Moving from the public to the private sector

[CoffeeWithMyOxygen]

I currently work in the public sector (local authority) and for various reasons am contemplating a move. One option is to move into the private sector on the consultancy/training side of things - can anyone who’s made the move from public to private sector roles give some insight into the contrast? Are work cultures/expectations vastly different? I know as a general rule pay and benefits are better in the private sector, but the public sector does come with quite a high level of job security through unions and HR, is this a factor? My currently workplace also has very good flexible working and is quite family-friendly, I’m interested to know how private sector employment compares. Obviously I know this is going to vary wildly between industries and companies but any input would be appreciated!

(I also know this is a terrible time to be job hunting but it’s currently speculative, I’m not about to jump ship without another role to go to)

I'd recommend central civil service - good pension, better job security, great benefits (I'm currently on maternity leave - 6 months full pay), and great people who on the whole really want to improve society!

I work for a local authority and everyone I know works their socks off and really cares about their work. Massive budget cuts mean there is too much work for too few staff. I guess it depends which department you are in/where you work though.

Personally I love it and moved back to the public sector from private sector where I found the attitude towards working mums quite surprisingly negative, unless they had carried on working full time. Whereas my local authority is full of parents working flexibly. Again, massively depends what company! I worked in publishing for a large well-known company. Maternity leave benefits were OK. (Not as good as local authority though!). Whether you enjoy the job and environment is the most important thing.

Not quite the same because of the nature of the industry, but I work in hospitality and friends who've left to work in public sector jobs have been astounded at the change. They've gone from having 5 weeks off a year to 7 or 8, to having unions encourage them to strike if the slightest thing changes, to working half as many hours for the same pay and their pensions are insane. Three of them were promoted within short spaces of time because they just worked at their normal pace. Hospitality is fucking awful though so anybody leaving is going to be grateful

The problems people have mentioned with public sector probably apply to any workplace where people have been there a long time, I think it's relatively common to end up with long term staff who aren't really doing much!

Maternity pay - big companies will pay enhanced pay, but small companies are unlikely to pay much over SMP. Flexible working I would say is not even company specific, it's manager specific, you could have two people in the same company with very different experiences.

The problems people have mentioned with public sector probably apply to any workplace where people have been there a long time, I think it's relatively common to end up with long term staff who aren't really doing much!

I disagree @trilbydoll. In the private sector jobs I’ve had, there’s no tolerance for carrying people. Those who don’t pull their weight are very quickly ‘managed out’.