Fluff's Public Sector Rant Thread...

[fluffybiscuits]

The whole bureaucracy is gettng on my tits, the whole shebang from office politicsi to indecisiveness. Little cliques that form that go to the canteen to management that never say hello because they feel they are above someone else to the manager that thinks she is the top dog when her boss is away and acts like Jekyll and hide to the micro management to the riduclous policies that work against one and other. This lad here is up for redeployment , I got the call 14 weeks ago and how do I feel? Frustrated is the word for it. In a meeting with senior staff and management, Im the lowest down the food chain, I got told to keep schtump as if my opinion didnt matter. Im on the lifo (last in first out) list, last in first out and therefore am the first person to go out on their ear. Im being told to apply for the jobs that come up in other govt departments and horizontally transfer across but there is one snag. Anyone who is more senior than me in any other organisation can apply for these jobs too and they will get it based on seniority and this has cost me a few jobs, I could be on the lifo list forever at this stage.

Im banging my head here against a brick wall in this office, the whole thing is worn me down. I want to come in, do my job and not be bothered with internal office crap and hassled by emasculated men and women with chips on their shoulders so large you could serve them in a chip butty.Where does all this bureaucracy stop?

As told to me by a friend who works down the country .....

[fluffybiscuits]

Another description used was that a lot of his colleagues are jekyll and hide. He keeps his cards close to his chest...

[Maximus]

I'll give ya a rant on the public sector.......

You guys get 30 days of holidays compared to 20 for us folk in the private sector. Then you also get these half days on top of that. You guys get to have separate days off for holidays whereas we have to take the full week.

The excessive phone calls non business made in the public sector which the taxpayer is paying for

Getting protection from that stupid Croke Park Agreement

[Maximus]

Little cliques that form that go to the canteen to management that never say hello because they feel they are above someone else to the manager that thinks she is the top dog

You get that in the private sector as well.

[morticia]

Sorry to bust your bubble there, Max, but I only get 5 weeks hols, not six. And not all private sector employees have to take their holidays in blocks, surely?

As for phone calls, ours are set to local call only mode, meaning that it is so much hassle to use the switch for even work related mobile/ long distance calls that I tend to use my mobile, for which work does not pay a cent.

[Maximus]

Sorry to bust your bubble there, Max, but I only get 5 weeks hols, not six. And not all private sector employees have to take their holidays in blocks, surely?

As for phone calls, ours are set to local call only mode, meaning that it is so much hassle to use the switch for even work related mobile/ long distance calls that I tend to use my mobile, for which work does not pay a cent.

I have family members in the public sector that get 30 days plus loads of half days. 15 I think. And yes all private sector employees have to take their holidays in blocks....unless you own the business in which case you can take as many holidays and whenever you like.

I get a bit sick of public sector rants. Some public sector workers I know should thank themselves they are in the public sector and not the private, cos I know they wouldn't last in the private sector where absenteeism isn't fobbed off and sick notices aren't taken for the craic.

[Kev Bar]

I have family members in the public sector that get 30 days plus loads of half days. 15 I think. And yes all private sector employees have to take their holidays in blocks....unless you own the business in which case you can take as many holidays and whenever you like.

I get a bit sick of public sector rants. Some public sector workers I know should thank themselves they are in the public sector and not the private, cos I know they wouldn't last in the private sector where absenteeism isn't fobbed off and sick notices aren't taken for the craic.

Well if you are looking for a new job in the private sector, the Sunday Independent always has a need of people with your "talents"

(And no I am not)

[Dr. FIVE]

I saw someone last week say only the private sector pays tax! It works, all that ***** in papers really works.
Fluffy do you think you change the title to Fluff's work Rant Thread as there is nothing there unique to the public service, that is even if you should be talking about your work place.

[Yojimbo]

I've worked in public sector (UK and Ireland) and in the private sector (small local consultancy and major US multinational). I've also worked as a consultant with a variety of different sized companies.

Every workplace differs according to the personalities but the overall gripes about cliques, brown-nosing and management are always the same.

[bernadette]

I've worked in public and private sector, office, care and sales work. 'Office politics' is the same whatever job you're in. Lifo is the same whichever sector you're in.

Public sector tend to have a greater sense of job security, more holidays, better pensions and, mysteriously, more sick days.

I prefer private sector work because the one thing private sector has that the public sector does not is a sense of urgency and action.

[Baron von Biffo]

Public sector tend to have a greater sense of job security, more holidays, better pensions and, mysteriously, more sick days.

PS jobs tended to be secure as a bulwark against corruption and patronage. The PS wasn't the only place to find secure jobs though - Banks were usually seen as offering a 'job for life' as were employers like Guinness.

The deal with pensions used to be that a PS pension was better than the state OAP but it was paid for through lower wages than obtained for similar work in the private sector. Nowadays lower rank PS workers can hope for a pension that's only marginally ahead of the OAP (indeed for some pre 1995 staff it could even be less), while the cost has soared.

There's no great mystery about the seemingly higher rate of sick leave in the PS. It emerged some time back that the PS counts Saturdays and Sundays as sick days while private employers don't. Thus, a private worker who is off for a week counts as 5 sick days while in the PS it counts as 7.

I prefer private sector work because the one thing private sector has that the public sector does not is a sense of urgency and action.

Private businesses don't operate in the same sort of environment as the PS. They have great freedom to operate according to the whims and desires or the board/owners. The PS can't work like that. There are constitutional, legal and political limits on it that don't apply in the private sector.

Say for instance a manager in a local PS office sees a way to do something more efficiently. He implements the change and all is well until it happens that a third cousin of a minister has benefited from the new way more than he would under the old. Immediately there's a scandal and much jumping up and down shouting corruption, nepotism etc.

Someone dealing accessing a state service in Donegal should be treated according to the same rules and systems as someone accessing the same service in Dublin or Cobh. That may not make for the most efficient way to deliver services but it is transparent and that's a very important consideration in public affairs.

[bernadette]

PS jobs tended to be secure as a bulwark against corruption and patronage. The PS wasn't the only place to find secure jobs though - Banks were usually seen as offering a 'job for life' as were employers like Guinness.

The deal with pensions used to be that a PS pension was better than the state OAP but it was paid for through lower wages than obtained for similar work in the private sector. Nowadays lower rank PS workers can hope for a pension that's only marginally ahead of the OAP (indeed for some pre 1995 staff it could even be less), while the cost has soared.

There's no great mystery about the seemingly higher rate of sick leave in the PS. It emerged some time back that the PS counts Saturdays and Sundays as sick days while private employers don't. Thus, a private worker who is off for a week counts as 5 sick days while in the PS it counts as 7.



Private businesses don't operate in the same sort of environment as the PS. They have great freedom to operate according to the whims and desires or the board/owners. The PS can't work like that. There are constitutional, legal and political limits on it that don't apply in the private sector.

Say for instance a manager in a local PS office sees a way to do something more efficiently. He implements the change and all is well until it happens that a third cousin of a minister has benefited from the new way more than he would under the old. Immediately there's a scandal and much jumping up and down shouting corruption, nepotism etc.

Someone dealing accessing a state service in Donegal should be treated according to the same rules and systems as someone accessing the same service in Dublin or Cobh. That may not make for the most efficient way to deliver services but it is transparent and that's a very important consideration in public affairs.

Yes and the success of the anti corruption methods are clear to everyone.

[Baron von Biffo]

Yes and the success of the anti corruption methods are clear to everyone.

You may be being sarcastic but in truth we don't have a corrupt public service. Of course there have been incidences of corruption and in parts of the country the planning function was subverted by dishonest people but in general if you're dealing with public servants you're dealing with honest people.

[riposte]

The public service is beyond criticism ......... because they have 300,000 unionised members. The private sector is no longer unionised in this country.

[riposte]

You may be being sarcastic but in truth we don't have a corrupt public service. Of course there have been incidences of corruption and in parts of the country the planning function was subverted by dishonest people but in general if you're dealing with public servants you're dealing with honest people.

If you can get them to acknowledge your correspondence.