Pros
It's a job. Being a stat board, walks the Govt talk about lifelong learning and upskilling, so you have no lack of training opportunities.
Cons
- HR is hugely incompetent in their jobs. they just accede to the GDs who hold a lot of power and influence in HPB, especially over your careers. - You are never notified of the outcome of the Ranking & Performance exercise. It is an exercise that for some reasons have to be shrouded in utmost secrecy. - Rampant bad behaviour of Snr Mgmt allowed unchecked, starting from the very top and extending down to GDs, such as open verbal abuse of staff. As the Chinese saying goes, if top pillar is crooked, bottom pillar will be bent. - Sr staff committed lapses bordering on fraud and against the duties of a Public Officer get away with not even a slap on their wrists. They merely get transferred (internally or externally) so they can continue wrecking havoc and destroying the Board. - Some ADs really think they are bosses, when they are expected to carry the load of the small team they are supervising. - HPB is totally clueless about digital products, yet trying to sell koyok about it. Many depts know nuts about managing a digital product. The GovTech team in HPB is worst because they hold all the power but always push the responsibilities of ownership to other departments, so they (GovTech) have no accountability. - Beware of plenty of 'little men (or women)' spreading lies about you behind your back. - Too heavily dominated by one gender (female). While I am a female, this huge imbalance has created a culture of encouraging gossips and rumour-mongering, rather than transparent communications and making decisions based on facts. - Special Projs team decimated by inept leadership with some team members being backstabbed and forced to resigned. The new DCE is equally clueless on how to lead this team to work on 'digital transformation' projects so the new team has the odds stacked against them. Be prepqred for another round of backstabbing and firing when HPB could not deliver on its technology promises - that's how jobs are kept at the top. - Some DDs are absolutely scheming, esp. those promoted within and those internally-transferred. Beware if you are joining them - a smiling tiger is still a tiger at its core, or if you will, a leopard never changes its spots.