A public sector employee's point of view...

[crankedup]

Bing o said:

And what the LibDems did in 2010. And now they have been found out.

And can I ask why the LibDem manifesto was not in the best interests of the country before you got into the coalition? What would you have intentionally done that was not in the best interest of the UK?

The Lib-Dems would not have introduced Uni fees, we can debate all day long as to whether this particular policy is in 'the best interest of the U.K.'Many other manifesto promises have had to be diluted or dropped and the same is true of the Conservative partners in Government, as most of us know.

[Countdown]

Deva Link said:

I'm sorry, but I find these stories hard to believe. Why would they take on the crap temp, rather than the good one?

As I mentioned above that does sound a tad strange.

Deva Link said:

Which PS department is taking on temps, or indeed anyone at all?

We have 25% temps at the moment in our Department. The CEO does not want to take permanent staff on in case there are further funding cutbacks. Easier to get rid of temps than permanent staff. Feel very sorry for them as they don’t know if they’ll have a job after Christmas.

Deva Link said:

It's also bks to say that poor staff can't be got rid of - in her time she's seen a few put through the process. It's not quick, but it can, and is, done.

Its not quick, and quite a few PubSec managers (by the nature of their jobs) are not the type to rigorously enforce the performance management systems. Combined with HR departments that are overly-cautious and Trade Unions staffed by militant scousers it ain’t easy.

[Deva Link]

Digga said:

Deva Link said:

I'm sorry, but I find these stories hard to believe.

Well that's your problem. I'm saying it's true - BIL has mentioned it before too, so I certainly believe him and he is not politically motivated. Either believe my account or get off the fence and call me a liar outright.

Apologies. I didn't mean that it isn't true, just that I find these situations incredible.

[Digga]

Deva Link said:

Digga said:

Deva Link said:

I'm sorry, but I find these stories hard to believe.

Well that's your problem. I'm saying it's true - BIL has mentioned it before too, so I certainly believe him and he is not politically motivated. Either believe my account or get off the fence and call me a liar outright.

Apologies. I didn't mean that it isn't true, just that I find these situations incredible.

It is, as you can imagine, highly demotivating (and mystifying) for the whole team. It has created a lot of bad feeling.

My BIL is very thick-skinned and pragmatic, so I am imagining that if he's perturbed, others will be livid.

[Deva Link]

Countdown said:

We have 25% temps at the moment in our Department. The CEO does not want to take permanent staff on in case there are further funding cutbacks. Easier to get rid of temps than permanent staff. Feel very sorry for them as they don’t know if they’ll have a job after Christmas.

When you say "Department" is that a Government Department? If so, I'm surprised there are temps as the last Government was getting rid of them and the coalition ordered the rest, and people on fixed term contracts, to be finished up as soon as possible. This seems to have been done even if they were needed - the Department my wife used to work for is struggling to function, at some medium levels almost all the staff were contractors.

Of course any employer of temps/FTC is now a bit stuffed as the recent changes in employement law mean they have pretty well the same employment rights as permanent employees.

[Mr GrimNasty]

Deva Link said:

I'm sorry, but I find these stories hard to believe. Why would they take on the crap temp, rather than the good one?

Which PS department is taking on temps, or indeed anyone at all? All the temps went from my wife's office at the backend of Labour's term, never mind what the coalition did (chopped another third of the staff). It's also bks to say that poor staff can't be got rid of - in her time she's seen a few put through the process. It's not quick, but it can, and is, done.

I could tell you a lot worse. It really was disgraceful, everything from low level skiving right up to blatant fraud.

[Deva Link]

Mr GrimNasty said:

I could tell you a lot worse. It really was disgraceful, everything from low level skiving right up to blatant fraud.

...and that was just the managers!

[Countdown]

Deva Link said:

Countdown said:

We have 25% temps at the moment in our Department. The CEO does not want to take permanent staff on in case there are further funding cutbacks. Easier to get rid of temps than permanent staff. Feel very sorry for them as they don’t know if they’ll have a job after Christmas.

When you say "Department" is that a Government Department? If so, I'm surprised there are temps as the last Government was getting rid of them and the coalition ordered the rest, and people on fixed term contracts, to be finished up as soon as possible. This seems to have been done even if they were needed - the Department my wife used to work for is struggling to function, at some medium levels almost all the staff were contractors.

Local Authority. I don't think Central Govt would be able to impose an Agency freeze as well as a freeze on recruiting permanent staff (as that would mean your headcount goes down and down and down IYSWIM).

The use of temps is inefficient and impacts upon service delivery but necessary given the uncertainty around medium term finances.

[null]

I work as a contractor in a few central government departments. Lots of talk of losing contractors from some corners, but it would be a disaster if they got rid of all of us.

[DJRC]

Countdown said:

Deva Link said:

Countdown said:

We have 25% temps at the moment in our Department. The CEO does not want to take permanent staff on in case there are further funding cutbacks. Easier to get rid of temps than permanent staff. Feel very sorry for them as they don’t know if they’ll have a job after Christmas.

When you say "Department" is that a Government Department? If so, I'm surprised there are temps as the last Government was getting rid of them and the coalition ordered the rest, and people on fixed term contracts, to be finished up as soon as possible. This seems to have been done even if they were needed - the Department my wife used to work for is struggling to function, at some medium levels almost all the staff were contractors.

Local Authority. I don't think Central Govt would be able to impose an Agency freeze as well as a freeze on recruiting permanent staff (as that would mean your headcount goes down and down and down IYSWIM).

The use of temps is inefficient and impacts upon service delivery but necessary given the uncertainty around medium term finances.

Temps or contractors?
Temps are cheap short term staff to do monkey jobs.
Contractors are expensive short to medium term staff to do jobs that require brain cells.

[Countdown]

DJRC said:

Temps or contractors?
Temps are cheap short term staff to do monkey jobs.
Contractors are expensive short to medium term staff to do jobs that require brain cells.

There's no difference as far as I'm concerned.

Cheap staff do routine/clerical jobs
Expensive staff do jobs that require more specialised skills and/or experience

At the moment we have

Invoice clerk on £80/day
ACCA qual on £150/day
FD on £500/day