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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To Leave the civil service

53 replies

gonewiththegin · 25/01/2022 00:51

Just as the title suggests. I work as a civil servant and I hate my job. It does of course come with job security and a very flexible approach to working days and hours. However, I am utterly miserable and the thought of being back in the office has me looking elsewhere.

I have seen another job very similar to what I do now, its remote but slightly less annually. This would balance due to travel costs, coffee for the train etc. My DH is on board with the change and I am fairly confident I would be successful. There also seems to be a better change of further career progression short term whereas at my current level it would take some time.

OP posts:
ExtraOnion · 10/03/2022 08:41

Get on Civil Service Jobs, there is loads of stuff. Also, have you thought about retraining, there is money around for that (in particular into Digital roles … not necessarily technical), you can also access the Apprenticeship Levy (apprenticeship are available to all ages / grades … and you don’t need to be called an apprentice) , what about a secondment to another department ?

I love the CS .. I left and came back again .. and yes, and i have a very good pension

TheKeatingFive · 10/03/2022 08:47

Check the pension provision, how does it compare. If you aren't comparing like with like (direct benefit versus direct contribution for example) it may be helpful to get a financial advisor or similar to help you understand the difference it will make to your ultimate provision.

ClemFandangoo · 10/03/2022 09:01

@YouWereGr8InLittleMenstruators

Reading with interest, as someone who has been eyeing up jobs in the civil service but can't quite figure out how to make the jump (teacher). PPs read like cautionary tales, so will watch this closely. Bottom line is, please don't stay if your heart isn't in it and it's making you miserable. Take your capability, your expertise and your passion someplace where you can use it to make the difference you want to make, both for yourself and in the workplace.
I think it depends which part of the CS you work in. I’ve worked in the CS since 2015 and really live my job and the work culture. A friend of mine works in a different part of the CS and is thinking of leaving. The CS is huge, not everyone will have the same experience. (I hated working in the financial sector but others thrive in it, absolutely friends on a many number of things)
ClemFandangoo · 10/03/2022 09:03

Depends* (how on Earth did that become friends??)

Emotionalellie · 10/03/2022 11:52

I think a big factor for me in the pension argument is that my mother in law worked in the civil service for 40 years. Didn't particularly enjoy it but had a great pension. She died suddenly and unexpectedly two years after retiring.

TheKeatingFive · 10/03/2022 12:14

I think a big factor for me in the pension argument is that my mother in law worked in the civil service for 40 years. Didn't particularly enjoy it but had a great pension. She died suddenly and unexpectedly two years after retiring.

This is true, but equally a poverty stricken retirement is pretty miserable (I've seen that at first hand).

You can't know how it's going to pan out.

MabelsApron · 10/03/2022 12:58

Watching with interest. I’m civil service and the flexibility really only applies to parents where I am, everyone else has to work around it as there’s never enough people to get the work done. Been miserable for over a year but private sector is notoriously brutal (parents come to us from there to benefit from the flex and mat leave policies). But then if I’m working stupid hours anyway I kinda figure I might as well get paid better for it.

But covid…

Sympathy OP. It’s really hard to know what to do.

Nothingsfine · 10/03/2022 13:43

I'll be out of the CS as soon as I can.

ClemFandangoo · 10/03/2022 13:58

but private sector is notoriously brutal

I found that. Realise the CS has its faults too but I used to work in the financial sector and it was horrid. Treated like children and with the expectation everyone was ‘trying it on’. So 30 minute interrogations when you were ill or away from your desk. No flexibility at all. I was miserable and stressed. Much better in the CS, I don’t have children and it’s still flexible, as long as I’m doing my job well I can work where and when I like and just being treated like the adult I am really.

ClemFandangoo · 10/03/2022 13:59

Just to add I have endometriosis and need to have longer than average loo breaks sometimes 🙁

LilyRose88 · 10/03/2022 14:10

I worked in the civil service for a very long time. There are some great jobs around, but I found that the pay started to fall behind what I could earn outside, even taking account of the pension. Morale was poor in the department that I worked in too. I decided to leave to work for a charity and it was so much better. I would say that very few jobs are perfect, but if a job makes you unhappy then it is time to look elsewhere.

Dontbeadobber · 10/03/2022 14:17

I’m really shocked at a number of these replies. I work in one of the smaller departments and I absolutely love it, wouldn’t change a thing. My team, development opportunities, the work, flexibility are all amazing. I think you’re just in the wrong job OP. I wonder if the posters who hate CS are in DWP or HMRC? I don’t think I’d get quite as much job satisfaction in either of those departments.

AllOfUsAreDead · 10/03/2022 14:31

Possibly just the wrong area, some of them are bad.

Private can be good, but is the same as public, there are bad companies. And they tend to put more pressure on you to get work done. If it's a bad one, its probably worse than what is considered bad in public sector.

ClemFandangoo · 10/03/2022 14:45

@Dontbeadobber

I’m really shocked at a number of these replies. I work in one of the smaller departments and I absolutely love it, wouldn’t change a thing. My team, development opportunities, the work, flexibility are all amazing. I think you’re just in the wrong job OP. I wonder if the posters who hate CS are in DWP or HMRC? I don’t think I’d get quite as much job satisfaction in either of those departments.
That’s what I thought, I imagine it’s very deadline and/or target driven. Definitely not like that in my part of the CS.
Grumpsy · 10/03/2022 14:52

I used to be a civil servant and left, it wasn’t for me.

The one thing I would say though is that generally if you move to the private sector you should be looking for a higher salary rather than a decrease. The salaries in the civil service are low, but this is offset by the pension - which is the best available.

Personally if I were you I’d be looking for either a pay increase to move or be looking at the wider CS so that you keep the benefits.

emotionalellie · 10/03/2022 17:05

I’m not in dwp or hmrc!

MabelsApron · 10/03/2022 18:01

I’m not in DWP or HMRC either…

Rainallnight · 11/03/2022 00:37

I wasn’t in DWP or HMRC either!

Gingerbreadman1972 · 11/03/2022 01:02

It's a frustrating place to work, I left, went to the private sector, came back. Admittedly a couple of my jobs in the private sector were much more engaging, but a couple of them were soul destroying. On balance, I decided the negatives of CS outweighed the negatives of my other employment, that may reverse in future and I may leave again. It suits me now to be building up a pension again after so little being saved whilst in the private sector. Before you leave, ensure you do take into account the benefit of the pension in your decision making. Ime civil servants dont necessarily appreciate the value of it bcos of the changes to average salary etc however it is extremely unlikely you'd get anything close to that elsewhere. Also domt assume you can come back, unfortunately previous experience counts for nothing as its all on fair and open recruitment. My previous experience there counted for nothing and I failed at an interview the grade below I had previously successfully worked at. But i do get the desire to leave, it can be frustrating.

Original poster
gonewiththegin · 11/03/2022 08:01

@Emotionalellie I am still here, as much as I really dislike my current role as others have said it was too much to gamble especially given the pay would have been less also. The flexibility and hybrid approach is also another positive.

I am applying outwith my department as it’s notoriously not a great place to work. Given all the uncertainty and price increases it definitely didn’t feel like the right time to make such a big change.

I am sure there are areas that are fabulous to work so please don’t let me put any one off.

OP posts:
emotionalellie · 11/03/2022 23:17

Thank you for the update @gonewiththegin and good luck with your applications.

I had a really bad day today and am fed up. I'm the closest I've been to leaving in a long time.

On paper it is great - 3 days per week, good pension, hybrid working, and I actually get paid relatively well considering I don't really have any specialist skills or expertise. But I hate it - the culture, my line management, the office politics.

Original poster
gonewiththegin · 12/03/2022 19:32

@Emotionalellie I am in exactly the same position as you. I work 3 days which is another reason I decided to stay as I wouldn’t have the freedom to pick or possibly even do 3 days at all outwith CS.

Management and office politics are my main issues also. I am hoping a move to a new department will help with that, if not then I am not sure I can spend forever in a job that gets me down daily.

OP posts:
isitonlymethatfeelsthisway · 20/09/2022 10:58

really interesting thread - thanks all . I've been a CS for nearly 20 years. 2 years on from a period of TDA to an SCS role I'm feeling increasingly disillusioned and cynical (@Rainallnight). I feel so disempowered with so little scope to exercise my own judgement - everyone up the chain has a view on what I do and I can't do anything without my boss's, boss's boss agreeing. I'm fed up being a cog in the machine - it's so unfulfilling. I know from my TDA there'd be more discretion and autonomy at SCS level, but why would I want that stress for very little extra pay? (I've got 6 kids and a life to lead). Perhaps mad, but I find myself feeling de-skilled and without any confidence that I'd have any value to add in a 'real' job with proper responsibility. So I just wallow on within the security of the job with no one really noticing or caring that I'm costing. It's had to weight up other options when I have no idea of how to find credible alternative roles - in the wider public, voluntary or private sectors. Where should I look?

Shortname · 20/09/2022 11:09

I left the civil service at the start of the year to take a related role with same salary. I just couldn't cope with the stress and the the ever increasing workload, constantly cutting staff and not being allowed to recruit when people left. 10yrs of no pay rises and always doing 'more with less' By the time i left I was doing a job that had previously been done by 4 people. I now do one person's job, I have time for my children, it's been a life changing move for me. Good luck.

Jengnr · 20/09/2022 13:57

Maybe look at changing departments or roles. I was in one dept for 17 years. Left for another 3 years ago on promotion and have never looked back.

My previous dept I was in an ops role. Applied for an ops role in the new dept but, by trick of a reserve list I got pulled into another area and have got completely away from that now and things have changed significantly. I’ve since had a second promotion and feel like a third isn’t impossible. It absolutely would have been in my ‘former life’.

I’m so much happier.