To take a job with the DWP even though I will lose friends

[Sunsnet]

I currently work a minimum wage job in retail. It's long hours, exhausting and for really shitty money. Sometimes I earn less than minimum wage as I'm salaried and not entitled to overtime.

I've just been offered a job with the DWP. I'll earn 50% more, have a WAY better pension plus more benefits. I'll even be able to work fewer hours so I can spend more time with my family and STILL be better off than now. BUT, I have friends who think the DWP is immoral and by working for them I will be implicit in that immorality.

I agree that the way the DWP works at the moment is immoral, but surely we need good people to work there to ensure that people who need the help and are entitled to it actually get it. Or am I just clutching at straws to justify my position?

I have one friend in particular who says they will never speak to me again if I take the job. This friend is independently wealthy and never needs to work again, I am not. I do not own property, have a family to support, I'm a single parent and I have no qualifications so have no hope of a better job.

Would I really be that awful a person to sell out and take this job?

Exactly! Doing a job we are just mere mortals following rules. The friend/s need to get a grip. What jobs do they do, if any, are all slaves to the trade.

I had a lot of trouble getting my pension sorted because I am a WASPI woman. Long story short at one stage I was phoning them twice a week to get the latest update on the new rules. One and all they were lovely patient people, very helpful and kind, nothing was too much trouble. I can't have been the only woman they were dealing with who had the same issues but you would have thought I was the only one and they had all the time in the world to help me. I say bless them and go for it OP

I had to laugh that your even asking this OP! Will that nice rich friend pay your the 50% uplift in salary and pension,because you know your friendship means so much to them after all.......no.?. Well there your answer.
Crack on. Get that job pay those bills and look after your family first. "Friends" can all do one. You'll make nicer ones in DwP ..

The people who work there are still directly affecting claimants. They have targets to hit. So you think it's fine to work in a role where you're stopping the people who need it the most from extra money? Because that's what they do, no matter how "pleasant" they are when they speak to people. I stand by that I couldn't be friends with anyone who worked for the PIP department of the DWP. Or a Tory.

Maybe through a system that treats them fairly and as human beings?

Just tell them you're doing admin for the council. Basically is.

Jeez take the job, I had a bunch of friends saying how they’d never send their kids to private school- it was wrong, immoral blah blah! Each and everyone of them has.

Let’s hope she never needs help from the DWP!!

Nowhere in my post have I stated that I think it is fine that,

"So you think it's fine to work in a role where you're stopping the people who need it the most from extra money?"

I understand though, that it is the workers following this wretched Governments policy. They are the people you should be directing your ire at. As always people misdirect their anger, at the wrong people.

Not just that, nowhere does OP say she will be working directly with claimants.
DWP is huge. She is could be in some back office admin role and be blessed enough to not have to deal with the public.

You're working for them for your own benefit not endorsing them.
Your friend is an idealistic judgemental twonk.

I used to work for the DWP many years ago as a Personal Advisor.

It was a very rewarding job.

When you have people who’ve been made redundant from a job they’ve been at for 30+ years and feel at a loss. I helped them get upskilled, helped them with a new cv, helped them apply for jobs, sat and listened to them and tried to help them however I could. And I had many people thank me for the support I gave them.

Your judgement is shortsighted and narrow minded. And I’m glad my friends are all super lovely people who don’t judge the way you do.

So yes, I absolutely can live with myself for previously working for the DWP. Because I did a bloody good job of helping people whilst I was there.

A friend of mine did a stint with DWP. She was dealing with one claimant she had to phone them and felt that the person was working whilst she spoke to them - spoke to supervisor for advice and they said just process the claim didn’t want to know her concerns. She left not long after as she didn’t feel able to work somewhere where no there was no curiosity about claims that didn’t feel right.

Exactly@XenoBitch .

Unbelievable you are putting your "friends" opinions infront of you and your families happiness. Get a grip

Take the job. These people are not friends, you have to do what is right for you. One thing I would say though, it is quite difficult to have to speak to people who are turned down when you are sympathetic to their needs and can do nothing about it. I found myself in that position working in a SEND department, but you just have to explain as kindly as you can.

Tell them to get to fuck, then block them. What a moron.

Its not up to your friends.its your morals that count,way it up.

Yes, the workers are following policy. They're still carrying out acts in order to meet targets. Turning severely disabled/dying people down for money they desperately need and are entitled to as their job. If they can happily do that, or even unhappily do that, just because, "it's a job", fine. But I couldn't be friends with someone who did that, which is the point of the thread.

Imagine a family member with cancer had a few months to live and had to go through this shitty, humiliating, horrible process to scrape together some money, only to be turned down as not being ill enough when they are, just because a random person who needed a job has to hit a target. Appalling.

And to those people who are apparently so lacking in reading skills that they can't see I've said I couldn't be friends with someone who worked in the PIP department, do learn to read.

Friend is a fool.
Congrats on the new job!

It's really disturbing that you take your friends comments so seriously. You have a family. Unless commiting a crime - your single focus should be supporting your family. Otherwise get your friends to take legal action againt DWP .... for what exactly???

This! Also I can’t recall ever being this invested in any of my friends’ workplaces. Sounds like your “friend” is better off out of your life.

Ok@WalkingonWheels .

Oh my gosh - take the job! That's ridiculous - we all need to provide for our families. It's a government job, you're not a loan shark! Good luck op

Take the job, the pay increase, the happiness & more time with your family. You can make other friends, these people don’t value your needs and wants for yourself or your family, they are worried about themselves. Make yourself happy and a priority and take the job. Your happiness triumphs your friends, if they don’t like what job you do, that’s a shame.