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?

I am a civil servant and I hear people complaining about my organisation too. I take it on the chin we are not perfect but I know that there are a lot of people there that do care about people and are trying to make a difference with an expectation to do more for less. I think your eyes will be opened once you take the job. Best of luck, you'd be silly not to take it x

Well the independently wealthy can afford to have principles like that can’t they? 🙄

I have friends with jobs that I personally wouldn’t do, but I’m not going to stop being friends with them because of it (I might change my mind if they become contract killers)

If you have been offered it, take it !

Take the job, your friends sound utterly ridiculous. Unless they themselves are scamming the benefit system in some way I fail to see why you taking the job would effect them in any way. It’s not like you’ve announced you’ve decided to become a drug dealer or something! You will make new friends and have a more comfortable life in every way. If they drop you because of that then the reality will be it’s because they are jealous you are showing ambition and will have some nice perks to the job.

As a civil servant your job is to carry out what the government advises. It's not the organisation it's the direction it's given

I know people who work at the DWP it is a fab place to work. Lots of support and many opportunities for progression should you want them! And the pension is brill, along with the flexi and the civil service approach to work life balance,

Your friend sounds like a righteous arsehole.

You cannot be serious.
Of course you should take the job.

It sounds like there are a lot of advantages in taking the job, for you and your family. Morally, if it's a job you feel comfortable doing, that's great, and if it isn't, think through how long you would need to stay there to progress to something better, and whether you would be happy in and with yourself.

Personally, it would depend what the job was. Anything which involved sanctioning the vulnerable for breaking bureaucratic rules designed to make their lives miserable and catch them out - no, the financial advantages would not be worth the mental anguish. I say this from a fairly privileged position in which I am not at risk of cold or hunger.

I voted the wrong way. I think you’re silly not to take the job and it’s ridiculous that your friends have this attitude to an entire government department that employs thousands of staff? I doubt the entire department is all bad. I have my own opinions of civil servants but being immoral isn’t it, it’s more that the culture is a bit slow and it can be hard to progress.

The DWP has to follow policies set by the government. So your rich friend if they vote Tory or did not vote are as much a cause of this as anyone else.

Take the job.

Take it. Think of no one else but your family.
You will not be making the big decissions, those fall with the legislation makers. So, not the fault of employees, at all. Your friend is out of line.
You take it, do your job with dilligence (which you sound like you will do indeed) and when you progress up to management and further, then you can change things that you see need changing.
Your friend is well out of order and I would dump them, just for what they said, whether I take or not the role. She has to aim her issues up, not to the workers!

Take the job! if the so-called friend says anything, say that you're sorry you missed the conversation where they offered to make up the difference in income for you!
I was in the exact same position 35 years ago, DHs 'best' mate told him to dump me, we are still together, and his mate got over it.

They are only as good as their Govt at the time, so after 13 yrs Tory leadership they're at their lowest ebb. But that will change and it's a good time to join them.

The individual staff that work there are not immoral. Just the Govt they work for.

Wow

Do it and see where it takes you.

Congratulations on your new job!

Your 'friends' sound utterly bonkers, frankly.

I'm sure they have to pay minimum wage even if you're salary you shouldn't be working for less than minimum

If my friend got a job that paid her 50% more I’d be dead pleased for her, even if she was like “well I’ll be working on the death star”. Your friend is suffering from a bad case of luxury belief. She can afford to be an arse about stuff like this, the rest of us actually have to worry about where the money is coming from to keel the roof over our own heads.

Your friends are idiots. Take the job.

There are parts of my job that wouldn't win me any popularity contest let's just say but I think I can make a difference by being compassionate, kind and fair. I am sure you will be able to do the same.

Easy for your 'friends' to talk, judgemental arseholes. Unless they have a better idea, take the job and tell them to fuck off.

I would accept the new job without a second thought!

If your friend no longer talks to you because of something so petty, they weren't a friend worth having to begin with. It's not like you're making a move into the slave trade or something..!

Take the job and don't worry about it. They aren't the ones responsible for feeding your family.

This sounds like people I know who live in cities with all resources nearby, good public transport, cycle paths etc and tell me nobody needs to drive. Completely different when you live somewhere with very limited public transport, 6 miles to the nearest supermarket, 12 miles to nearest cinema.

(And then I have local people thinking I'm mad for walking from one end of our small town to the other but that's another story...).

Your friends sound pathetic. Go for the bloody job! It's a no brainer. Anyone who thinks the DWP is 'immoral' is a bit thick and not worth being friends with anyway.