cybear
Full Member
sic semper ursi
Posts: 57 
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Post by cybear on Jan 18, 2008 23:38:52 GMT -5
While we wait for those phones to ring, how about let's discuss what it is that makes for a great ODAR office:
1. Location, Location, Location?
2. Office Ambience?
3. Intangibles?
Insiders, we need your wisdom here. What makes your office the best (or something less) in the land?
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Post by aljsouth on Jan 19, 2008 10:27:21 GMT -5
While we wait for those phones to ring, how about let's discuss what it is that makes for a great ODAR office: 1. Location, Location, Location? 2. Office Ambience? 3. Intangibles? Insiders, we need your wisdom here. What makes your office the best (or something less) in the land? Location -- as an Army brat I understand that there are lots of good locations in the U.S. If you are in a location you can accept, then location loses its importance. Office ambiance. I take this to mean is it a good or bad office. The job is the same but a good office makes life a lot more pleasant. By good, I mean where the local mangement does its job and the office is not simply a group of factions. I have been in both kinds. There are many kinds of bad -- incompetent and/or micromanaging HOD/supervisors/hocalj. I have also experienced one with good local managers where most employees and judges do their best. The latter is a lot better. As a judge, having a good corps of local judges makes life better as well. One or two unpleasant or lazy or simply incompetent alj's do hurt everyone else. I am happy to report these are the small minority, but cannot honestly say they don't exist. They do. Alas, many of these seem to gravitate to the HOCALJ job--maybe at some level they know they are wretched at being a judge. The best HOCALJ lets the judges do their work without mircromanaging and screens out as much of the regional attempts to do so as she can. Intangibles - I think really it is the same as ambiance. Clues: Federal buildings tend to be poor and have no parking. You will have to pay for your own parking. Think of it as ODAR tax. This is true of almost any downtown structure, where operated by GSA or not, but GSA does a very poor job. Look at the transfer list. Do people want out of a site? The raw numbers were posted and are on a thread on this board. Don't look at where people want to go, but where people want out. Some of this is geographic. People tend to want out of the rural areas. Still it may be a clue. For example, Atlanta DT is not rural but people tend to want out. I have known judges there and am told it is a terrible office in which to work. Part of this is the horrible commute but the office itself is "unhappy." |
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Post by deltajudge on Jan 19, 2008 11:38:03 GMT -5
;)Hattiesburg, MS is an excellent location if it is on the list. It is close to the Gulf Coast, Florida Panhandle and New Orleans. The city itself is a pleasant place, not too big or too small.
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Post by nonamouse on Jan 20, 2008 1:54:57 GMT -5
The people can make a less than desirable location seem better and a paradise seem like a pit.
I'm afraid of offices with really poor productivity all around. There is something wrong when no one can get any work out of the door.
I know of a couple of ODAR offices that I would want to sneak in and douse with holy water if I got assigned there. They seem to have problems year after year despite changes in management and employees. They are always coming up in a negative way on the interoffice grapevine and people are persistently trying to get out of them. It makes me wonder if they will ever turn around without a major housecleaning of personnel or divine intervention.
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Post by nyctourist on Jan 20, 2008 9:05:19 GMT -5
The best office? Anyone for which I am hired! It would become the best in my book!
nyctourist
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Post by jagghagg on Jan 20, 2008 17:31:32 GMT -5
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Post by aljsouth on Jan 20, 2008 20:25:12 GMT -5
Great site, Jagghagg.
California is a salary killer.
Compare some of the "unpopular" sites to some of the popular ones.
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