The Perks - Part 2

In The Perks – Part 1 I talked about some of the NPS specific perks, like living in beautiful locations and having experiences like helicopter rides that don’t come with a “normal” job. I’ll continue the discussion of the perks of working for the park service, but today I’ll focus on federal benefits. These aren’t limited to the Park Service, but are still a major component in the trade off of higher income for a higher quality of life.

Federal employee benefits break down into four primary categories:

• Heath and insurance

• Pay and savings

• Leave and work

• Retirement

Source: http://www.usa.gov/Federal-Employees/Benefits.shtml

A complete list is far too in depth for something like this blog, so I’ll just provide an overview of the primary benefits that affect daily life for employees of the Park Service.

1. Health Insurance: NPS employees and their family members are eligible for Health, Vision, Dental, Life, and other insurances at subsidized rates. The general calculation is that the cost is split around 65/35 with the Fed paying the majority. There are different plans to choose from, and an eligible employee may choose or change plans when they are hired, and every yearly “open season” thereafter. Rates are very reasonable and coverage options are good. My rates for good coverage for myself only (no dependents, no family) are about $140 per month.

1. Retirement: Federal employees are broken down into different categories. As a new Park Service employee you would probably be in the FERS retirement system.  FERS is a three part retirement system. Parts one and two are a basic benefit plan and social security which I’m not well versed with. Part three is the Thrift Savings Plan or TSP, which is similar to a 401K account. The government automatically deposits 1% of your base pay into the account per pay period; an employee can then elect to deposit more and is eligible for matching up to 5% of their total base pay. The TSP matching layout for FERS employees is below.
   
   

1. Work schedules: These are one the perks that really make working for the Service an enjoyable experience. First, let’s start with work schedules. NPS uses many schedules, but the primary types are “Straight 8s”, “5-4-9s” or “lieu days”, and “Maxi-flex”.  Straight 8s are a “standard” work schedule.  5-4-9s or “lieu days” are a schedule where an employee works longer days, but gets one additional day per pay period (2 weeks) off. Maxi-flex allows an employee to set “core” hours that they will be available, but the rest of their scheduling is completely flexible, as long as their supervisor approves it. All of these schedules come out to 80 hours per pay period for full-time employees. The benefit of these schedules is that if you need flexibility in your life NPS tends to be very good at accommodating it. Need to pick your child up from daycare at 2pm? Start work early and finish your day to fit the schedule. Have to schedule around reoccurring responsibilities? We can make something work. I should note that this flexibility is not available to all employees, or at all locations, or all the time, but generally the Park Service is a very understanding place about personal needs.

1. Paid Leave: This is a major perk, and one that grows over time if you choose to build a federal career. When you start working for the Park Service you receive 4 hours of paid vacation and 4 hours of paid sick leave per pay period. This means that the first year you work for a park you will have 13 days of paid vacation available throughout the year. You will also have 13 days of paid sick leave, and 10 federal holidays, for a total of 36 PAID days off your first year!  Coming from the private sector this was a major surprise! The longer you work for the government the more paid leave (annual leave) you earn. Sick leave never grows beyond 4 hours per pay period, but the amount of annual leave you earn increases the longer you are in federal service.
   
   
   
   These numbers look pretty good compared to the national average of only 104 hours (13 days) per year. Many NPS employees spend their vacation time visiting other parks. So, not only do you get to live in America’s most treasured places, you can arrange your life so that you get PAID to go see more of them. For an avid outdoorsman and fan of the Park Service, this made the choice easy when deciding to work for NPS.

This list only scratches the surface of the benefits federal employees receive. Many of the little perks can add up as well, but these tend to be the biggest players in determining the balance between the high-pay, low-quality of life, and low-benefit private sector and the low-pay, high-quality of life, and high-benefit public sector.

As always, I’m happy to answer any questions anyone has and I’d love to hear your stories about life in the NPS. I'll leave you with a Grand Canyon picture from the holidays to lighten up the experience.

-CBD

Sources:

http://www.usa.gov/Federal-Employees/Benefits.shtml

http://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/fers-information/

https://www.tsp.gov/planparticipation/eligibility/typesOfContributions.shtml#agencyMatching

http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/leave-administration/fact-sheets/annual-leave/

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100769597

The Perks - Part 1

Choosing a career with the National Parks requires trade-offs in your life. Some are small, like having limited housing choices. Others are large, such as realizing that the highest pay many NPS employees will ever be able to reach is a GS-11(around $50,000) or GS-12 (around $60,000) if you work in a technical or administrative field. If you work doing something else, like maintenance, it's likely to be even less. Different jobs have different tweaks to the pay scale, but the overall situation is that you'll never make as much working for the Park Service as you would in the private sector.

In exchange for low pay you get certain perks for working for the Service, the biggest of which is living and working in the most beautiful places in the country. If you choose a skilled or trade career, you occasionally may be called upon to perform work in remote locations. These remote locations are often faster (and cheaper for the taxpayer) to access via a helicopter, as opposed to driving. This gives you, as the employee a “free” helicopter tour of an area, something that tourists pay hundreds or thousands to experience. 

The video below is from a recent flight from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon to the South Rim. Finding a way to work your position to get perks like this is one of the main reasons I work for NPS.

The idea.

The idea for this blog started as a quote written on the wall of a garage in black sharpie.

"Our lives are their vacations."

A reminder for all of us in the Park Service family that the things we see and the places we go every day are the same things that people travel across the world to see once in their entire lives.

We're very lucky, and incredibly thankful for the experiences; but familiarity breeds contempt, and our everyday experiences become ordinary, no matter how extraordinary they would appear to someone with a different perspective. This blog is a place for us to share our experiences, to provide a glimpse of what our daily lives are like in America's best idea, and to remind us how special our lives really are.

Because even when we just have a bad day, a slow day, a rough day, or even just a normal day; Our lives are their vacations.