What would make you consider working in NHS admin right now?

[Helpmethinkofasolution]

I have never known things as bad as this. Job getting no applicants, successful applicants regularly turning down jobs and then us having to go back to the start in terms of recruitment.
When I started in 2018 I remember there were 200 applicants for most band 4 jobs. Where are those people now and what is going to attract people to apply again?

Is it post Covid wariness of the NHS? Is it that we used to be flexible but now WFH jobs are even more flexible? Is it that the private sector is paying more? To my (possibly un- observant) eye, it doesn't seem like there are loads of admin jobs out there offering much more money. Unless it's that there is less responsibility with these private sector admin roles.

We used to get a good stream of working mums (generally) who would appreciate an interesting and flexible job with good sick pay, annual leave and ok pension but they are no longer applying.
This won't be used in any recruitment campaign, I'm just genuinely interested (and bloody worried that I'll be doing six peoples jobs forever!)

Yeah, I think this about sums it up.

For desk based roles like admin, the standard offering is now at least some wfh available. If you genuinely can't offer that because of the nature of the role, the salary needs to be more competitive because you're asking more of the applicant. I accept that the NHS pension is better than elsewhere but still, the money is insufficient for a role requiring in person attendance at set, probably expensive to attend sites.

I'm a B4 in finance on the higher end of band 4. I'm a part-qualified chartered accountant (2 exams away from being fully qualified) on £25k. The responsibility for the pay is ridiculous, they're making us go into the office pretty much full time when the job could be done WFH, they've cut my study day allowance right down despite initially being the ones pushing me to do it.

Management who are all in with each other and like to throw their weight around whilst at the same time preaching about positive mental health and work life balance. Those whose face "fits" i.e. kiss the correct arses seem to get on well and progress quickly, others not willing to do so will remain stuck.

I'm fairly sure my request to go part time after my maternity leave will be denied. I'll use them for my mat leave and to finish my qualification and then I'll be off somewhere else for more pay and a better environment.

This is partly because of the number of staff, nurses and midwives recruited from 1985-90 shot up.
They have known for 30 years that this would happen and add to that people going early = crisis.

Not RTFT OP sorry, but a friend of mine was looking for an admin role and I saw one advertised in a local Trust where I used to work; when I had a look it was Band 2 (so about £20k) - full time, no mention of flexibility on hours (so to cover school pick ups, or possibly working four long says or similar); no mention of possible WFH; long long list of requirements; I just thought, "you'll be lucky" and didn't even pass it on to my friend.

The role seemed to be asking for detailed knowledge of procedures for the Trust, and commitment in terms of 9am-5.30pm, but not with the pay that I would expect. If you are paying not much then you need to appeal to people in some other way with more flexibility. I bet many NHS admin roles could be done at least partially from home which means ppl save on petrol and parking and can (if appropriate) pick up from school, for example.

Too many part time jobs are Mon to Fri with shorter hours and usually you have to pay for some kind of before or after school child care anyway because even the part time hours overlap school pickup drop off hours. Would be better to have condensed days two or three days a week. Then there's the problem of school holidays and you have to pay for a full days childcare to only cover 3 or 4 hours if the day.

Yeah, expecting that for 20k in the current climate is actually kind of hilarious in a warped way.

Personally I would love to work in admin for the NHS as I really enjoy the type of work and also the nature of it, however, a Band 4 isnt paid enough to cover my bills let alone any luxuries. Its a shame as I had a wonderful job in Mental Health admin but had to leave as I got into debt.

I worked in HR admin for the NHS just over 10 years ago now, and I didn't last more than a few months in the 2 jobs I had.
First was band 2 HR admin, had nothing to do, bored to death and had to sit at my desk every day pretending I was working. The band 3's had plenty to do, I was given menial tasks such as checking there was enough paper in the printer and tidying the stationary cupboard as there wasn't anything for me and the other band 2 to do.

Moved to a band 3 HR admin at a different trust. Horrendous. Horrible micro managing manager. High staff turnover. So incredibly busy people would often break down crying. We were offered to work overtime for time off in lieu... which seemed very daft considering we couldn't keep up with the work as it was! Could take ages to get people a start date, you didn't get your contract until the legal max of 10 weeks after you started your job. Sounds like it hasn't changed much!

Moved into admin in a different sector where I've worked my way up to a 42k job, which would never have happened if I'd stayed in the NHS!

I left because I realized I didn't want to progress as it's too much stress for too little pay. Many of my managers were constantly signed off sick with the stress. I think some people go into this because they believe very strongly in the NHS and want to give something back but get burnt out.

This. Combined effects of Brexit and the pandemic plus many more jobs are wfh which gives mums more job opportunities. Schools are having exactly the same problem.

OP honestly, money. The price of inflation means that lower paid jobs arent an option for many job seekers. In some cases its easier to receive benefits and work for cash in hand than it is to work legitimately. The foodbank near me regularly has people in work uniforms standing in line. Its so wrong.

Employers I work with are having the same issues as yourself. People just arent applying. The recession that is fast upon us with be brutal.

Anyone work for a local NHS trust in an admin role, specifically with health visitors / school nurses?
Seen a job advertised locally (working from home) and I was going to apply but reading these posts has put me off!
Currently work in admin for local authority and fancy a change but the pay of NHS job is slightly lower than what I am on now. Would I be mad?!

When I was in admin I remember not bothering to apply because they only seemed to take on people who had experience as NHS admin. The old chicken and egg situation.

I applied for a band 3 admin job - it was part time and hours suited .
I'm degree educated but it only requires GCSEs .
The application took over 2hrs and was so detailed with unnecessary stuff for the level of job . I'd imagine this puts a lot of people off .
Got an interview - but it was still over zoom .They offered me the job the next week - I didn't feel happy having to make a decision having never visited the workplace or met the people .
The money was poor .
I took a school based job instead - same sort of money but better holidays !
Also at the moment there are lots of jobs out there - I could have applied for hundreds . I was offered 4 and could take my pick .

The money js terrible, that's why. I just looked at what's available in my area and it's paying £20,500 full time. We have some of the highest property prices outside of London here. People can't sustain rent/mortgage on that.

I think it's also the result of fewer EU workers which have kept wages abysmally for the past couple of decades. Employers are going to have to offer a decent, liveable wage if they want staff.

I think if there were jobs that worked with school age children, term time or 10-2 to allow for school runs then you might get some people who would put up with low pay and poor conditions. Obviously you'd have to actually put this information on the job advert.

I'll never get over the time when my workplace needed to recruit admin to work a 2pm-10pm schedule and made no mention whatsoever. They wasted everyone's time by interviewing a load of people who assumed it was a 9-5 role while the people who would have wanted an evening job didn't apply for the same reason. Job adverts need basic information like locations and hours.

OP honestly, money. The price of inflation means that lower paid jobs arent an option for many job seekers. In some cases its easier to receive benefits and work for cash in hand than it is to work legitimately.

Many NHS jobs pay just enough to make you ineligible for significant help with housing costs, but not enough to actually house and feed a family. People are legitimately better off working 30 hours in minimum wage jobs and topping this up with benefits, and without the headaches of NHS admin.

There are 30K (and more) admin jobs out there - in the private sector (for example private schools).

My state school admin jobs pays £29K (not FTE - it’s my actual salary) and I work term time only plus three weeks, plus their pension is good, so there are some public sector outliers as well.

I was truly interested in the OP and just thought, maybe I could go back to the NHS as I'm bored and need more money right now.
And your post reminded me why I left. For the third time in 7 years I had to re apply for my own job. Sod that shit again.

HR in a charity. Recruitment is a total nightmare. We get very few applicants and we have jobs open for a month.

I do get why they have to externally advertise these new positions that come about from promoting existing members of staff. The problem is it feels like it's often a waste of time applying for these roles because you don't know if it's a job you could actually be considered for or just a formality for hiring the internal applicant that everyone wants. People make a lot of effort to apply for jobs and be interviewed and this messes about a lot of jobseekers.

I think it's also the result of fewer EU workers which have kept wages abysmally for the past couple of decades. Employers are going to have to offer a decent, liveable wage if they want staff.*

This^
We were sold a benefit of Brexit would be fewer overseas workers which was keeping wages lower. So now we have plenty jobs available and people can pick and choose. The NHS, care sector, hospitality warned Gov Brexit would have a big impact but Gov not providing money to increase wages,

But people voted for this and now wonder why we can't get anyone to do low paid jobs🤷🏼‍♀️

Yet people are on less. Band 3s and 2s - bit insulting.

Not all hospitals charge the earth to park. I pay £17 per month for my staff permit and it's scaled on banding (I'm a 7) so a 4 would probably pay near £10-12 per month.

Please don't worry. Lots of people are more than happy working in the NHS. I've been in it for 20 years and know many people employed as band 2 who crack on with their job and do a fab job.