Pros
35 hour work week Salary becomes survivable after -15 years Lots of time off after 20 years Better than average health insurance Depending on the position, most employees don't need to worry about work calls/emails after hours
Cons
The salary started getting stuck around 2010. Many years of 0% and 1% raises has made the county the lowest paying employer in most fields. Benefits have also been chipped away since 2010. The pensions and pay scales of employees hired before 2010 are completely different from what a new hire would get. Understaffed and tons of turnover. Very old and outdated equipment. Ordering new equipment or getting essential equipment repaired can take months or years. Buildings and office furniture are old and dilapidated. We had rain coming through our roof into a few garage cans for years before it was fixed. New administration is trying to fix things up but progress is slow. Promotions are excruciatingly slow. Civil service rules may allow for promotions after a couple of years but the county often waits 6-7 years between offering promotional exams which means you're stuck. Dealing with the public can be frustrating. They don't really care that your office is understaffed, has high turnover, has out of date tools/ technology. They see their high property tax and expect commensurate service. Few realize how little of that money goes to civilian county employees. Glassdoor should really split off the civilian and law enforcement sides of the county for reviews. Suffolk police are among the best paid and compensated in the country and you should definitely take a police job if you can get it. The Suffolk civilian side should absolutely be avoided at all costs.