Pros
The individuals working here are genuinely devoted to helping the public and do a good job of remaining objective, which allows them to work efficiently and accurately. I started at the agency fresh out of college, and I always felt respected by my peers and management, in contrast to many people who start out at jobs and are looked down upon for their lack of experience or age. The agency has a good training system in place to provide you with the knowledge that you need to do your job. This is a key element to success at SSA as basic skills will only take you so far, and specialized knowledge that really can only be learned while at SSA is needed to carry out your job functions. Lower level management does a good job of promoting a work/life balance. You are not expected to work over 40 hours a week. If management permits (and they almost always did) you are allowed to flex in and out and stay later or come in earlier to earn up to 24 credit hours, which is nice if you needed to take time off and did not want to use your personal days. You earn 4 hours each of vacation and sick time every two weeks, so you have a total of 13 of each per year.
Cons
By nature the work is emotionally draining. The budget is such that the staff is overworked and the offices are understaffed, and naturally about half of the public does not understand this. Because of this, the work is never-ending and there isn't any downtime at all aside from lunch and the 2 mandatory 15-minute breaks each day. If you have a good manager, she'll be able to get overtime hours for the office so that you are permitted to work on Saturdays. Promotions are based more on seniority than merit, so it takes longer to work your way up here than in the corporate world. There are minimum requirements for staffing so only half of the employees are able to take vacation around the holidays, but this is managed fairly well using a rotating schedule. Upper management does not think long-term and thinks only about the numbers. Also, there was always an undertone from my other coworkers that the director was not to be trusted, so I do not stand alone in this opinion.