Pros
Impactful work on meaningful government policy. Great benefits. Smart, dedicated staff. The Auditors produces quality reports and has done a great job of improving the reach and audience of those reports. This work often changes the conversation and drives it forward on issue that have serious impacts on Californians.
Cons
The turnover rate of over 40% (about 4x that of a normal office) really says it all, and that is with staff having great benefits and job security. The main reason for this is tone from the top. Executive management has created an us-versus-them, fear-based culture wherein staff that start as motivated and passionate quickly realize that to excel it is much more important not to make a mistake than it is to take risks that would push the policy conversation forward. While executive management talks a big game about how much they want staff input and ownership within the organization, this quickly falls apart as soon as they get input they don’t agree with. Those that bring up that input are frequently retaliated against. On the flip side of that coin, management also has a strong system of favoritism. The job is infinitely more high stress than it needs to be due to gospel-like adherence to arbitrary timelines and often poor planning on the part of supervisors. Almost without exception, every staff member I have heard of that left the office has been much happier for it. This is certainly true of me.