Public sector pay

[andrejuan]

You are completely missing the point. They are exploiting the rules rather than defrauding the system. How many self employed people go to work if they feel tired one morning or just a bit under the weather? I know public sector workers who ring in sick for all sorts of silly things because it doesn't impact them financially or in any other way. If we all did that the country would grind to a halt.

 

As far as me joining the public sector, well it is for a certain kind of person if I'm honest. and I am not one of them. I know this because I once gave it a go. I took a post doing the same job as I do commercially, I was bored stiff. When I tried to streamline the workflow and work efficiently I met with hostility (that's probably too strong a word) from those who had been there years.

The situation was that there was not nearly enough work for the amount of people and for me the days dragged. If you were seen doing nothing (which was impossible to avoid) questions were asked. The trick I was told was to always have a list in your pocket, then you could always wave it and say "I'm just collecting names for.......".

 

That situation is NOT in every aspect of public service, and I'm sure it is rare, but in my profession it is the norm.

 

Prior to that, four out of the five people I was working with had come from the public sector, they warned me what it was like and that it was boring.

 

Give me a fair days work for a fair days pay anytime.

 

I'll say it again, my situation is not typical of all public sector jobs, I am not here to knock them just to point out the differences in working practice.

[Harrystottle]

I have friends that have used both those, the bad back one went to Alton Towers with a gang of us while off for months :-))

 

The best trick I have seen though is going for a sick note on the first day holidays, that way you get double paid holidays !!! Ya gotta laugh.

 

When I worked in the public sector after six months sick leave in twelve you went on to half pay. It's true about the holidays though, if you were off sick for six months you still retained the same number of days holiday. So it was possible to be on the sick for four months and then go on holiday for another month, which I saw happen.

 

Also if you got yourself classified as disabled you were guaranteed an interview for a job that you applied for (and met the essential criteria). We got one bloke who said that he was dyslexic, which was a disability, hence he was disabled. He wasn't, he just couldn't spell.

 

I have a million stories about people who swing the lead or take the proverbial, and they're all true. Possibly my favourite was the man who was "too ill" to drive into work, so one of his team mates gave him a lift every morning. He then went on a camping holiday to the south of France - and drove all the way there and back. Nothing was done about it.

 

Or maybe the one about the bloke working from home. He was rung up on his works mobile; his wife answered and said he couldn't answer the phone as he was driving her into work.

 

It all comes down to management in the end. Ours was abysmal, they let some people get away with murder.

Edited July 24, 2017 by Harrystottle

[max]

Everything people on here say about the public sector, be it holidays, pensions, time off sick, boring jobs, stultifying culture, can be found in the private sector too.

 

There is no magic line you cross when going from one side to the other.

[Berberis]

Everything people on here say about the public sector, be it holidays, pensions, time off sick, boring jobs, stultifying culture, can be found in the private sector too.

 

There is no magic line you cross when going from one side to the other.

 

No but you do understand what on average means right? If you do, you must, in turn understand when the ONS or IFS say "on average" people in the public sector are paid more than the private, it's pretty hard for people to get too agitated about public sector pay rises being only 1%.

 

Oh and your signature appears to be misleading. The Tories attacked the then Labour government on the Deficit, not the Debt. It was this they pledged to reduce, which they have. Unless you have a source for your "quote".

Edited July 24, 2017 by Berberis

[Broakham]

It looks like some public sector pay caps may be lifted soon.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41218283

[El Cid]

It looks like some public sector pay caps may be lifted soon.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41218283

 

I think Theresa May is hoping her top offer of 1% + 1% for the Police will mean the lesser public sector will keep below 2%.

 

Which means they will receive around 1% below inflation; which is wrong, on top of the 7 years of pay control by the Government.

 

I thought the Conservatives believed in free trade, of goods, services and jobs?

[L00b]

I thought the Conservatives believed in free trade, of goods, services and jobs?

They do: public service workers are free to vote with their feet and move to the private sector for better pay (LOL!)

 

You might have forgotten that the Conservatives also believe in small government, which means less public services (and associated jobs).

[ez8004]

A lot of people on here are thinking about this the wrong way. The public sector is NOT well remunerated at all. It is the private sector that is generally very poor. Instead of hammering the public sector down to the lowest common denominator, we should be dragging the private sector up and beyond. I am working in the private sector that is rediculously well paid and grateful for it. I want to see everyone dragged upwards and absolutely not surpressed. Just because you might be suffering, why do you want everyone else to suffer with you?

[El Cid]

They do: public service workers are free to vote with their feet and move to the private sector for better pay (LOL!)

 

You might have forgotten that the Conservatives also believe in small government, which means less public services (and associated jobs).

 

In 2013 Somerset council paid £5.9m to settle a contract dispute with the outsourcing partnership, Southwest One.

 

All council service can be done by private companies if the council receive a competitive bid. But many council services are run by council staff, because it works out cheaper. Councils are not refusing bids for their services, private companies dont want the work, because they cannot do it cheaper.

[L00b]

In 2013 Somerset council paid £5.9m to settle a contract dispute with the outsourcing partnership, Southwest One.

 

All council service can be done by private companies if the council receive a competitive bid. But many council services are run by council staff, because it works out cheaper. Councils are not refusing bids for their services, private companies dont want the work, because they cannot do it cheaper.

I'm sorry I don't quite follow your logic or point in the above.

 

Public service falling 'prey' to termination clauses (or breach situations) in contracts with private sector suppliers is nothing new whatsoever. That's because those negotiating contracts on behalf of public bodies and/or those public sector workers administering their performance (and compliance therewith) are rarely competent enough to do so.

 

That's not a veiled criticism of the public sector itself, or a free dig, it's just common(-sensical) knowledge, validated as it is by my own experience at the coal face.

 

Nothing to do with Conservatives or Labour or <insert political party here>, that's routinely down to local and national skills shortage and the job market (those competent types in that context are already in, or soon snapped up by, the private sector).

 

If you want world class OK, maybe not that, but knowledgeable and diligent-enough Council/etc. public service employees handling highly complex tasks like supply contract negotiation and management (what is more, in very widely-ranging types of services, from healthcare to building to <...>), you have to hire at the right level, train to the right level, and pay the going market rate (i.e. not pay scales).

 

Anything short of that, and that's just inviting trouble down the road. As many public service bodies have long found to their (needlessly inflated-) cost.