"Firms wary about hiring public sector staff"
Discussion
Telegraph said:
Firms wary about hiring public sector staff
Four in 10 companies are “nervous” about hiring former public sector staff, according to a major study.
The findings raise fresh concerns over whether the private sector is able – or willing – to absorb the tens of thousands of job cuts expected from the public sector over the next year.
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), which conducted the survey of 4,000 businesses, said although the labour market appeared to be improving, companies seemed reluctant to hire former state employees.
Adam Marshall, policy director at the BCC, said there was still a perception among some employers that public sector workers would not make a good cultural “fit” for their workforce, and that their skill sets were too different.
He said: “There are a huge number of talented people already in, or coming into, the jobs market – some are from the private sector and some are from the public sector. Employers have quite a lot of options right now about who they hire and unfortunately there is sometimes a perception issue about public sector employees.
“There is a feeling that some of these people coming out of the public sector may not be wholly suited to their business or business model.”
The research comes as official figures show total unemployment in the UK fell by 17,000 in the three months to February, to reach 2.5m.
Employment rose by 143,000 over the period to 29.2m. The increase was driven by full-time work, the Office for National Statistics said, suggesting the private sector was starting to create jobs.
But Mr Marshall said candidates with a private sector background who had lost their jobs in the recession were likely to be snapped up first by some employers.
A number of companies are looking for staff who are used to a cut-throat business environment, with the ability to deal with big budgets and accounts, or sell products to customers, he said.
Businesses did not want to spend extra money retraining former state employees to become better suited to the job when they could hire a “ready” private sector individual already possessing the right skills, Mr Marshall added.
He called on public sector employers to do more prepare their staff for jobs in the business world, so their skills are more readily transferred.
This could include anything from CV tips and interview technique to retraining and guidance on the types of jobs available.
A separate survey cast further doubt over the ability of the private sector to create jobs this year.
Just 30pc of human resources (HR) directors expect the size of their workforce to grow in 2011, with about half (50pc) expecting headcount to remain constant, the study by Taleo, a talent management company, found.
Two in 10 employers forecast having to make redundancies or keep vacant positions open to reduce headcount this year, the survey of 500 employers found.
Just 22pc expect an increase in the number of workers leaving voluntarily this year compared to 2010, with 57pc forecasting no change.
The report, seen by The Daily Telegraph, said: “Although business prospects are beginning to improve for many companies, the reality is that businesses must accommodate growth within a static employee base.”
LinkFour in 10 companies are “nervous” about hiring former public sector staff, according to a major study.
The findings raise fresh concerns over whether the private sector is able – or willing – to absorb the tens of thousands of job cuts expected from the public sector over the next year.
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), which conducted the survey of 4,000 businesses, said although the labour market appeared to be improving, companies seemed reluctant to hire former state employees.
Adam Marshall, policy director at the BCC, said there was still a perception among some employers that public sector workers would not make a good cultural “fit” for their workforce, and that their skill sets were too different.
He said: “There are a huge number of talented people already in, or coming into, the jobs market – some are from the private sector and some are from the public sector. Employers have quite a lot of options right now about who they hire and unfortunately there is sometimes a perception issue about public sector employees.
“There is a feeling that some of these people coming out of the public sector may not be wholly suited to their business or business model.”
The research comes as official figures show total unemployment in the UK fell by 17,000 in the three months to February, to reach 2.5m.
Employment rose by 143,000 over the period to 29.2m. The increase was driven by full-time work, the Office for National Statistics said, suggesting the private sector was starting to create jobs.
But Mr Marshall said candidates with a private sector background who had lost their jobs in the recession were likely to be snapped up first by some employers.
A number of companies are looking for staff who are used to a cut-throat business environment, with the ability to deal with big budgets and accounts, or sell products to customers, he said.
Businesses did not want to spend extra money retraining former state employees to become better suited to the job when they could hire a “ready” private sector individual already possessing the right skills, Mr Marshall added.
He called on public sector employers to do more prepare their staff for jobs in the business world, so their skills are more readily transferred.
This could include anything from CV tips and interview technique to retraining and guidance on the types of jobs available.
A separate survey cast further doubt over the ability of the private sector to create jobs this year.
Just 30pc of human resources (HR) directors expect the size of their workforce to grow in 2011, with about half (50pc) expecting headcount to remain constant, the study by Taleo, a talent management company, found.
Two in 10 employers forecast having to make redundancies or keep vacant positions open to reduce headcount this year, the survey of 500 employers found.
Just 22pc expect an increase in the number of workers leaving voluntarily this year compared to 2010, with 57pc forecasting no change.
The report, seen by The Daily Telegraph, said: “Although business prospects are beginning to improve for many companies, the reality is that businesses must accommodate growth within a static employee base.”
Great comment underneath:
"For years Senior executives in the Public Sector have argued they should get similar salaries to their private sector colleagues because that was what they could earn if in the private sector. It now appears they were wrong and in truth the private sector would not touch them with the proverbial barge pole."
Saddle bum said:
As with all my postings on all topics, this was not put up as a subject for discussion, but as a statement of fact.
That has to be the single most pompous thing I've ever read on the internet.And as for you contention (sorry, "statement of fact") that public sector managers are better trained than private sector managers, I think maybe you meant "more trained".
chris watton said:
I mentioned on another thread a few weeks back - since when did the Civil Service/Public Sector become the 'economy', as labour always describe it as such? How does this work? I fail to see how spending billions on public sector non jobs (nurses, armed forces, police force, some front line council workers etc are obviously a given..) 'Boosts the economy'.
Hence the argument (often heard in BBC vox pops) that now is the wrong time to make public sector job cuts, as that is "taking spending power out of the economy".Churchill once said:
We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
Digga said:
Johnnytheboy said:
Churchill once said:
We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
You'd have to be a mong not to get it....
Margaret Thatcher sort of said:
The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.
Kermit power said:
And this would be as opposed to the stunning job the MOD performed in the past, would it? 
Don't the MOD have something funny like 25,000 people working just in procurement? Give me an office, a PA and an order pad and I'd do it for them.
PA: The army want a weapon.
Me: What are the Americans using right now?
PA: Weapon A
Me: What are the Americans currently developing?
PA: Weapon B
Me: Can we afford Weapon B or afford to wait until it's ready?
PA: No, and no.
Me: We'll order Weapon A, pass me a purchase order pad.
Job done.
Kermit power said:
It's interesting to note that this is much the same problem which I and other posters have noticed when bidding to the public sector for IT projects. Everything has to be done by jumping through lots of bureaucratic hoops positioned in exactly the correct sequence by people who don't actually have the first clue of what they want delivering to them.
We're doing a tender at the mo for a County Council which is driving us mad. It's beyond wordy. E.g. 1,000 words on our company's biodiversity policy FFS. There's an ability to put questions to them when we can't figure out what they mean; the answers tell me they don't either. One bit of the spec looked really familiar - I compared it to an abortive NVQ I did in our chosen field; they'd lifted the body of text word for word from wherever my previous employer had. AndrewW-G said:
There are some good people in the public sector; however they seem to be vastly outnumbered by the lazy, workshy, incompetent, unionised, sicky throwing, useless, jobs worth, w
kers, it's just a case of having the time and energy to weed out the bad ones!
There are indeed some good ones. It's really frustrating trying to work with them and having your efforts hampered by all their co-workers who don't do basic things like sign things they're meant to or answer emails.kers, it's just a case of having the time and energy to weed out the bad ones!I heard a great one from one of my staff from one of our clients yesterday. The client is an IT tech support company, so some staff are in early, 0600 in fact. They share their office building with a public sector organisation - part of the justice system so a very secure office.
First IT guys in yesterday found that there was a power cut in their building, but the trip switches are inside the pub sec office downstairs. Building landlord was not able to give access to the pub sec office due to their extra security systems.
They managed eventually to contact someone at the pub sec organisation to be told that the key holder (like everyone else) didn't start until exactly 0900, so they'd all have to wait until then.
"Can't she come in even a bit early this once?"
"No."
"Please? Not even half an hour?"
"No."
"Can you ask her?"
"No."
So they all sat there for three hours twiddling their thumbs until the key holder ambled in at 0859.
First IT guys in yesterday found that there was a power cut in their building, but the trip switches are inside the pub sec office downstairs. Building landlord was not able to give access to the pub sec office due to their extra security systems.
They managed eventually to contact someone at the pub sec organisation to be told that the key holder (like everyone else) didn't start until exactly 0900, so they'd all have to wait until then.
"Can't she come in even a bit early this once?"
"No."
"Please? Not even half an hour?"
"No."
"Can you ask her?"
"No."
So they all sat there for three hours twiddling their thumbs until the key holder ambled in at 0859.
wolves_wanderer said:
Not just a public sector problem. I had a temp job delivering metal, I went to a small industrial unit with an urgent delivery, unfortunately during their lunch break. Nobody could be bothered to spend 5 minutes handballing the stuff off the back and it was too heavy for me to do on my own. Unfortunately by the time they had finished lunch I was on my tacho break so they all had to wait. I would normally have driven off and left them to explain why the urgent delivery was refused but it was the only thing left on the back and I was feeling generous
All goods in staff are like that, I don't know how they live with themselves. We used to have a guy at this place (ex-copper, funnily enough) who used to take his lunchbreak in his car. If a delivery came in he'd just sit in his car making himself as small as possible. He was also in charge of health and safety, so we'd wait until he was on lunch then do really unsafe things (in his eyes) right in front of his car to see if we could lure him out.
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