
MY POINT TO ALL OF THIS I have talked to numerous employees of this Park - none will even respond to a question - all say "they may fire me if my name is in anything - Nobody stays here unless they know L_____ the
Administrative Officer They run off anybody who they don't like - - don't bring my name up, they fire people who say anything - "
I am a retired Industry guy with 5 years military and over 45 years in an industrial career - I would dearly llike to be of service to that Park - I enjoyed my work - I was extremely good at my work - but, what can you do in these cases???
I really find this behavior unacceptable and sickening.
No.
Hey all NPS employees, don't think for a minute that your agency is the only one with bad management, nepotism, ageism, & every other -ism. I'm 30+ years in another govt agency (& so afraid of retaliation that I won't say which one even in an anonymous post) and everything you mention goes on in our agency, too. You get where you want to go by either nepotism, brown-nosing, or back-stabbing. Mgmt continuously makes bad decisions & then blames those of us in the field. We are understaffed, underfinanced, & management-heavy. The only reward for a doing good work is more work, usually work not done by a bad employee with 'connections'. When I started my career it wasn't like this, but now, I tell my kids 'don't ever work here'. So, it's not just the NPS, it's govt-wide. ALL federal agencies need reform. I'm eligible for retirement now, so I'm outta there in a few months. Would stay longer but can't take the sweatshop anymore. Good luck to all you NPS employees. I'll give you all my most friendly smile and most polite manners because I KNOW what you're going thru!
Interesting posts Kurt. My own 37 year tenure with the NPS had some bumps in the road, a few spur marks, etc., but on balance it was highly enjoyable, I have no regrets. Perhaps its because I really did like working in the parks, it has been my lifelong interest, so I had a job that I wanted to do. As I got older, I began to realize how many good and talented people I got to work with, my free time was where I wanted to be. Additionally, I came to realize how many interesting visitors I was meeting on a daily basis. People from both all over the US and the world. Be it in the campgrounds, in the visitor center or especially on the trails, my first love, the job became more enjoyable as I got older. I also had the opportunity to work with some first rate managers and to meet employees of sister agencies. No, I would have to say from own experience, in any case, that someone who loves the outdoors, enjoys meeting people, and is interested in public lands management, well. it would be hard to beat working for the NPS.