The attitudes here are not necessarily surprising, but they are depressing. The race to the bottom mentality. The references to “taxpayers subsidising public sector workers”, as though public sector workers aren’t taxpayers too, and as if the reason for our existence wasn’t to provide services that everyone needs and benefits from, free at the point of use. The quickness to criticise those services without the ability or willingness to join the dots to see that if you systematically downvalue a profession, if you successfully demonise it so that pay freezes and removal of some of the rewards that made it attractive to workers are seen as “justified”, if you support endless cuts and recruitment freezes when they’re badged as “trimming back a bloated Civil Service” then you get the public services you deserve, delivered by exhausted, demoralised, overworked staff who are constantly expected to do more with less.
This could not be more correct. I am a pharmacist by profession, worked for NHS in hospitals from the day I qualified and F2F through first COVID wave. PPE was non-existent at the start, there was no sympathy for childcare difficulties - my manager expected me to just place my 1 and 3 year olds in the unfamiliar hospital nursery and for me to report to work and deal with the separation struggles. This is similar to many NHS workers and I accepted the situation in a national emergency. Whilst lots of gratitude and thanks was given, clearly workers are not worthy of any form of renumeration to reflect this.
I have been contacted by private companies with opportunities many times over the years and in late 2020, I took the jump. Flexible working, much higher pay (almost 1.5 fold increase), private healthcare plus a host of other benefits. Yes the pension does not match but the work life balance is a million times better, I work around school hours and have the flexibility to pop out for concerts/sports days etc and make up the time. As a package, it cannot be beaten by the basic NHS pension that PP bleat on about being so wonderful. We have also had a pay rise this year (not in line with inflation but more than I could have hoped for). This is a like for like comparison for a professional job for a highly trained individual (Masters degree, post graduate qualification plus years of specialist training). Comparing me to a minimum wage private sector individual who has not received a pay rise is not equivalent.
I am one of many who have left long term NHS roles in the last few years due to being utterly fed up with zero flexibility, working far more hours than paid for and absolutely no thanks for the work. Patients are always angry because they have had to wait for the service and we bear the brunt of the anger. What is completely missed is the service needs more skilled staff to operate better which cannot be found as no-one wants to work in those conditions.
It is the same with teaching - 3 friends have moved over to the private sector and have no intention to return to state. They have far better working conditions, timetables that allow them to mark and plan properly and far higher salary. Again, they are only too happy to leave the pension behind for the new work life balance. 3 excellent teachers who will not return to teach in a state school at a huge loss to the public.
All those condemning the public sector because they themselves haven't got their private sector pay rises - be careful what you wish for. There won't be anyone left to do the essential roles soon