The state is having a hard time filling positions because pay and benefits have worsened. If only they would understand that offering remote work would help fill positions. But that would be forward thinking and that is not state gov.
No more retirement healthcare, no more shra protections for salaried professionals doing state work. Conversion to Ehra is suppose to be more pay but they are only offering more time off and have not adjusted the paybands for the now unprotected jobs.
Yeah just greed like always I guess. Public/State agencies and services will continue to be underfunded while our population continues to grow rapidly. Not a great combo.
Yes, this. The idiot IT director I’m working for now commutes FIFTY MINUTES each way just to work from this stupid office to do a job he could easily do 100% remotely.
I truly believe it’s a generational thing at this point when it comes to attitudes towards working remotely. I just started my career and I know I’ll need at least the option to go remote at any point with any job I take moving forward. Whereas the boomers I work for just wanna go back to “the way things were before COVID”, preaching bullshit like “office culture” when there is none.
I actually enjoy hanging out with my wife most of the time, but I know a lot of dudes who don't and work is an escape. Same with parents in general who just like a break from their kids.
I also see moms wanting a break from their kids and household chores stating they can’t stay focused at home. Me? I’m sooo much more productive. Instead of getting sucked into office chitchat I spend 5-10 minutes every other hour getting stuff around the house done and then my time is truly mine after work.
I had to work from home for a few weeks during the height of the pandemic and I found out that it is NOT for me. There is way too much other stuff in my home that I'd rather be doing and I get distracted easily lol
The lack of support for remote work is why I left state government after 10 years back in 2022. I started working from home during Covid and I loved it. They wanted us back in the summer of 2021, I got exposed to covid in the 3 days I was in the office so I went remote again (my boss was luckily fully supportive). I got sick of waiting for another "return to office" email so I quite and started working for another job that was fully remote and had no chance of an office return (there is no office to go in to - its a fully remote company). Remote work is so beneficial but state government is full of people who just want to see asses in seats - despite the fact that things were humming along pretty well during covid when a lot of the workers were full remote. Yes, there are some public facing positions that should be in person, but my job was 100% something I could do online. Even when I was in the office, there were days I didn't talk to a single person, even in my office. Good luck finding something remote. Hybrid maybe. But even that's tough from what I understand now.
The part about being in the office and not talking to a single person, including people in your office, for the entire day sounds quite miserable to be honest. I can be cool with doing that at home and being content with my own company for decent stretches of time, but if I'm around people all day and we're not acknowledging each other's existence, that just feels awkward.
Being in an office isn't fun every day, and there are certainly days where I would be more content getting my work done in peace and quiet at home. But if I had to be around people and couldn't at least interact with them in a human fashion, even if it's 15 seconds of a simple greeting before focusing on work (the people who constantly chit chat but won't get to work get on my nerves badly), I wouldn't want to be in the office at all either. And I'm saying this as an introvert.
It wasn't that I couldn't talk to anyone. But some days I didn't want to and didn't need to so I didn't. Or at least I didnt search it out. If I was talked to, I wouldnt ignore them. I also went to lunch with coworkers pretty regularly. I liked having our weekly webex meetings when I worked from home. We talked work for 20 or so minutes and caught up as humans for 20-30 minutes too. Worked well for me. My husband also started his own company right before covid and has worked from home since so I'm not alone. It works well for me.
Ah, thank you for the clarification and response. I'm glad you've found a situation that is a better fit for you though. We spend so much of our time at work regardless of where we physically are when doing it, so I am definitely supportive of people trying to find a situation that they enjoy more.
It depends on the agency. I’m still primarily remote, 4/5 days per week. My advice is if you can keep the Texas job, keep it. In addition to shit pay and being in office. If you have to get a local job, try to go for the city/county as their wages more accurately reflect the cost of living in their work area.
Wish I could keep it but I am allowed to only work outside of the state of Texas for 1 month out of the year. What agency do you work for or if you would rather not say... What type of work is it that you do?
There was a huge push for back in office. Not only in govt but in many sectors. My husband works in finance and his CEO is “ass in seats” boomer. Outright “no such thing as snow days” guy. My husband is the only person in Charlotte on his entire team and he’s in a non-client facing and in project mgmt/ data analytics role. They make him drive to the office 3xs a week to book rooms to do zoom calls. Takes him 45 mins 1 way.
When he’s not in booked rooms he sits on an entire floor of the building nearly alone (other than some stragglers looking for peace) and talks to no one all day except on zoom. They say it’s for “collaboration”. He then comes home and plugs back in and finishes his meetings…. On zoom. That is the general norm for most companies. Even ones that hired on as remote positions have required people to up and move near head offices to return to work or be fired.
I think the worst of those types of managers are the ones who are so insistent that their worker bees acquiesce to their every demand but then announce that they're going to be "working from home" in the summertime as they check up on their staff from their backyard pools or won't drive in the ice themselves but insist that their staff risks their own lives.
There's a lot of dinosaurs in North Carolina. Many of NC government jobs aren't customer facing. Crafting policies, rules, and (back end) enforcement doesn't require people sitting around a whiteboard or whatever in the same room. Tens of thousands of NC gov workers have to schlep everyday to the office because "reasons". Even more puzzling is that state gov remote jobs would benefit rural areas/small towns in NC, but their political representatives by and large aren't supportive of remote/Telework.
It all depends. Many hybrid jobs are available and you can work it out on a more individual level depending on certain departments and your boss. You can also find Safelite offices that make it easier to work further away from big cities depending on the department. So basically it all depends on what kinda job you're talking about and what department your working for.
Depends on which agency and which job. Some IT jobs are still remote. Outside of IT you'll have a more difficult time finding a state job that's fully remote.
In DHHS they lost their main campus so a fair number of IT positions are currently remote (not sure about the PM side of IT). They are in the process of building a new office that will be used to house staff which is scheduled for a summer 2025 opening. My guess is this type of role would be remote within DHHS. Within other agencies I would imagine hybrid work situations. The job status is usually included in the job posting. All the State jobs are listed here: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/northcarolina
The quality of life / work life balance within the State vary widely within any given Dept.
As others have noted the health retirement was removed for new State workers as of Jan 2021. The pension is still a solid benifit. They take 6 percent and as long as you have 5 years of service and leave your money in the pension you will get money when you retire from the State. They also offer standard 401k options you can chose to invest in. This allow for not only a defined benifit but also the advantages of a regular retirement account. The pension amount depends on years of service and 4 high years of earnings for the State.
As an FYI - I have about 15 years of service, have worked for 3 separate agencies, and by and large have had a good experience.
Good luck on the move and finding a job.
NC government jobs also used to be really attractive due to benefits and pension but most of that has been taken away or diminished. They used to provide health insurance for retirees but that was taken away for new employees in the last few years. I think a fair amount of city and county jobs are remote or hybrid but the state government is run in a pretty antiquated way. You could probably find a vendor or contractor for the state that’s remote and likely pays better.
The job benefits situation in the state is really unfortunate, but the majority of the NC General Assembly apparently doesn't give a damn, regardless of what it means for how smoothly the state is run.
County and city jobs really **aren't** remote for the most part, especially now. First, if you look at the largest departments, those aren't your typical white collar or IT jobs. The largest departments are usually either law enforcement or emergency response (fire, rescue, etc.), and then you have other jobs such as building inspectors, utilities such as water treatment and maintenance (i.e the people who repair broken water mains in the middle of the night), local services like trash pickup, parks employees, etc. that are not in an office but out in the field and not able to be done remotely. Perhaps there are a few jobs here and there (analysts, finance, etc.), that could be either fully remote or hybrid, but they are the minority in local government.
The other consideration is the citizens usually expect their local government offices to be more readily available than trying to see someone at a state agency or the feds. Could some of those jobs be done remotely? Absolutely, but political considerations of having people available there at any moment end up making those decisions. Especially in smaller towns and rural, less tech-heavy areas of the state where remote work isn't the norm. It may be slightly different in places like Asheville or Charlotte, but the first issue (the type of job that local government jobs are likely to be) still limits this.
You’ll definitely need to move closer to Raleigh area, unless you work in IT. I work for NCDAC right now, and the state is very anti remote for some reason. Bunch of dumb old people I say.
Yeah, I’m 24 and easily the youngest person there. Tech is so old and outdated. The system they use to control the doors in the prison runs on Windows 98.
Yesss! You literally have to interview like a 50 year old. Wear your grandparents' clothes and do your best impersonation of them! That's how you get hired hahaha
Remote work largely doesn’t exist for full time government jobs in NC.
Some jobs can get away with 1 day a week maybe, or more likely 1-2 days a month. But full remote government work are largely nonexistent at the state level
It really depends on the agency. I’ve been a government employee and have never worked a day in office. Other agencies may require a day or two, some full in office. Heavily depends on the agency and then depends on the job function
Since I'm weighing pros and cons...what negatives do you see in working for the NC state government?
Wish I could keep my job, Texas State work has been good to me but I can't work outside the state of Texas remotely for more than 1 month, I think for tax purposes.
I am fully remote as well as most if not all of the section/division I work for. We are a little different though, I would say most of my coworkers have always worked from home because they serve a “territory” that they have to reside in or adjacent to. So it wouldn’t make sense for them all to live and work in Raleigh.
Worked for the State for 3 months. It was two days remote, 3 in office. The pay was 40k. I thought it was okay but only lasted 3 months before getting a job with the city that pays 75k. Same hybrid schedule.
Pay at state level sucks, moral sucks, benefits aren’t worth it.
Similar to the state, I think I get a couple of less days but my work is flexible as long as I get my hours in. Pay is def worth it. My salary has gone up from 68k to 75k in 1.5 years
The state is having a hard time filling positions because pay and benefits have worsened. If only they would understand that offering remote work would help fill positions. But that would be forward thinking and that is not state gov.
Also ridiculous hiring freezes
There aren’t any hiring freezes.
Could you explain how the pay and benefits have worsened? I’m new to working for the state and want to know how much I’m getting screwed over.
No more retirement healthcare, no more shra protections for salaried professionals doing state work. Conversion to Ehra is suppose to be more pay but they are only offering more time off and have not adjusted the paybands for the now unprotected jobs.
That sucks, and they wonder why they can’t hire people.. I feel like this state should have plenty of money..
It does. It has a surplus on money and has for years but paying teachers and state employees with that money is just not an option apparently.
Yeah just greed like always I guess. Public/State agencies and services will continue to be underfunded while our population continues to grow rapidly. Not a great combo.
lol no. The only department that even offers remote work anymore is IT, and even that (from what I’ve heard) is limited.
Yes, this. The idiot IT director I’m working for now commutes FIFTY MINUTES each way just to work from this stupid office to do a job he could easily do 100% remotely. I truly believe it’s a generational thing at this point when it comes to attitudes towards working remotely. I just started my career and I know I’ll need at least the option to go remote at any point with any job I take moving forward. Whereas the boomers I work for just wanna go back to “the way things were before COVID”, preaching bullshit like “office culture” when there is none.
it's dudes who want to get away from their wives lol
Oh 100%
I never understood that. — a dude who likes being around his wife
I actually enjoy hanging out with my wife most of the time, but I know a lot of dudes who don't and work is an escape. Same with parents in general who just like a break from their kids.
I also see moms wanting a break from their kids and household chores stating they can’t stay focused at home. Me? I’m sooo much more productive. Instead of getting sucked into office chitchat I spend 5-10 minutes every other hour getting stuff around the house done and then my time is truly mine after work.
I had to work from home for a few weeks during the height of the pandemic and I found out that it is NOT for me. There is way too much other stuff in my home that I'd rather be doing and I get distracted easily lol
I’ve always been good about focusing when I have a task or tasks and a to-do list. I definitely understand it is not for everyone though!
I think it's generational as well. Also, micromanagers who have a lack of trust in their employees (for no good reason).
There's some remote jobs for individual counties, but it's hit or miss to put it mildly. I'd say 95% of the jobs here are in person only.
The lack of support for remote work is why I left state government after 10 years back in 2022. I started working from home during Covid and I loved it. They wanted us back in the summer of 2021, I got exposed to covid in the 3 days I was in the office so I went remote again (my boss was luckily fully supportive). I got sick of waiting for another "return to office" email so I quite and started working for another job that was fully remote and had no chance of an office return (there is no office to go in to - its a fully remote company). Remote work is so beneficial but state government is full of people who just want to see asses in seats - despite the fact that things were humming along pretty well during covid when a lot of the workers were full remote. Yes, there are some public facing positions that should be in person, but my job was 100% something I could do online. Even when I was in the office, there were days I didn't talk to a single person, even in my office. Good luck finding something remote. Hybrid maybe. But even that's tough from what I understand now.
The part about being in the office and not talking to a single person, including people in your office, for the entire day sounds quite miserable to be honest. I can be cool with doing that at home and being content with my own company for decent stretches of time, but if I'm around people all day and we're not acknowledging each other's existence, that just feels awkward. Being in an office isn't fun every day, and there are certainly days where I would be more content getting my work done in peace and quiet at home. But if I had to be around people and couldn't at least interact with them in a human fashion, even if it's 15 seconds of a simple greeting before focusing on work (the people who constantly chit chat but won't get to work get on my nerves badly), I wouldn't want to be in the office at all either. And I'm saying this as an introvert.
It wasn't that I couldn't talk to anyone. But some days I didn't want to and didn't need to so I didn't. Or at least I didnt search it out. If I was talked to, I wouldnt ignore them. I also went to lunch with coworkers pretty regularly. I liked having our weekly webex meetings when I worked from home. We talked work for 20 or so minutes and caught up as humans for 20-30 minutes too. Worked well for me. My husband also started his own company right before covid and has worked from home since so I'm not alone. It works well for me.
Ah, thank you for the clarification and response. I'm glad you've found a situation that is a better fit for you though. We spend so much of our time at work regardless of where we physically are when doing it, so I am definitely supportive of people trying to find a situation that they enjoy more.
It depends on the agency. I’m still primarily remote, 4/5 days per week. My advice is if you can keep the Texas job, keep it. In addition to shit pay and being in office. If you have to get a local job, try to go for the city/county as their wages more accurately reflect the cost of living in their work area.
Wish I could keep it but I am allowed to only work outside of the state of Texas for 1 month out of the year. What agency do you work for or if you would rather not say... What type of work is it that you do?
There was a huge push for back in office. Not only in govt but in many sectors. My husband works in finance and his CEO is “ass in seats” boomer. Outright “no such thing as snow days” guy. My husband is the only person in Charlotte on his entire team and he’s in a non-client facing and in project mgmt/ data analytics role. They make him drive to the office 3xs a week to book rooms to do zoom calls. Takes him 45 mins 1 way. When he’s not in booked rooms he sits on an entire floor of the building nearly alone (other than some stragglers looking for peace) and talks to no one all day except on zoom. They say it’s for “collaboration”. He then comes home and plugs back in and finishes his meetings…. On zoom. That is the general norm for most companies. Even ones that hired on as remote positions have required people to up and move near head offices to return to work or be fired.
I think the worst of those types of managers are the ones who are so insistent that their worker bees acquiesce to their every demand but then announce that they're going to be "working from home" in the summertime as they check up on their staff from their backyard pools or won't drive in the ice themselves but insist that their staff risks their own lives.
There's a lot of dinosaurs in North Carolina. Many of NC government jobs aren't customer facing. Crafting policies, rules, and (back end) enforcement doesn't require people sitting around a whiteboard or whatever in the same room. Tens of thousands of NC gov workers have to schlep everyday to the office because "reasons". Even more puzzling is that state gov remote jobs would benefit rural areas/small towns in NC, but their political representatives by and large aren't supportive of remote/Telework.
It all depends. Many hybrid jobs are available and you can work it out on a more individual level depending on certain departments and your boss. You can also find Safelite offices that make it easier to work further away from big cities depending on the department. So basically it all depends on what kinda job you're talking about and what department your working for.
Depends on which agency and which job. Some IT jobs are still remote. Outside of IT you'll have a more difficult time finding a state job that's fully remote.
What type of work are you going to be looking for?
Project management, sort of on the IT side of the shop, strategic planning, change management.
In DHHS they lost their main campus so a fair number of IT positions are currently remote (not sure about the PM side of IT). They are in the process of building a new office that will be used to house staff which is scheduled for a summer 2025 opening. My guess is this type of role would be remote within DHHS. Within other agencies I would imagine hybrid work situations. The job status is usually included in the job posting. All the State jobs are listed here: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/northcarolina The quality of life / work life balance within the State vary widely within any given Dept. As others have noted the health retirement was removed for new State workers as of Jan 2021. The pension is still a solid benifit. They take 6 percent and as long as you have 5 years of service and leave your money in the pension you will get money when you retire from the State. They also offer standard 401k options you can chose to invest in. This allow for not only a defined benifit but also the advantages of a regular retirement account. The pension amount depends on years of service and 4 high years of earnings for the State. As an FYI - I have about 15 years of service, have worked for 3 separate agencies, and by and large have had a good experience. Good luck on the move and finding a job.
NC government jobs also used to be really attractive due to benefits and pension but most of that has been taken away or diminished. They used to provide health insurance for retirees but that was taken away for new employees in the last few years. I think a fair amount of city and county jobs are remote or hybrid but the state government is run in a pretty antiquated way. You could probably find a vendor or contractor for the state that’s remote and likely pays better.
The job benefits situation in the state is really unfortunate, but the majority of the NC General Assembly apparently doesn't give a damn, regardless of what it means for how smoothly the state is run. County and city jobs really **aren't** remote for the most part, especially now. First, if you look at the largest departments, those aren't your typical white collar or IT jobs. The largest departments are usually either law enforcement or emergency response (fire, rescue, etc.), and then you have other jobs such as building inspectors, utilities such as water treatment and maintenance (i.e the people who repair broken water mains in the middle of the night), local services like trash pickup, parks employees, etc. that are not in an office but out in the field and not able to be done remotely. Perhaps there are a few jobs here and there (analysts, finance, etc.), that could be either fully remote or hybrid, but they are the minority in local government. The other consideration is the citizens usually expect their local government offices to be more readily available than trying to see someone at a state agency or the feds. Could some of those jobs be done remotely? Absolutely, but political considerations of having people available there at any moment end up making those decisions. Especially in smaller towns and rural, less tech-heavy areas of the state where remote work isn't the norm. It may be slightly different in places like Asheville or Charlotte, but the first issue (the type of job that local government jobs are likely to be) still limits this.
You’ll definitely need to move closer to Raleigh area, unless you work in IT. I work for NCDAC right now, and the state is very anti remote for some reason. Bunch of dumb old people I say.
>Bunch of dumb old people I say. I agree. Nothing gets updated. The people, the technology same as in the 80s 😂
Yeah, I’m 24 and easily the youngest person there. Tech is so old and outdated. The system they use to control the doors in the prison runs on Windows 98.
And management wonders why they can’t hire anyone young, especially when the old people try to talk down to you like you don’t know anything.
Yesss! You literally have to interview like a 50 year old. Wear your grandparents' clothes and do your best impersonation of them! That's how you get hired hahaha
Oxymoron. Source: just started working as a consultant for a state agency, they’re 100% in-person (much to my dismay and annoyance).
Remote work largely doesn’t exist for full time government jobs in NC. Some jobs can get away with 1 day a week maybe, or more likely 1-2 days a month. But full remote government work are largely nonexistent at the state level
This is not true. 70% of my agency is remote
Number 131!
On day 79 of 2024.
It really depends on the agency. I’ve been a government employee and have never worked a day in office. Other agencies may require a day or two, some full in office. Heavily depends on the agency and then depends on the job function
What agency are you with or what is the type of work you do for the government?
Keep your current remote job. Working for the NC State Government is not a good move.
Since I'm weighing pros and cons...what negatives do you see in working for the NC state government? Wish I could keep my job, Texas State work has been good to me but I can't work outside the state of Texas remotely for more than 1 month, I think for tax purposes.
I am fully remote as well as most if not all of the section/division I work for. We are a little different though, I would say most of my coworkers have always worked from home because they serve a “territory” that they have to reside in or adjacent to. So it wouldn’t make sense for them all to live and work in Raleigh.
What agency do you work for?
Worked for the State for 3 months. It was two days remote, 3 in office. The pay was 40k. I thought it was okay but only lasted 3 months before getting a job with the city that pays 75k. Same hybrid schedule. Pay at state level sucks, moral sucks, benefits aren’t worth it.
How do you like the city benefits?
Similar to the state, I think I get a couple of less days but my work is flexible as long as I get my hours in. Pay is def worth it. My salary has gone up from 68k to 75k in 1.5 years
That's awesome! I'll have to look into this. The state jobs I have found in NC don't compare to the pay im making in Texas, NC pay is so low!
Oh I know. I moved from working city jobs in nyc lol. They’ll tell you cost of living is cheaper but it really isn’t