intern

senior examiner

software engineer

senior vice president

product owner

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Work at the Fed is not challenging. Working at the Fed is challenging.

Days are heavy, heavy on meetings. Meetings with no purpose or outcome. Meetings are dominated by loudest or strongest opinion in the room. 

Projects, initiatives, and objectives rarely have a clear vision or outcome communicated. No reasons behind any decisions. Collaboration is difficult as the Fed likes to operate based on rank and subject matter experts. 

Philosophy, approaches, and outcomes vary greatly department-by-department, team-by-team, individual-by-individual. That makes communication feel all over the place. Where do I go to do what? Where was that info? What of a myriad of sites with logins do I go?

There is executive and management propaganda to innovate and think differently, but actions speak louder than words. Innovate and ideate within the accepted parameters of executives and management. Ideation and mindset shifts get shut down very very quickly. Innovation is non-existent, but they claim moving the organization closer to private sector baselines as "innovation."

There are good pockets of enjoyable employees. Smaller pockets of push-the-outside-edge types. Most employees are insular punch-in, punch-out, don't rock my boat types. Counting days to next vacation and retirement. Employees at the Fed operate by a "convince me" stance. Little to no curiosity or desire to understand different perspectives. General lethargy. The ones who have energy and want to drive change get pulled, pushed, frustrated, and either assimilate, leave, or burn out.

Technology is okay. Similar to other places. But they have a one-size-fits-all approach to computers and software. Need something different to do basic tasks of your job/industry? Good luck convincing anyone (see above). If you do convince them, good luck finding out how to get it, when you'll get it, and receive it in under six months. If it isn't made by Microsoft, also, good luck. Robust modern tools for managing email campaigns (internal or external), project communication, customer/public relations, external projects/comms with businesses and other external entities are non-existent. When you vocalize a need for these basic business operational tools, the IT folks look at you like you're insane. So if you want it, it comes out of your budget! And don't ask for help maintaining it.

Also, they give everyone iPhones but lock everything down and give you special apps to do basic things like check your calendar. The apps are terrible and don't sync with info on your laptop. All of this renders your iPhone useless. But you better carry it around (along with your personal phone) just in case! And they send you angry emails if you don't maintain your iPhone software and apps versions correctly. High maintenance laptops and phone, but low value.

Back to budgets. Always being cut or frozen. Yet there's always money for some big initiative that you're unclear on the need or outcome. When asking for travel and conference permission and getting reimbursement, the org treats you like you're running a Ponzi scheme. You're not trusted.

Building is antiquated with inconsistent environments and amenities. No uniform identity to different areas and floors. It reinforces a feeling of have vs. have nots among departments. 

Bathrooms are awful. Small, echo environments where you can hear every small tiny sound. The bathroom locations are inconvenient and difficult to locate the first time. Meetings get out on the hour and there's a rush-hour-like rat race for bathrooms. Yes, this does have an impact on your job and work well-being.

The most enjoyable part of the job are the benefits. Most people are nice in the polite and helpful personal sense. There is a decent gym at the Fed. You're not going to be pushed too hard (at least not in the thinking sense).

A typical day at the Fed began at 8:00 AM with a morning 10 minute break, hour lunch, and and afternoon 10 minute break.  Close of business was at 5 PM.  There were days where overtime work was needed in the Check Collection Department but it was not a usual practice.  I learned to prioritize my workload and juggle requests from multiple people.  The culture of the workplace was all business, yet allowed for social interaction during meetings, breaks, and after hour activities.  The hardest part of the first job was learning to prioritize the many requests.  In the executive support position, the hardest part was learning the AVP's expectations.  The most enjoyable part of the job was the excitement of working within the Federal Reserve system, learning about our country's banking and money system, and the excitement of working in the downtown setting.

I have seen a lot of changes over the years, some good but some bad.  After the financial crisis the focus on documenting all aspects of work has taken over and we spend more time documenting then we do on the actual work.  Thus, the work-life balance has shifted, what used to be one of the best features is there in theory, but usually we are too busy working on core work to take advantage.  Management and the officer teams have given in to pressures and do not support staff in maintaining an acceptable workload and work life balance.  Still have great benefits (although seeing some changes) and continual learning opportunities.

Highly political work environment. Benefits are good, but not outstanding. The Fed Bank will go through purges and staff will be let go with no warning.  Co-workers are kind and hard working. The local branch is overseen in a heavy handed manner from the headquarters in Cleveland. Very cliquish atmosphere with some people promoted well beyond their capabilities or skills depending upon who they are friends with.  Senior management promotes employee engagement, but most is lip service. Very similar atmosphere to Social Security or other government office.

Tough environment, new managers found reasons to get rid of current experienced staff and bring in new unqualified friends. Didn’t really get much done, most time was spent in meetings or dealing with random whims of senior management. They offer nice 401k and pension, but require 5 year vesting and most younger people hated the environment and left before then. Managers took most credit and bonuses, even when barely involved in projects they took credit.

The FED was a great plCe to work when i started.  The work environment has become stressful as well  the officer group slanted grooming the younger employees for future officer and management position opening .  At the same time overlooking older seasoned  individuals .  This has made for a hostile work environment on many teams in supervision and regulation.

The salary is good. The benefits are awesome. The culture is maddening. But I can't find another job in Cleveland because I have too many skills and the jobs are low-paying. I'm stuck where I am. It's ok, but I would like to do something more dynamic...The Fed is a decent place to work, even though promotions only happen for particular types of people (In MBTI terms, only "J" types and "ENTPs" get promoted.)

Worked under strict deadlines and responded to emergency.The hardest part of the job is making sure the money file are transfer by
the set deadline.  My co-workers had become my best friends.  We had each other back and worked as a team. It take teamwork to sometime get the job done.

Run unless you thrive in a cut throat environment and love to step on others to get ahead. This was a mean girl atmosphere with a focus totally on reputation. As long as it and they look good it didn’t matter so much what your work ethic or output was. Your work could be great but if the right person dislikes you, you will be  tortured. However, they pay enough money to make you forget that you are human and should be treated as such.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is an amazing place to work the people are nice and there are many ways to network and meet new people. This company is an amazing place to intern because they give you a real taste of what you will be doing once you are finished with your education and you will leave with mentors that will help you along the way.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Intern 3 salaries reported	$19.67 per hour
Senior examiner 1 salary reported	$141,350 per year
Software engineer 4 salaries reported	$123,663 per year
Senior vice president 4 salaries reported	$340,000 per year
Product owner 4 salaries reported	$109,325 per year

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