Examples of waste in public sector?

[Hammy02]

I started a 3 month temp contract and they put me on a 2 day induction course. I didn't need to know the minutae of the organisation for a 3 month contract.
Had to fill out a form to get a book of stamps.
Had to fill out a form to get space in Outlook increased. No-one was EVER turned down for this so what was the point in the form?!

As has already been said the public have demanded to know where their money is being spent and so paperwork is the end result.

Things I witnessed in my time in the public sector;

Blackberry's for an entire directorate - including suppport staff

Senior member of staff has their home utilities paid for

Middle management - i've yet to meet any mid-manager who is worth their £35-55k salary.

IT systems bought by 'friends' of higher up people

Did you know that expenses claims are capped for lower level employees (cheapest train ticket to meetings etc) whereas over a certain band you're entitled to travel first class, on 'company' expenses.

Building rents and facilities management

Over catering of meetings and training sessions.

Away days and residential training courses where they're really not needed nor can they be justified.

Whole directorates set up to manage budget cuts...

What always gets me is that the people who need to be axed to save money won't be, because they're the ones making the decisions on who go's whereas the frontline staff who deliver the service...nope...you're gone mate. New fangled computer system is coming in to replace you.

So glad i'm out of that now. Never to return!

You can claim overtime if you work hours over the TOIL limit.

Also some sectors have statutory overtime payments due to the nature of the work but the staff are high level salaries, again, due to the nature of their work.

I was rooting through the stationary cupboard at a SureStart Centre today. Floor to ceiling cupboard jam packed full of every type of stationary you'd ever need. I found at least 6 "heavy duty sellotape dispensers". Every desk I could see already had one, plus a stapler and a hole punch.

I work in the NHS and we're not allowed sellotape, have to buy our own biros, etc.

Then in the kitchen at Sure Start - the office kitchen so just for staff there is a huge dishwasher, also one of those boiling water taps as well as a kettle.

I put the light on while I made a cup of tea and was told off, "we're saving electricity and cutting costs"

We're at year end so you will find all stationary cupboards full stocked right about now Viva lol it's how they retain their budgets for April :)

I've worked there one day a week since Oct and its always been like that.

TOIL limit?
Sorry, never heard that term before.

Surestart is the governments pet project though isn't it?

Public sector worker who buys her own stationary, tea, coffee although I would not expect to do any different. I also buy resources for my classroom, rewards for students and even books. No waste here.

You could only take x number of hours off per month where I worked.

So, what is the difference between the parts of the public sector which are working hard and thriftily, and those which aren't?

And how can the latter be forced encouraged to emulate the former who show it can be done?

Flip the piramid upside down and get the grafters making decisions not people who are nothing short of overpaid self publicists.

God these threads piss me off!

I work in the public sector. In recent months we have had newspapers (crucial for our dept) cancelled and all have to chip in to buy them all ourselves, we pay for our own drinks - tea and coffee (which then also gets used for visitors), we have had a stop on all catering for meetings, we have no work mobiles/company cars/laptops (even though they are essential for our jobs as in my dept we are out of the office a lot) etc etc etc.

Amazingly, seeing as I am only a lowly paid public sector 'monkey', I did have previous jobs in the private sector where I had a whole host of perks that I don't have now.

I'm not saying private is necessarily better than public, but I do think that by engaging in this slagging off of public/private sector we are falling right into the Govt's 'divide and rule' plan to pit us all against each other, so we forget its them who fucked all this up!

You work in education right desperately? That really is shite on resources (I also have friends who are teachers). But local and central government take the piss big time.

(nothing to add to the thread, but Desperatelyseekingsnoozes I love your name! )

2nd class train travel. Never known any council employees even chief exec to travel 1st class.

£80 overnight hotel allowance for central London so you have to pay tne rest yourself.

£5.75 evening meal allowance

No overtime or toil for anyone who is professional.

7 year old laptop. Have to use it at home via Internet you have to pay for (must be a dedicated line)

12,000 miles a year in own car at 12p a mile. That doesn't even cover petrol.

I now work in private sector. Same job. £10 k more, £7k car allowance, 1st class travel , £30 meal allowance, £150 overnight hotel budget in London, pay less into pension. Work less hours. Performance related pay, private medical care, free dental care...I could go on

Yes I teach.
Thanks MrsGuy.

No we buy our own biscuits too.

Public sector conditions are so good that last election I worked 50 extra hours in a two week period (evenings and weekends, and 2 X 24 hour stints) while 6 months pregnant for no extra pay.

No laptop, no phone, no conferences, no meals, no overnight stays.

I'm a reasonably senior person with two departments.

TBH I'm quite looking forward to the redundancy payout.

It obviously really depends where you work. I am sure we could talk about the excesses in the Private sector, but that is obviously not as accountable (unless you are a shareholder).

In the NHS, close relative decided to have a new contract with less hours (nurse) as she couldn't cope. Then worked the extra 10 hours per week every week at time and a half/double time every week. More on a bank holiday.

i work in the public sector and we're so cheap it acutally costs money:

no food/snacks/lunch allowed for meetings so all-day meetings impossible as we have to let people out for an hour to feed themselves and then re-convene which always takes longer

must always travel second class even if first class is cheaper/quicker and means we are not allowed to take the sleeper train (scotland to london) and so have to pay for a hotel room on top

must not spend more than £60 on a hotel room even if it means staying so far out of town we need a massive taxi fare to get to the meeting in the morning

so few toilets per person we spend ages waiting, crossing legs, wandering to the other side of the building

no money for admin staff so £30k a year professionals with post-graduate professional qualifications and ten years experience spend literally DAYS photocopying, downloading and printing documents to file

I need to use my mobile several times a day at work, but it took them 3 months to sort a phone out for me when I came back from mat leave.

I'd love to be in one of those depts where everyone gets given a BlackBerry. Really?

And tonnes of headed paper being thrown away? Surely everything is on computer these days so when the Chief Exec leaves, you just change the heading?

I use my car for work, and the reimbursement I get nowhere near covers the real costs.

We get told all the time how we need to save money, be more time efficient, basically squeeze blood out of a stone as every single member of my team works many extra hours each week, no TOIL, no overtime, it's just the way it has to be.

oh, and no remote access to email except for the top tier of management... and almost every useful website or application that makes work more efficient blocked by IT.

Went to a clinic in a hospital this morning, which was running 1 hour late. Four nurses stood at the desk in the middle of the room for the entire hour, having a chat. None of them seemed to serve any useful function, nor had any sort of interaction with the patients. Why four?

A frteind of mine is an NHS consultant and orthopaedic surgeon. He was sent on a 2 day corporate team building and 'bonding' course where they did role play and played games, team challenges etc.

I am cynical about these things at the best of times, but I can sort of see the point in a business environment. But for hip replacements? Really?