VA tops two Forbes best employer lists

Creating a healthy company culture that supports and encourages employees is critical to our mission of providing seamless, high-quality care to Veterans.

And our efforts are getting national attention.

Forbes recently named VA one of America’s best employers in 17 states: Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.

We were also honored as a top employer for new grads in 2020. Forbes surveyed more than 20,000 young professionals on topics like atmosphere, working conditions, salary and diversity. At VA, we are committed to supporting workers in the early stages of their career, offering many programs to help pay off debts or take their education to the next level. Whether you’re interested in an internship, pursuing our recent graduates program, or becoming a Presidential Management Fellow, VA offers a number of training and educational opportunities to accelerate your career growth.

“Listening to our employees helps us deliver better customer service to Veterans, but it also makes for happier, more motivated staff members,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie.

Commitment to our employees

We want our employees to be content, productive and inspired to stay with us — and the data demonstrates that most of them are.

“VA has one of the lowest turnover rates in the federal government, and our rate is also far below private industry,” said Crystal Cruz, executive director of Human Capital Management at the Veterans Health Administration.

“This is a great place to work,” said Cruz, citing colleagues who are committed to excellence as one of her favorite things about working at VA.

There are a number of ways we demonstrate our dedication to our employees, including:

• Flexible work arrangements and telework options to help maintain healthy work/life balance.
• Plentiful mentoring and career advancement opportunities.
• A commitment to developing a diverse workforce.

Values and mission

Shared values and mission unite our employees, and that goes a long way toward creating a workplace that feels like a team. Our ICARE core values of integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect and excellence define our culture and strengthen our dedication to Veterans.

“Those are things that keep people working for VA and make it such a great place to work,” Cruz said.

“Within weeks of joining VA, you learn pretty quickly that we all share the same vision,” agreed Russ Peal, director of Workforce Recruitment & Retention Service at the Veterans Health Administration.

Our mission of providing the best health care to Veterans also unites employees behind a common goal. In fact, if you ask an employee why they choose to work at VA, the first reason they almost always cite is the Veterans they serve.

Jessica Crabtree was a nurse in training at VA when she quickly realized there was nowhere else she would rather work.

“The more I learned about VA hospitals and the men and women who sought VA hospital health care, the more humbled I was by these extraordinary people,” Crabtree said.

At thousands of VA clinics and hospitals across the nation, workers like Crabtree start the day with a commitment to making life better for more than 9 million Veterans who risked so much to protect our freedom and our country.

“Health care is obviously an important calling, an important need all over the country, but in VA we just get that very strong sense of service to our nation’s Veterans,” Cruz said.

Work at VA

You’ll fit right in at one of the best places to work in the nation.

• SEARCH for job openings.
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• HEAR from current VA employees.
• LEARN about programs for interns and recent grads.
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