Is this normal for the public sector? Feels a touch illegal

So sorry to learn of your situation OP.
I work in the NHS and you could be describing my place of work on a good day!
The problem with the public sector, in my view, is:
People get promoted to positions they are not qualified or trained for.
The comment above especially applies if you are difficult as this tends to accelerate your career progression.
There are no consequences for poor performance which is not managed.
There are no consequences for poor behaviours which go unchallenged.
Sickness absence is not addressed.
People have unmanageable workloads because they are forever dealing with the consequences of colleagues who don't perform
Senior Leaders are too busy 'feathering their own nests' instead of leading effectively.
Nepotism is rife.
Good people leave because they realise their worth.
There are no consequences for poor work ethic and there are no rewards for good work ethic (other than you get more work).
The way people behave, and think it is acceptable to behave, is shocking.
There are whole departments, teams and directorates devoted to Equality and Diversity but no zero tolerance in terms of racist or discriminate behaviour.
The structure is too hierarchical and totally archaic

Get out whilst you still can OP and before it makes you unwell x

I was in the public sector so much waste. Went on maternity leave. Had time to think. I resigned

My friend went in three weeks into a public sector position was sent with another young newby female colleague to sort out a traveller camp that had rocked up that morning. They'd set up, police phoned, council because it was in the park adjacent to the school. They had to organise portaloos, skips for rubbish and liaise with the camp leaders. Neither of them had any past experience.

Give me the private sector any day

Working conditions in ( and funding of) FE are absolutely terrible. They have been the poor cousin of post school education for years. I think things are about to.change though as the Govt is.looking to put.much more funding into FE . This is to be at the expense of HE ( where I work) but I think although HE is about to be decimated, that FE may improve,. Probably not early enough to affect your job though

HE historically was the better working environment for staff but as I say, I think this might change . HE is becoming increasingly chaotic and stressful to work in at the moment.

The cross-organisational meetings you join remotely or send a representative.
You tell the person who creates the rotas that unfortunately, you won’t be able to able to do cover after 4pm because of your contracted hours. You can’t not communicate this and then wonder why people aren’t psychically helping you.
It does sound politeness is getting in the way of you communicating; you say that your contracted hours are being ignored but how are people to know?
The gang in the car park, you call the police.
I’ve no doubt it’s a chaotic environment, but you won’t help yourself by being a passive passenger.

I’m so sorry that you’re experiencing this from the outset. I could have written your post, albeit in a different sector. The root of the problem is that public sector roles do not (generally) attract the high flyers so when one comes in from the private sector (that generally does) the chaos is frightening.
Challenging things makes no difference, in my experience, as those who facilitate the chaos cannot see that change is necessary and in any case don’t have the capacity to bring it about. They know they couldn’t get a job elsewhere so are all protecting themselves. I have been able to make a few minor changes for the better but all staff in my area are completely demotivated.

Sounds about right from what I've heard anecdotally! Of course the public sector has very talented people working in it but they are often hamstrung and demoralized by mindless bureaucracy, chronic inefficiency and totally incompetent people that can't be made redundant

You are in a management director position, time to embrace your position and associated responsibilities

One additional point occurs to me as I read this thread. In the public sector you are often working directly with people who need help. If you don’t deliver or say that’s not my job you know there is a real risk they will come to harm. You then have to live with that (and potentially a serious case review or equivalent review of your professional actions). That makes leaving at 4pm etc. very difficult. It also makes professionals working on the front line appear to be challenging when they are in fact anxious and trying to protect themselves.

That’s the public sector for you. Pissing taxpayer cash up the wall at every given opportunity and then asking for more. Public spending is at its highest ever, with the results at their worst ever.

These public sector organizations need to be cut to the bone.

This is normal, you need rock solid boundaries because if you don’t honour your own contractual terms then they won’t enforce them for you.

Get another job before it affects your wellbeing, family and CV.

I work in the public sector. Poor training and expectations to hit the ground running are normal. Flexibility and understanding of caring roles is usually good. I wonder if HR made a mistake agreeing to your hours on site. A manager obviously should be on the duty manager rota so unless you're not actually on a management pay grade I doubt there is anyway to get out of that.

Save your breath, OP; long experience teaches that all you're experiencing is only too common in the public sector, and that "underfunding" is often merely a bleat to cover for incompetence and lack of accountability

There's a very good reason why many professionals refuse to work within it, and unfortunately the only real answer is probably to move. You're not going to be able to overturn the ingrained and mulish mindset, so unless you've a taste for bashing your head against brick walls you may do better elsewhere

Typo

After 30 years in public sector, this sounds about standard. Most senior management are clueless and wouldn’t last 5 minutes in industry.

I work in FE and this sounds like our place (apart from the gangs). We have an evening duty manager rota and are expected to do “behaviour duty” - challenging students behaviour with no training. I’m not student facing I’m HR. I know you had a dog at the HR department but if the SLT don’t want to change things there’s not much we can do you know.

This sounds horrendous and I’m so sorry you’ve found yourself in this position.

I’d be reminding them of your contract and looking for work elsewhere because in my experience (15 years in the education sector..but thankfully no longer) these things don’t tend to improve. I would say a large percentage of my days in education were illegal in some way!

Re the gangs - why did you go out there.

If it's a crime that they are there - dial 999 and let the police chose whether to address it

If it's not a crime them being there then just ignore them assuming you aren't employed as a security guard.

I once worked at an investment bank that was known for being high pressure and cut throat but it was actually great, everyone was committed to doing their job and pushback was normal

Sad to read even though not surprising. Many of the students in FE and indeed some at universities would be much better off doing a job, earning money and developing that way.

I favoured post 16 (A level and BTEC etc) being in a school environment and structure, and the experiences described make me think my view is correct.

I hope OP manages to find another job soon.

it was written into my contract that my on site hours are 8.30 until 4 with remaining hours completed at home Then stick to this and go home at 4.
Regarding the Duty Rota, check that it is not in your contract, and (I'm guessing it isn't) refuse to do it.
If you have a similar situation in the future, at any time of day, with a gang in the car park, stay inside and phone the police.

Email your HR and line manager to reinforce your hours and terms of employment, and that this is what you will do from Monday (tomorrow)

As far as the project "Ideas" do some bullet points - maybe some staff training would be a good one 🤦🏻‍♀️

Stop trying to rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic. Look for something else. Check with your previous employer - if you left on good terms, they might have something you could apply for?

Good luck, OP.

It sounds like you have been in a quite sheltered position previously and are struggling to adapt to a more challenging role. Why not rethink what you actually want from the job (flexibility , predictability,) and look for a less demanding job

I’m sorry you are going through this. At least some of it sounds pretty standard (I work at senior level in the public sector, extra hours are part of the deal, but so is flexibility) but some of what you describe is worse - you defo shouldn’t be involved in something you have had no training in. (I’m intrigued by the large HR dept - ime it’s usually tiny and under funded which is part of the problem.) It doesn’t sound like the culture is for you - I’d be trying to move on asap. While still there though, I’d be speaking to your line manager regularly, and trying to stay sane..

OMG, I worked for a charity and my old boss came from FE and you could be describing his management style - chaotic, greedy with other people's time and and dismissive.

I left and didn't look back. The sad thing is that I genuinely believe the charity won't survive his leadership.

Doesn't surprise me at all. It's all very Emperor's New Clothes in many education settings - some people right at the top who make ridiculous decisions but think they are doing a marvellous job.

Incompetence is everywhere these days. I can remember in the 80's and 90's going to work (financial sector, aggressive) and everyone planned to be excellent, every day. Huge effort was put into performance. No-one ever went sick for anything minor.
I look at where I now work (public sector but finance-ish) and it's a different world. Absolutely useless levels of performance are tolerated.
Yes I know I sound old.

We got barked at “it’s your job”. Some of it actually wasn’t, like no H and S training given for working on an enveloping machine that you were expected to stick your hands in to retrieve paper that had got stuck

Yep, sounds pretty normal for the public sector and third sector organisations that carry out public sector functions. Menopause related stuff seems particularly popular just now to give the illusion of something or other and seems designed to help disguise the utter chaos of everything.