Pluspunten
The usual civil service perks - staggered working hours (good for parents), and the civil servants' bonus. And nothing else.
Minpunten
The bosses here are extremely unforgiving. If they can sense that you cannot be used as a tool for their own advancement, you will be "actively managed" out of their payroll. This is done with lousy appraisals (sorry, even if you worked your butt off for your boss, you can still get zero bonus and a "needs improvement" rating) or they will simply not renew your contract. It's a very cruel system here. But a good one because this is a place that is not for staying long. Learn what you can and move on. In all fairness, it is a great place to learn things, esp if you have to interface with the Ministry directly. You'll pick up valuable writing skills and organisation skills. But by the time you learn all these, and if you don't click with your boss, it's time to go. Also, bosses do not respect work-life balance, even though the HR policies are in line with the rest of the public service. You can be on annual leave, and yet can receive an email from your boss that you are to turn in a piece of urgent work by 10am the next day. The cake is, he knows you are on leave. And when you return the next day and explain that you could not work on his orders because you took leave for a reason, he still expects the work to be turned in by 10am. This happens all the time. And you will get a lousy performance rating simply because you couldn't turn in your work on time. By all means, join NP if you are younger and still have time to job hop around. But if you are mid-career, and looking for a place to settle down, please move along. There is nothing to see here for the older folks.