Have you moved from public sector to private sector or vice versa?

[ThefourseasonsFrankie]

How have you found the different cultures? Do you have a good work life balance?

Moved from private to public and loving it. Work life balance is great as we have flexable working, 2 days a week in office, time-banking etc. I also have a 27% employers penion contribution.

I went from senior corporate to public sector, thinking I would have a better work/life balance. It hasn't worked for me and I am currently looking for something else. I took a 33% pay cut, no bonus, no corporate perks, pension scheme is actually worse than my final salary corporate scheme.

If a fee earner is overloaded in the private sector they generally staff up. That doesn't apply to the public sector, there's no money to do that. I've found that I am expected to do the work of two people, doing less than the job I want to do. It doesn't work for me.

The 27% contribution is to cover the employers estimated liabilities under the scheme. Public sector pension benefits have been diluted over the last two decades as they couldn't afford to maintain them as they were.

I went from private to public. Oh my god the difference is like night and day. I do my job, go home and forget about it. Im 2 days a week in the office, can work flexi time and overtime if and when I choose. Pension is brilliant. However - nothing changes at pace and some of the staff I work with would have been sacked months ago in my old private sector role !!!

Public to private. Earn over 5 times what I did. And have a better work life balance

Private to public here too. I went before we started TTC because I wanted to keep working part time. Chronic illness and disability keep me there.
It can be infuriating and I regularly consider leaving for decent pay and less bureaucracy. I don't suppose I will because of the pension rules.

I've only worked in public sector once and have worked private since.

In private now I work as a utilities supervisor, much better money, and conditions etc, better home/work balance.

When I worked in the public sector I found it to be a very 'entitled' culture in my work place unfortunately, people demanding pay rises or condition changes or office changes etc. Ultimately why I left, obviously this won't be the case for all public sectors, not at all. Unfortunately I think I just ended up in a bad one and I've never looked back since

Does the flexi working depend on your seniority?

Also which part of the public sector? Central government, local government, NHS, etc.

Both. Harder work in the public sector, but more creative input and better conditions overall.

Local government, very senior role. No, Flexi across the whole of my directorate.

Switched from private to public sector 4 years ago and staying til retirement , I simply couldn’t get the salary in the private sector to match the pension plus salary of public sector , work fully at home and excellent sick leave etc.

Private to public.
I find public rather institutionalised. Everybody has their role and they will not do anything out with that role.
Private was more of everybody muck in to get the job done if necessary.
Public is easier but less pay

public to private. Better work life balance. I’m expected to work no more or less hard as I did in the public sector but paid to do it rather than the expectation that I do it out of ever-dwindling goodwill.

Private to public here and despite the pay cut - MUCH better quality of life, balance and benefits... and so much holiday!!

Public to private. I cannot tell you how much better my life is. Moved from being a senior leader in a school to working for a private company. I love flexi-time, I love not working at weekends and during my annual leave. I love being able to prioritise my own children.

Private to public (and very quickly moved back to private). In public, everything moved at a snail’s pace, and no one would do anything that ‘wasn’t their job’. I found it hugely frustrating, so only stayed 12 months.

Agreed with @Fuctifin0. Public is easier with less pay.

28 days plus bank hols though 😊

I don't think it's as simple as public versus private. I work for a local authority and different directorates seem very different in terms of working hard or skiving off making endless teas.

The one thing that stood out to me working in public sector was the sheer amount of affairs going on. It was quite the eye opener!

And more staff smoked and had longer smoking breaks.

I went from private to public. I moved because I had a child and didn’t want all the marketing and pressure of private.

Cons:-

• No real scope for progression.
• No supervision or CPD.
• I’d say my pay is 20% less and I won’t get the incremental pay rises as I become more experienced (see point 1) so my pay will quickly fall behind my peers. Plus no performance bonus.
• It can sometimes be frustrating to work for such an inefficient organisation and watch other members of staff scratching their arse all day, moaning they’re busy and hear about cuts and costs saving when you witness so much waste.
• Absolutely no corporate thrills. Since covid they don’t even stock the stationary cupboard! No washing up liquid etc, I’m waiting to have to bring my own loo roll.

Pros

• I am actually still very busy and pressured but it’s acceptable to take longer to get to some pieces of work and if I need to leave I just leave. People are more accepting of that.
• Nobody bats an eyelid if you have an appointment/go collect a sick child/are ill.
• The flexibility is genuine and brilliant. Some of my colleagues work 7-3pm. I sometimes log off with a sick child and log back on in the evenings. I’ve caught up on Saturdays, allowed to work bank hols (it’s in no way expected) it just suits me sometimes to save my holiday (PT) when I have childcare.
• Annual leave entitlement is better and after 5 years you get an extra 5 days!

Went from local authority to private and I love it.

I trebled my salary, my pension is ok (but have 20 years in a local government one) I have a lot of flexibility, only required in the office one a week (normally do once a month) I work around 37/45 hours a week, wfh and do site visits, I have much better career prospects, I don’t have to wait for someone to retire/leave, in local government I was always under threat of redundancy and restructure etc. I would never have climbed the ladder in local government, where I am now I’m have endless opportunities to train, I get support from management to continually develop and add to my skill set.

So much less red tape if I want to order a pen which costs £2 I can do I don’t have to have explain why I need the £2 pen not the 50p one on the approved list 🤷‍♀️ if I need to spend ££££££ to get something done I don’t have to go through 6 people to sign it off it gets done!

Oh and huge pro I don’t EVER have to do evening marketing, no billing targets, not the same pressure to time record.

Flexi is across all levels in my department. I know that some of my younger, career driven colleagues find the processes, policies frustrating - especially those who moved from prviate to public.....but ive kinda of been there' done that and am more than happy to take a step back. I like doing my job and going home. Like everything, I suppose it benefits some and not others. I have no regrets about moving though.

I moved public to private into a senior management role and found it a massive culture shock.

In the legal sector. Was a shock to have billing targets and have to account in 6 minute intervals. Was also a massive shock that salaries were so much lower as a base.... in my previous role starting salaries were 36k and my current workplace the starting slaaries are 21k. This is for qualified solicitors.

I think life is generally easier in the public sector and you are definitely more protected.

I am a little bit off retirement now and will not change but it was eye opening.