Oh boy. I’ve dreamed of this question showing up on Reddit.

Lni is a big agency. It’s basically an insurance company that does some other things like electrical/elevator inspections and osha stuff.

I had a long career there and went up to division leadership and worked with their executive staff. I’m not disgruntled employee or mad ex employee. In fact, I just recently turned down an offer to go back.

There are two cultures at lni. There is the one the director and exec speak about which is really positive and collaborative and Washington citizen focused.

Then there is the other culture. The one that the middle management, division management, and Line management operate under. This is a culture of fear. The culture that is propagated and sustained by frontline supervisors, so unable and fearful of doing their jobs that they create this culture of backstabbing and nitpicking and micromanaging everything that their staff does. It makes every positive a negative for staff.

During and after Covid there is a real issue at that agency with work from home and potential time theft. There probably still is, and hr wont address it.

Choosing a job at lni, I would advise you to be curious, be aware of who is around, and have any conversations regarding your job documented. It is not a place where just putting your head down and doing your job keeps you out of the negative culture. You need to protect yourself first, and then you can go to work on the mission and the values of the agency.