A common expression in government work is don’t spend too much time hugging the government, because the government won’t hug you back. Basically, don’t kill yourself for your job, because at the end of the day, the government doesn’t see an individual, they see a replaceable position.

Very early on in my time in Nouakchott a more senior official told me something similar: “be careful how much you feed the government, because they will eat everything you give them, and leave you little in return”.

Although this was the first time I had heard this expression, I think the mindset is pretty much the same with any job, public or private sector, and in reality I believe government work has a few more positives going for it than private sector work. This is true especially in medicine.

For one, the State Department invests a lot money in the professional development of their people, in a way 15 years of private sector medical work never got close to. In the two years since I have become a federal employee, the State Department has invested heavily in my continuing education and developing new skills. I have been able to attend 4 different medical conferences or continuing education events, with a 5th coming later this year, and all are 100% expenses paid. I have attended 2 leadership conferences elsewhere in Africa, and also got to fly to D.C. for training on our medical inventory system. These trips represent tens of thousands of dollars for my professional development.

Thinking to the private sector, as a nurse, I was 100% on the hook for getting enough continuing education to maintain my license. When I became an NP, my first contract gave me $1000 a year to my continuing education, which will cover one conference but not the travel. My job as a hospitalist covered $1500 initially, but during COVID when our company was making record profits, they did away with CME payments completely, which really sucked. Some CEO probably needed a new yacht.

I would also say good work doesn’t go unnoticed the same way it does in the private sector. In just the two years since joining the Foreign Service, I have received multiple department awards for my work, all of which come with a very nice monetary component.

In 15 years of private sector medical work, I was named nurse of the quarter in one hospital that came with a closer parking spot and a picture on the wall. When working as a hospitalist I was named Advanced Practice Clinician of the Year for my facility, and that came with a pin and a blip in our company news letter. Nice honors to be sure, but these wealthy companies are definitely immune to monetary rewards. There are good people doing fantastic work in our nations hospitals, but it often goes unnoticed, and you have really high turnover on a level that far outpaces federal turnover. When CEO’s were getting hefty X-mas bonuses, the folks working the front lines of the pandemic were given a frozen turkey. I’ll never refuse free food, but not exactly an earth shattering thank you for your service.

When it comes to parental benefits, nothing touches the federal government. If you have a new baby, BOTH mom and dad get several weeks of paid leave not tied to their leave bank (PTO). Paternal leave doesn’t exist in most private companies, and even if mom wants to take 3 months off, she has to exhaust all her leave and sick leave if her company even offers such a thing. When we had our oldest child, I was given 1 week off because my boss felt I couldn’t miss too much work since we had just opened a new clinic. When I had my second child 6 months before I joined the Foreign Service, I had 10 days off because that company didn’t offer leave of any kind.

I think the mindset of not sacrificing your body and soul for a job is a good one, but I find it interesting that this mindset is more prevalent in government workers, when at the end of the day, the federal government takes much better care of their employees than the private sector does. Sure, dollar for dollar individuals in the private sector make more, but our faceless bureaucracy treats its workers much better than they do in private sector, and at least for me, I feel like I have been hugged back. -Nick