The civil service is a great place to work

[DogDaysNeverEnd]

I'm looking for a job and the world's my oyster in theory but in practice it's obviously not (read that as I have no clue what I want to do with my remaining 30 year til retirement).

I had a civil service interview last week for an SEO role but it was so short I didn't get to ask much (at DEFRA). I didn't get the job, and I know there's a hiring freeze of sorts so wondering if I want to keep pursuing any opportunities I see.

I'm hoping to get some insight here. If you work for the civil service, and especially DEFRA what do you wish you'd known when/before you started? Is the pension still good? If departments are shrinking does that mean everyone is stressing? Is the work interesting?

Aibu - the civil service is a great place to work

Your post is confusing. Are you saying it's a great place to work, or asking if it is? Very strangely worded.

I joined 6 weeks ago (student loans company) and it's good. Great friendly team and work life balance is decent. Pension is fab with 27.1% employers contribution and I only contribute 5.7%.

It's "Am I being unreasonable"? So, it's a question.

I've been led to believe it's a great place to work, good pension, nice people, interesting and varied work etc. Wanting to see if any civil servants recognise that description...

“Pension is fab with 27.1% employers contribution”
It is a great pension but the employer contribution % is fairly meaningless as it’s a DB scheme.
I think OP that YABU not to research the pension scheme situation yourself, given how much information on it is available online.
I agree it’s a badly written OP 😆
Good luck with your future applications though!

I get the point about reading the info about the CS pension but I guess I'm asking more in context of all the other pension schemes available. I thought CS used to be the gold standard but maybe others have caught up now?

Don't do it! I have been a CS for nigh on 20 years off and on. It is NOT the place it used to be! So understaffed work is not covered, this week we have had 5 in out of a team of 13. Long term sick, holidays etc. we can't recruit as the salary is rubbish and no real pay rise for 10 years. Pension is OK but not, as most people seem to think, final salary, that ended 16 years ago in our dept. Holidays are good. But because work isn't covered due to staffing levels you come back from holiday and with a day you are stressed again. I don't work for a huge dept, like DWP or HMRC but it is still awful and I am actually applying for other jobs. After nearly 20 years. I expected to be here until I retire.

I'm assuming op worded it that way because she posted in aibu for traffic but tried to avoid people would tell her she's using aibu "wrong" without an actual aibu.

Anyway I work in an arms- length CS body and would personally say yes the description is broadly accurate and I enjoy the work and the conditions.

I work for a CS department that is constantly recruiting. It is very very stressful, and the pay is a bit rubbish, but I can honestly say it's the most interesting job I've ever done in my life. There are a lot of staff who are just time-servers, and who don't really care about their jobs, but if you've got a bit of nous about you, its easy to just go round them and do what you want. I work flexi-hours which suits me perfectly, my team are great, and there are lots of opportunities to shine.

I don't know anything about DEFRA I'm afraid, but CS experiences are quite universal.

@latetothefisting I did torture the format for traffic, yes. I've asked questions in the work forum before and tumbleweed.

😆 yeah - cos that’s been the general industry wide movement pt pension schemes over the last 10 years…
So you don’t want to research the CS scheme, and you don’t want to research other schemes as a comparison yourself either?

Ime, daily doing the job: Pension is ok. Holidays are good. I personally have found it quite flexible in terms of hours, leave, workplace adaptions. That's the good stuff. Interview process is what it is, but there are techniques to help and the CPD framework, though tiresome, is good for progress tracking. Supposedly we're hard to fire, lol.

My workload has mostly been ok although I did have a break down when someone more senior kept demanding updates on a SNAFU partly created by her that got dumped on me, and would respond to my emails outlining my efforts & asking for next steps/her guidance on specific issues with "thaaaaaaanks- you're a rockstar! 🤩" but no advice or actions. For months.

The tougher stuff: the figure for people who say they've felt bullied at work is high, workload can be time pressured. They also seem to hate you talking to actual people; I've found it incredibly hard to get put through to a person when I've had to call different help desks before- especially post covid. You MUST stay on top of your personal HR stuff and be assertive with stuff you want/need. Some colleagues are deadweight protected by being hard to fire. Ugh.

As long as you're in a position with progression and with decent management, it is pretty good, but be aware you're a cog in a huge machine- and be prepared to look after yourself and your interests and self advocate/be your own cheerleader. I'd recommend being unionised, too.

I'm a public servant rather than a civil servant, I work for a non-departmental government body. The workload is heavy but it's really interesting work, the pay isn't terrible but I know I could earn more in the private sector. Our annual leave is fabulous and the pension is good. I really enjoy my work and like that I play a part in making a difference to the UK economy.

@overitall1 sorry to hear that, but also good to know. I hope you find something less stressful soon.

Just retired from the Ministry of Justice. I made some lifelong friends there. Also they really look after you and the pension is good. Salaries could be higher.

" Some colleagues are deadweight protected by being hard to fire. Ugh. "

This is my experience as well, is really frustrating when you have a decent work ethic. Read the same for 'people who know how to play the system'

Depends on the department. From what I know from family and friends that work in different bits of the CS, HMRC is AWFUL to work for.

@Testina if I rephrased and said asked if the CS has been eroded to the point other pensions have caught up? Tbh, it's not my main concern that I'm going to read up speculatively as it's not going to sway my decision, just good to get a sense.

I agree with the previous comment about HMRC. I am in a different department now and i love it. The pay isnt great and hasnt really increased in 10 years and the pension is OK. I wouldnt necessarily put the CS on a pedestal even I do love it.

I've been a CS for nearly 10 years in a small technical central government department. I've progressed from HEO to Grade 6 in that time. I've been able to travel to loads of different places, met some amazing people and work on issues that make a big difference to the prosperity of our country. I have great job satisfaction and am very driven by the idea of public service.

Personally, i am very happy with my projected pension - I'd be intrigued to learn more about which schemes are better. Pay is frustrating and i only get around 60% of what someone doing my job in the private sector would get, but i really value the work life balance - especially since having my baby last year.

My workload is heavy and fast paced which can be stressful. This is where good managers are critical. I have been lucky to have some excellent managers who have dealt with performance management issues robustly for the benefit of the whole team. But i have seen teams with high levels of stress, bullying and ineffective management, which are not positive places to work. Ultimately the CS employs 400,000 people so there is going to be a very great range in experiences.

The people I know who work for the CS only work their contracted hours so much more manageable than a lot of other jobs.

I've been with the CS for 3 years now and as soon as I'm back off Mat leave I'm getting out.

It depends on how you like to work but coming from private sector into CS has been terrible for me. The salary is poor, but the pension is excellent so you have to weigh up whether it's enough to cover the shortfall in salary that you could get doing comparable jobs in private sector.
There is flexible working which is great but to be honest, I've always had flexi in the roles I've done before due to the type of work I do so it's not a selling point for me.
I'm micro managed massively. Every decision needs about seven million meetings and then needs to go up through loads of different levels if people before anything can be implemented. This is my biggest frustration, how much time (and therefore public money!) are we wasting just hashing over the same info again and again and again. Needs more decisive and dynamic people.

There are also a lot, and I mean a LOT, of people who are terrible at their jobs. I don't know if it's the same in every department, but performance management is just not carried out in my dept. So many inept and ineffective people it's actually baffling

I went on a course with lots of people from the civil servie. It certainly sounded very good to me. I do think you experience frustrations related to process and bureaucracy that can be very frustrating. Also, sounds like it's virtually impossible to sack people - good for you from a job security perspective, but does lumber you with some sometimes challenging coworkers.

The CS is huge so it will depend a lot on the department/team/specialism.

With that caveat in mind, I’d say the pay compares unfavourably to other sectors but the pension is better.

Maternity/paternity leave and sick pay are generally very good. As is annual leave.

If you’re recruited on a permanent contract it’s very hard to get rid of you. This has pros and cons, obviously the pro for you is a very secure role and the con is that you may find yourself working with a lot of people who don’t really do very much work because they can get away with it (not always the case of course - there are some very hardworking teams).

Better flexible working options than I’ve seen elsewhere, if you request to go part time they will usually try to find a way to support it in my experience.

Some people find the work genuinely fascinating and love working for the public good. Others find it frustrating if they’re asked to implement something they don’t believe in just because the government wants to do it.

There are mostly no bonuses (or tiny amounts which are taxed) no matter how well you perform. Absolutely no freebies like tea/coffee/milk or lunch if you’re at an internal event/training course. Sounds small but a lot of people are surprised at this!

So in summary I’d say it depends a lot on the area you work in and what you’re looking to get out of it.

"I'm micro managed massively."

This was what I saw in my very short time temping at the civil service. Instead of having 4 to 10 people in a unit/department and a line manager as a head of department, it was almost like every person had their own personal manager. That person, just one level up from you, has less normal work to do because they're a 'manager' so they actually spend time supervising you closely. We also had appraisals every month whereas I'd reached the age of 40 never having any before that!
Very hierarchical and people quite high up doing things that people at the bottom could do.
Where I worked was also not understaffed like the places mentioned on MN. It was actually overstaffed and people didn't have enough to do. We worked less efficiently as well to have enough work for everyone.

Pay is 'ok' but i love the pension, the flexibility (want to work a 7-3?no problem), wfh, the annual leave and for me low stress (don't manage staff).

I've been on maternity leave and even that is very generous.