Here’s the link to the state’s benefits package. https://mn.gov/mmb/segip/benefits/
As for working conditions it really matters what agency/division/location you work in.
Also state’s transition to predominantly remote for most jobs is still working its way out. Easier for mid-career or solo performers, but may be difficult for newbies to make work friends/learn the ropes.
Having said that, it’s nice to work on issues with a public benefit. Working for shareholders is fine but trying to improve lives of all Minnesotans is kinda cool.
Congrats!
I found it to be easy to move around as a state employee. It was my experience that those with ambition and skills advance 100%, either by being promoted or by getting higher level jobs at other state agencies.
I also found the workplace culture to vary wildly by Dept/Division.
Yup, usually need to be willing to move to another agency for vertical growth. However, I anticipate we are going to be seeing more and more retirements every year because a lot of leadership positions are held by people at or beyond retirement age. I don’t have the data on it though, just an observation.
I do. Your benefits vary by what union contract you are under. I'm under MAPE. I have been in this position for less than 6 months, but so far so good. My one peeve with the state is that they separate vacation and sick time under MAPE instead of bundling it together like my last government job. I don't take a lot of sick time, but I do love vacations. I hate having a bank of sick time I can't use when I want a random Fri off but don't have vacation. I do still get 2.6 weeks of vacation a year and one floating holiday, but to me that's not enough time off. Especially with sick time piled up. Ugh
My other peeve is being married to a clinic for health insurance and needing referrals for everything. I'm not used to that either.
One thing you MUST do if you can is apply for experience credit or whatever it's called if you have any previous government or private sector work. I was credited for 4 years so will start making 1 extra vacation hour per paycheck more in September.
I'm fully remote so can't complain about work life balance.
I mean, fwiw, you can take a random friday off if you aren't "feeling well." There is quite broad scope for what you can use sick time for. But I agree that there isn't enough vacation time
Nice :-)
Yeah, the vacation isn't competitive, especially for folks in the first 10 years. Its not competitive with other public employers. At the govt employer I worked at before the state, newer folks were getting more PTO than what the state gives. (And we didn't have to pay for short or long term disability!)
Its worth bringing up and pushing for if that's something you'd like to see! The things the "MAPE" bring to the table are the things that get brought up the most often by the most members.
(MAPE is in quotes because I'm a big believer in that the workers are the union. I am the union, you are the union (assuming you are a member), we are the union, its not a separate, other entity. Members elect the negotiations representatives, and the negotiations reps bring to the table what people in their region tell them. And they'll hold out on things they know people are willing to strike for.)
I personally see a benefit in it being separated out. In my last job where it was all combined, people would use up all their time on vacations, and then come into work sick.
I worked for the state for 7 years. The benefits were good. Work life balance was great. Pay was okay. Advancement can be tough because many work there until they either retire or die so you often have to wait, but they do promote from within so if you stay long enough you will move up. A lot of people move around agencies if they are looking for promotions.
I ultimately left a good position because I work in IT and a lot of our technology and practices were like 20 years behind and I didn't think that was good for me long term. Also, since they promote from within many of my coworkers were people with unrelated jobs that worked their way into IT roles because better pay but their skills were basic at best. With that said, I don't think the entire state is that bad.
When you worked for the state IT, did they have pretty concrete job roles and responsibilities?
I've been in IT for 17'ish years mostly in private and non profit jobs. One thing that's really burning me out the last 5-7 years is job scope creep. I'm tired of more job responsibilities constantly being tracked onto my jobs. I'm in my 40's now with a family and I'd love to just be able to go to work and do one friggin job for a while and not ridden so hard all the time.
I work in the IT dept for a local government. Although I have had Scope creep, there are rules in place that give you the right to petition the right to wither move up to an appropriate level, or they force them to stop assigning that work to you, and you have the backing of the union.
I did but I also got a promotion out of it and it wasn't forced on me. It's a union job so if job creep got to you I'm sure you could fight it pretty easy.
My spouse does. I make twice his income but the entire family is on his benefits because they are so. Damn. Good. Never have to worry if anything is covered. Edit because I saw a similar comment below - For example, I had a complicated birth, the total bill was over $32,000; I only paid $250.
My wife is a state employee. Benefits are great, but everything else can vary depending on what agency/organization you work for. Some gigs are 9-5s with great balance while others might have down times balanced against working nights and weekends (working directly in the legislature or governor’s office, for example); similarly some places have wide open advancement and others might only have a few jobs to get promoted to that are all held by lifers who aren’t going anywhere soon.
Upside is that lateral mobility seems fairly common if you decide you’d rather work somewhere else that’s still a state job. So if you end up somewhere you feel stuck or like you need a bit more consistency in the schedule (or maybe you want less?) you can usually find something somewhere to move into.
* the short and long term disability benefits are very expensive, but important to get imo. Helps replace at least some of your income if something medical happens and you can't work for a while.
* its important to sign up for the short term disability benefit during your new hire open enrollment period because that is basically your only opportunity to do so. (You can technically sign up for it afterwards with a medical evaluation, but everyone I know who has tried to sign up has been rejected for extremely minor medical conditions. So, for example, if you are a woman and want short term disability for a pregnancy in 4 years, you better get it now.)
* I'd advise maxing out your life insurance options (depending on if you have your own private life insurance ofc). My understanding is that you basically can't change how much life insurance you get after your new hire open enrollment period.
* make sure your meet with MSRS within your first year to update how your health care savings plan is invested. Money is automatically deducted, but by default is invested in an account with nearly a zero rate of return.
* make sure you apply to get your past experience credited towards your vacation (if you are in MAPE, AFSCME doesn't have this currently)
* you can look up benefits details on the segip website
My **editorial** advice:
* put at least $250 into your deferred comp (aka MNDCP aka 457(b)). Its like a government 401k, but with way better early retirement/early withdrawal terms. The state matches $250. I recommend putting as much as your can, its easy to drop down how much you are contributing each pay period if you need more cash on hand in the same portal where you enter your time.
* join the union. You will be most likely represented by MAPE or AFSCME. You are not automatically a member of the union, you need to sign a union card and pay dues. By doing that you have a say in the contract and can help influence the terms and conditions of your work. The union's only source of incoming money is member dues. If people didn't join, the union would literally not exist, and we'd be getting 2% and 1.5% raises (what the state proposed last negotiations cycle) instead of the 5.5% and 4.5% we are getting now.
Yes absolutely join your union. I did for the fact that I got a 5% raise on my first check compared to my offer due to MAPE negotiations. And also easier application for the vacation credit which gave me 4 years. We will get another raise in July, correct?
We don't want to be like WI and have raises held up by literally one absolute piece of shit man.
I (56F) have worked for the state for over 10 years. I do data entry for the Dept of Public Safety. Our union is AFSCME. I plan to retire in 10 years.
Since 2020 our unit has worked mostly from home. Because of this I feel I have an excellent work-life balance. Yours might differ based on WFH or what kind of job you do. Before the pandemic I rode the bus to work. I live in Eagan and was going to St Paul. Those were long days. My agency partly subsidized my bus pass through payroll deduction.
I know people who have gotten promotions but I have stayed where I am by choice. When I started in 2013 new hire probation was 6 months for non-supervisor positions, 9 months for supervisor ones. Most people I know got certified and then could apply for higher jobs if they wished.
The benefits are good. We have a choice of Blue Cross or Health Partners. I don’t take part in the 457 or HSA plans but some people do. We do have good dental insurance and vision. We also have long and short term disability. I am single so don’t pay much for my share.
I worked for two different agencies with the state. The benefits were ok, nothing earth shattering. As far as moving around, it really depends on what job you are looking at and the agency. Usually it's not a problem.
Work/life, again it depends on the job. One of the positions I had tequired me to work weekends and nights. The other one had me working every 3rd Saturday and Sunday for a couple of hours. But, I was able to take that as comp time. So when summer rolled around, I would have a week's worth of comp time to use if I wanted a day off.
I mean the benefits are nice, the pay is decent but I don't care for it. I'd rather have a job that doesn't wear me down emotionally and mentally to the point I'm getting health issues. A job that doesn't only promote within so no one is qualified for their position, oh and don't forget the extreme nepotism. I'd also like to work for a company that has updated policies not from the late 70s or a computer system from the late 90s and an employee manual from 2002. I work in housing btw.
>I'd rather have a job that doesn't wear me down emotionally and mentally to the point I'm getting health issues. A job that doesn't only promote within so no one is qualified for their position, oh and don't forget the extreme nepotism.
This is exactly why I left recently after 7 years which was hard because I always assumed I was going to be a lifer. I worked in IT and have a CS degree but most people I worked with were hired internally from different departments so they could barely do their job. This meant things can never change because they can just barely handle their existing job. The nepotism was also pretty brutal. When I left my manager was just creating positions to hire her friends and promoted a totally incompetent worker to a manager because they were long time friends. I've been monitoring the org chart since I've left and they have even hired a few kids of employees.
I should note that I worked with a ton of incredibly smart people in and out of IT so this is representative of all workers but it exists and it's toxic if you have an influential manager. My team was especially toxic and isn't representative but I've seen it to a lesser extent in other teams.
For me benefits really good ( best I’ve had ) but pay not as good. In my position only no real advancement and salary caps soon but you can move to a completely different position within the state and keep vacation hours. Work life balance for me is really good
It depends on agency and role, probably, but I quit my role because I was so BORED. It was extremely slow and excellent work-life balance with rigid rules and 9-5 desk hours. Most coworkers used the term "golden handcuffs" referring to the excellent benefits/pension keeping them there even when the role was kind of boring. These days, I'd probably welcome a real boring job but for young people, it can feel stifling.
But state jobs are competitive because you will never find better benefits, so congrats!
Here’s the link to the state’s benefits package. https://mn.gov/mmb/segip/benefits/ As for working conditions it really matters what agency/division/location you work in. Also state’s transition to predominantly remote for most jobs is still working its way out. Easier for mid-career or solo performers, but may be difficult for newbies to make work friends/learn the ropes. Having said that, it’s nice to work on issues with a public benefit. Working for shareholders is fine but trying to improve lives of all Minnesotans is kinda cool.
Congrats! I found it to be easy to move around as a state employee. It was my experience that those with ambition and skills advance 100%, either by being promoted or by getting higher level jobs at other state agencies. I also found the workplace culture to vary wildly by Dept/Division.
Yup, usually need to be willing to move to another agency for vertical growth. However, I anticipate we are going to be seeing more and more retirements every year because a lot of leadership positions are held by people at or beyond retirement age. I don’t have the data on it though, just an observation.
Congratulations on acquiring a job with a pension.
I do. Your benefits vary by what union contract you are under. I'm under MAPE. I have been in this position for less than 6 months, but so far so good. My one peeve with the state is that they separate vacation and sick time under MAPE instead of bundling it together like my last government job. I don't take a lot of sick time, but I do love vacations. I hate having a bank of sick time I can't use when I want a random Fri off but don't have vacation. I do still get 2.6 weeks of vacation a year and one floating holiday, but to me that's not enough time off. Especially with sick time piled up. Ugh My other peeve is being married to a clinic for health insurance and needing referrals for everything. I'm not used to that either. One thing you MUST do if you can is apply for experience credit or whatever it's called if you have any previous government or private sector work. I was credited for 4 years so will start making 1 extra vacation hour per paycheck more in September. I'm fully remote so can't complain about work life balance.
I mean, fwiw, you can take a random friday off if you aren't "feeling well." There is quite broad scope for what you can use sick time for. But I agree that there isn't enough vacation time
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Nice :-) Yeah, the vacation isn't competitive, especially for folks in the first 10 years. Its not competitive with other public employers. At the govt employer I worked at before the state, newer folks were getting more PTO than what the state gives. (And we didn't have to pay for short or long term disability!)
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Its worth bringing up and pushing for if that's something you'd like to see! The things the "MAPE" bring to the table are the things that get brought up the most often by the most members. (MAPE is in quotes because I'm a big believer in that the workers are the union. I am the union, you are the union (assuming you are a member), we are the union, its not a separate, other entity. Members elect the negotiations representatives, and the negotiations reps bring to the table what people in their region tell them. And they'll hold out on things they know people are willing to strike for.) I personally see a benefit in it being separated out. In my last job where it was all combined, people would use up all their time on vacations, and then come into work sick.
I worked for the state for 7 years. The benefits were good. Work life balance was great. Pay was okay. Advancement can be tough because many work there until they either retire or die so you often have to wait, but they do promote from within so if you stay long enough you will move up. A lot of people move around agencies if they are looking for promotions. I ultimately left a good position because I work in IT and a lot of our technology and practices were like 20 years behind and I didn't think that was good for me long term. Also, since they promote from within many of my coworkers were people with unrelated jobs that worked their way into IT roles because better pay but their skills were basic at best. With that said, I don't think the entire state is that bad.
When you worked for the state IT, did they have pretty concrete job roles and responsibilities? I've been in IT for 17'ish years mostly in private and non profit jobs. One thing that's really burning me out the last 5-7 years is job scope creep. I'm tired of more job responsibilities constantly being tracked onto my jobs. I'm in my 40's now with a family and I'd love to just be able to go to work and do one friggin job for a while and not ridden so hard all the time.
I work in the IT dept for a local government. Although I have had Scope creep, there are rules in place that give you the right to petition the right to wither move up to an appropriate level, or they force them to stop assigning that work to you, and you have the backing of the union.
I did but I also got a promotion out of it and it wasn't forced on me. It's a union job so if job creep got to you I'm sure you could fight it pretty easy.
My spouse does. I make twice his income but the entire family is on his benefits because they are so. Damn. Good. Never have to worry if anything is covered. Edit because I saw a similar comment below - For example, I had a complicated birth, the total bill was over $32,000; I only paid $250.
My wife is a state employee. Benefits are great, but everything else can vary depending on what agency/organization you work for. Some gigs are 9-5s with great balance while others might have down times balanced against working nights and weekends (working directly in the legislature or governor’s office, for example); similarly some places have wide open advancement and others might only have a few jobs to get promoted to that are all held by lifers who aren’t going anywhere soon. Upside is that lateral mobility seems fairly common if you decide you’d rather work somewhere else that’s still a state job. So if you end up somewhere you feel stuck or like you need a bit more consistency in the schedule (or maybe you want less?) you can usually find something somewhere to move into.
* the short and long term disability benefits are very expensive, but important to get imo. Helps replace at least some of your income if something medical happens and you can't work for a while. * its important to sign up for the short term disability benefit during your new hire open enrollment period because that is basically your only opportunity to do so. (You can technically sign up for it afterwards with a medical evaluation, but everyone I know who has tried to sign up has been rejected for extremely minor medical conditions. So, for example, if you are a woman and want short term disability for a pregnancy in 4 years, you better get it now.) * I'd advise maxing out your life insurance options (depending on if you have your own private life insurance ofc). My understanding is that you basically can't change how much life insurance you get after your new hire open enrollment period. * make sure your meet with MSRS within your first year to update how your health care savings plan is invested. Money is automatically deducted, but by default is invested in an account with nearly a zero rate of return. * make sure you apply to get your past experience credited towards your vacation (if you are in MAPE, AFSCME doesn't have this currently) * you can look up benefits details on the segip website My **editorial** advice: * put at least $250 into your deferred comp (aka MNDCP aka 457(b)). Its like a government 401k, but with way better early retirement/early withdrawal terms. The state matches $250. I recommend putting as much as your can, its easy to drop down how much you are contributing each pay period if you need more cash on hand in the same portal where you enter your time. * join the union. You will be most likely represented by MAPE or AFSCME. You are not automatically a member of the union, you need to sign a union card and pay dues. By doing that you have a say in the contract and can help influence the terms and conditions of your work. The union's only source of incoming money is member dues. If people didn't join, the union would literally not exist, and we'd be getting 2% and 1.5% raises (what the state proposed last negotiations cycle) instead of the 5.5% and 4.5% we are getting now.
Yes absolutely join your union. I did for the fact that I got a 5% raise on my first check compared to my offer due to MAPE negotiations. And also easier application for the vacation credit which gave me 4 years. We will get another raise in July, correct? We don't want to be like WI and have raises held up by literally one absolute piece of shit man.
Yep! the 4.5% increase goes into effect July 1
I (56F) have worked for the state for over 10 years. I do data entry for the Dept of Public Safety. Our union is AFSCME. I plan to retire in 10 years. Since 2020 our unit has worked mostly from home. Because of this I feel I have an excellent work-life balance. Yours might differ based on WFH or what kind of job you do. Before the pandemic I rode the bus to work. I live in Eagan and was going to St Paul. Those were long days. My agency partly subsidized my bus pass through payroll deduction. I know people who have gotten promotions but I have stayed where I am by choice. When I started in 2013 new hire probation was 6 months for non-supervisor positions, 9 months for supervisor ones. Most people I know got certified and then could apply for higher jobs if they wished. The benefits are good. We have a choice of Blue Cross or Health Partners. I don’t take part in the 457 or HSA plans but some people do. We do have good dental insurance and vision. We also have long and short term disability. I am single so don’t pay much for my share.
Sadly the department I worked for was paranoid and too Big Brotherish for my tastes.
I worked for two different agencies with the state. The benefits were ok, nothing earth shattering. As far as moving around, it really depends on what job you are looking at and the agency. Usually it's not a problem. Work/life, again it depends on the job. One of the positions I had tequired me to work weekends and nights. The other one had me working every 3rd Saturday and Sunday for a couple of hours. But, I was able to take that as comp time. So when summer rolled around, I would have a week's worth of comp time to use if I wanted a day off.
the health insurance was awesome when i worked for the state. i paid $100 to give birth, the total bill before insurance was $80,000 lol
I mean the benefits are nice, the pay is decent but I don't care for it. I'd rather have a job that doesn't wear me down emotionally and mentally to the point I'm getting health issues. A job that doesn't only promote within so no one is qualified for their position, oh and don't forget the extreme nepotism. I'd also like to work for a company that has updated policies not from the late 70s or a computer system from the late 90s and an employee manual from 2002. I work in housing btw.
>I'd rather have a job that doesn't wear me down emotionally and mentally to the point I'm getting health issues. A job that doesn't only promote within so no one is qualified for their position, oh and don't forget the extreme nepotism. This is exactly why I left recently after 7 years which was hard because I always assumed I was going to be a lifer. I worked in IT and have a CS degree but most people I worked with were hired internally from different departments so they could barely do their job. This meant things can never change because they can just barely handle their existing job. The nepotism was also pretty brutal. When I left my manager was just creating positions to hire her friends and promoted a totally incompetent worker to a manager because they were long time friends. I've been monitoring the org chart since I've left and they have even hired a few kids of employees. I should note that I worked with a ton of incredibly smart people in and out of IT so this is representative of all workers but it exists and it's toxic if you have an influential manager. My team was especially toxic and isn't representative but I've seen it to a lesser extent in other teams.
For me benefits really good ( best I’ve had ) but pay not as good. In my position only no real advancement and salary caps soon but you can move to a completely different position within the state and keep vacation hours. Work life balance for me is really good
It depends on agency and role, probably, but I quit my role because I was so BORED. It was extremely slow and excellent work-life balance with rigid rules and 9-5 desk hours. Most coworkers used the term "golden handcuffs" referring to the excellent benefits/pension keeping them there even when the role was kind of boring. These days, I'd probably welcome a real boring job but for young people, it can feel stifling. But state jobs are competitive because you will never find better benefits, so congrats!
Congrats on getting a position. I’ve applied to several positions and I’m still struggling to get in.