administrative assistant

director of social services

senior correction officer

benefit specialist

correctional officer

State of Washington

I worked for DSHS for exactly 4 weeks. Working there was a COMPLETE nightmare. Out of that 4 weeks, HR did not have me in their system for almost 2 weeks, then IT took another 2 weeks to add me into their systems. Because it took so long, I could barely do any job related training or on-the-job training. Instead, I was given a book to read about work place interaction and forced to job shadow a lower level employee the entire time, where she showcased a job function I wouldn't even be performing. The manager told me she provided me more than enough to do and that training was not in her work load, so it was my fault I was not getting anywhere in the job.

When I was offered the job, I told the manager that I had a handful of family related commitments over a six-month period that were non-negotiable, and she agreed to give me the time off, but she never provided any written documentation agreeing to it. Immediately before she  released me from employment during the probationary period, she called me a liar and stated that she never agreed to it, and that it was unacceptable for me to put my family before a job.

The manager then came in on her scheduled day off (the last business day of the month) to drop the surprise on me that she was going to release me from my employment, specifically doing it on that day so that the State would not have to provide me health insurance. Because she did not provide me enough notice, the State was required to provide severance pay, which would push my pay into the next calendar month. What's worse is that she swore to me I would be considered an employee then, and that my health insurance would take effect, knowing full well I had a doctor's appointment the following week. She lied to my face to ensure I would not only go without health insurance, but I would be unable to sign up for health insurance on the exchange and incur significant costs.

The HR manager covered for the manager and only provided "I don't know where she got that information." Only after many emails did she finally admit that I had a right to appeal to the Public Employees Benefit Board to review whether it was appropriate to exclude me from health insurance. Ultimately, PEBB agreed that I was an employee through the following month because of the severance pay. Four months after this happened, I am still dealing with DSHS and the health insurance to get one trip to the doctor's office paid.

Working there was a nightmare. I worked for the federal government doing the same job for almost a decade before I took this position and I have never seen so much mismanagement, bad behavior, and conniving backstabbing. The manager would even follow employees into the restroom while they went to use the toilet to ensure that they weren't "wasting time."

I worked for the Employment Security Department in Spokane.  

The good:  I was hired at $12/hr and 50 weeks later had sufficient promotions to make $17.75/hr.  

The bad:  Everything else.  When I started, the agency was about to roll out it's new eServices platform.  Trouble being, the platform was riddled with bugs to the point of 90% inoperability and Management decided to give everyone about an hour of training on this completely new system.  Chaos ensued while Management put out memos about how great the new system was working.

Because nobody seemed to be doing anything to fix the problems I decided to help.  I wrote a detailed 9 page list of every bug with the system.  I shopped the list to everyone with any power I came across, none seemed to care or take interest, including the supervisor of the web platform help desk.  

I then wrote a 200 page extraordinarily detailed technical guide for how eServices actually worked, how to get around the bugs, how to troubleshoot every known issue.  I did this on my breaks and lunches over a three month period.  The supervisor of the web platform help desk then claimed it had all been her idea and took full credit.

And so on and so forth.  I kept coming up with ways to improve, Management kept coming up with reasons to do nothing about the myriad of issues.  I'd hand deliver a solution in a bow and they'd refuse to open it.  

They are very busy, Management.  But they don't actually fix anything, ever.  They constantly ask their staff for ideas for improvement, but never implement any of it.

The day before they fired me an exasperated Manager told me point blank to stop coming up with LEAN ideas, this after I asked about the status of a project I'd brought to her a couple months prior.

The next day she fired me saying I was, "Not a good fit."  Indeed!  The motto of ESD should be:  Effort Without Accomplishment. 

Should you choose to work there keep your head down, do what you're told and ONLY what you're told, take no initiative whatsoever, and never rock the boat.

I worked in the Children's Administration office in Everett, WA. The management team is terrible. There is no leadership in that office whatsoever. My supervisor had no supervision skills. When coworkers left, the supervisor would find errors in the cases, which is surprising because you would think that those errors would be caught during  your staffing times. 

In addition, the office has a high turn over rate. I worked there for eight months and 10 people left. The supervisors say they want you to only work 40 hours a week but if you don't get your work done, you'll get in trouble. As a social worker, it's impossible to get all the work done within 40 hours a week. 

As with many organizations there is always room for improvement with policies and procedures. In the Everett office, they waste so much time doing paperwork that is not necessary. AND you're always running around trying to get 10 signatures for one form! 

My supervisor would text me late at night asking if I completed x-y-z tasks. Not professional. 

There is no room for growth unless you're in the "in" crowd. 

Lastly, the pay is not good. Prior to working for the State of Washington, I worked for child welfare services in Colorado. I took a 12,000/year pay cut. Although Washington is beautiful, I wish I would have never taken the job. 

I was in the field for 11 years and it's amazing how one bad supervisor can drive you out of the field. I'm changing careers. 

My recommendation: Don't work there - it's not worth the stress and without the proper leadership, you'll fail. 

I've had various positions throughout the State of Washington's social service sectors, and my primary concern is every single one of them fixates on micro management of time usage and old school mentality of efficient work equates more work to be applied.  Case loads have always been excessive, and every retention and management plan is oriented towards functionally full staffing, despite never being able to maintain full status.  If there is a secure and successful team, it is usually disrupted by an administrative interruption dividing up the team in hopes of capturing the magic of the successful team and dispersing it across the office, instead of exploring basis for their success.  They have minimal incentives to offer as a government employer, yet continue to create arbitrary restrictions such as requiring a return to offer / hybrid work expectation for an already impossible job.  

Do you enjoy being treated respectfully? Do you like knowing what you're doing? Do you prefer to be treated like a worthwhile person? 

You won't find that working for the state of Washington. At least not in the Department of Enterprise Services. At DES, there is no work/life balance. Do you want holidays off? How unfortunate, because they will force you to work holidays. Do you like to be listened to and heard when you speak? You won't find that here.

At the state, expect to be constantly thrown into drama and wish you could leave the cliques in high school. Every day is a new opportunity to be mansplained or told you're wrong--even though you're right. Communication? Who needs it here! Everyone just assumes everyone else will take care of it, so nothing gets done! No one knows anything, and every task has at least 10 unspoken steps. Because why would you want to be efficient? Don't expect friendly behavior unless you're aware that you will be talked about behind your back. 

Basically, RUN from working for the state of Washington. There are a few good people, but they get beaten out by the favorites who know how to butter up the higher-ups. 

(P.S. if you identify as 2SLGBTQIAP+, don't expect to be taken seriously. You will be misgendered and you will be a target.)

What is the best part of working at the company?
Hostile working environment is allowed by local management. a team is only as strong as its weakest link. When management allows 1 member of a 6 person team, to do what they want, when they want and blatantly allow that individual to rude and disrespectful to new hires, it’s an atmosphere, I will not continue being a part of. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Working with the most immature individual who is allowed to do what they want and when they want. Followed by excuses that said individual (in their late 30’s) has had a “hard life”. As if they are the only one in the world. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I thoroughly enjoy what I do. The environment and culture Washington state says they expect is far from what happens in the local office (Clarkston WA).  It is an atmosphere where bullying is allowed. Disrespectful, demeaning behavior is allowed. If I could transfer offices, I would in a heartbeat. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Busy and a tad stressful when 4 coworkers are working to get clients out the door as soon as possible, while 1 literally disappears outside smoking or sleeping in their vehicle.

Eight months part time work experience in Administrative Technology at Highline Community College which included two internships. The first involved planning, designing, building, testing, and troubleshooting a telecommunications closet which included a PBX Phone System. The second involved research, testing, and configurations used to deploy agents for service monitoring, single point patching, and reporting of a Microsoft Windows Server Infrastructure utilizing the Dell KACE K1000 Management Center.
• Corrected errors in the patch download process that prevented the Dell KACE K1000 Appliance from updating patch signatures for various operating systems which completely disabled the appliances ability to deploy patch updates to 114 critical network servers which support 16,000 students, 1,200 faculty and staff, and 2,800 workstations.
• Guided two Interns in learning basic industry telecommunications troubleshooting practices using knowledge gained through telecom internship project as well as previous work experience.

A typical day is filled with meetings in and out of the office, required travel,  interaction with other state agencies, high volume of emails, phone calls, virtual meetings. Opportunities abound and the door is open to new talent but OSPI is an organization with a revolving door and new faces don't last long due to mismanagement and agency-wide bad practices.  Extremely demanding workload with high expectations and low support, no work life balance.  Employees engage in crafty political internal practices, absent leadership,  gullible HR office that allows inmates to run the ship, repetitive problems never dealt with, zero transparency, closed door conversations, people running scared and afraid for their jobs and some just walk out. If you are a teacher or administrator who truly wants to make a difference in the lives of children and you are thinking of working there, keep looking and find another place to use your skills as an educator.

Management is not supportive and coworkers rarely spoke to me. Tasks were always unclear and expectations were high. The department seemed less interested in helping families and more interested in either taking custody of the children, or leaving the situation exactly as we found it. When I tried to provide services to improve the situation, as we were trained to do, I was told I was making the wrong choice. Management said they wanted me to check in more often, but every time I went to their office, I was shooed away regardless of what time I went or how many times I tried to go, phone calls to supervisor were rarely returned, text messages were ignored, and emails "got lost in their inbox." Criticism was constant, but there was never anything concrete to improve, and there was very little positive feedback or guidance. When something went wrong, I was not permitted to give my side of the story, and was treated as though I was incompetent.

DOC - Department of Corrections
After 25 years as a corrections officer,  I would NOT recommend this job to anyone. It is one job that you will never truly feel appreciated, nor paid enough for. 
You WILL always have to work some 16 hour shifts for this job during the month.
Do not expect management to look out for your best interest. They do a lot of talking.  For line staff as a correction officer; they will never in the end truly represent you.
Even the union will often side with management over the concerns of the members.
The stress over the job, and all that comes down from management.  This job has a LARGE turnover rate.
Yes, the pay is decent and the benefits good. However, most will tell you. If you want less stress, more family time, and a job that gives you a feeling of worth doing. This is NOT it!
If you noticed, I DID NOT begin to even talk about the actual job. All that it requires will NOT be for MOST people.  Remember: You're working in a prison!! Enough said!
State of Washington expectations for line staff for this environment, change EVERY year!!!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Administrative assistant 195 salaries reported	$4,735 per month
Director of social services 211 salaries reported	$6,608 per month
Senior correction officer 230 salaries reported	$6,293 per month
Benefit specialist 248 salaries reported	$5,218 per month
Correctional officer 109 salaries reported	$6,998 per month

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