AIBU Public sector workers generally

[Privatesectorworkers]

I’ve changed user names for this…..

I read a post today regarding public sector workers & how hard done by they feel. This instance its Teachers (just an example). I feel increasingly frustrated how these workers (general, not just teachers) harp on about how hard done by they are.

I appreciate it’s a hard job but you couldn’t get away with it in our sector.

I do also know that a lot of my hostility lies over being an unrecognised key worker during covid so perhaps this is tainting my view.

I don’t understand how much they get away with. In terms of absence, pay etc.

Some people work unfortunately in not so well paid, qualified positions (as I do) but there are other factors that keep me in my place of work. I am lucky to have good colleagues, work close to home etc.

Can they not just find some consolidation that they are in the career of their choosing, I would hope they wanted to have a positive impact in the education & enjoy the caring nature of this role?

I don’t understand what has changed so much AIBU?

Oh and then they also get fabulous pensions for all their “hard work.”

Yes, I could have worked for the CAB, or another charity that deals with specific clients. But it does depend on where you live, there weren't ample opportunities where I lived and worked.

I'm sure you are absolutely right that there are overworked and underpaid private sector workers. The difference is, the general public don't benefit from their work in the same way as they do from the work of overworked and underpaid public sector workers. If employees leave M&S in droves because of poor working conditions, no one really cares, but if people leave teaching/nursing/firefighting etc in droves, then our society is pretty fucked.

I’m public sector, I don’t moan….I very much appreciate the sick pay, annual leave, carers leave and pension….

And BTW I also understand that many jobs in the private sector are very difficult. The difference is that it was extremely rare for us to be able to ban a person from our service, or refuse to deal with them.

Hello. Just to offer a few thoughts. People tend to do these public sector jobs eg teaching, nursing because they care and give a huge amount in demanding jobs for which remuneration does not reflect their value. For me there is no direct comparison to be made between these jobs and accountancy. You sound unhappy about your own job and I think this is the thing to reflect on. You mention how you feel these people keep harping on about how hard done by they are but that is exactly what you are doing in your post where you say you feel undervalued as a key worker during covid. So maybe the issue is you don’t feel valued in your role and/or are frustrated about it in some way. As an accountant, you could to move to another job. This could help address your resentment and feeling of being undervalued. As a broader point, developing empathy for those whose daily experience is very different to yours would be helpful going forward.

Me too (NHS clinician). I must admit, I am a little fed up of certain people taking their 6 month sick leave as if it's an extra annual leave entitlement. It is not everyone, but a certain hard-core of people who do it in every service.
We currently have 2 people on long term sick in our small team, because their 85 and 90 year old mothers have died and they are suffering with 'stress'. If they were self-employed like my husband, and only got paid if they worked, I'm pretty sure they'd take a few days off work and then be straight back.

I think this is pretty much it.

Oh come on now. Are you seriously comparing working in accounts during Covid to frontline workers. Medical staff died. The public sector has been starved of funding and people are working in increasingly hard conditions with rising demand. Of course they’re pissed off.

Neither me or my husband were furloughed and we had to work with a 1 and a 3 year old- neither of us were public sector workers at that time. A 16 year old doing GCSEs would have been a doddle in comparison.

I agree with @Seymour5 how the public sector is not just a huge mass. I have unusually worked in three parts of it, NHS, then retrained and worked in local government for 5 years and then 25 in higher education. I was also a Trade union rep for 12 years. The lazy and ones that take advantage are few but they do exist. It’s a small number and people need to not be affronted when people complain about this because those are the people that are directly affecting you and your colleagues.

@SerenityNowSerenityNow DH freshly retired two weeks ago was an academic and had to teach from home it was awful, some support staff were furloughed by his University and had pay topped up to their full wage.

I can't begrudge public sector workers standing up for themselves and pushing for what they feel they're worth. It's admirable they don't just sit back and accept it. What needs to change really is giving private sector workers more power to be able to do the same, without fear of losing their job, especially those who work for conglomerates who could afford to share the wealth a bit more than they do.

Punch up not down.

I work in Local Government, I love my job and it is absolutely does have some perks (generous annual leave, sick pay, pension, flexible hours). But the flip side is:

Poor maternity pay compared to many in other public sector organisations, and the private sector.

Pay far below the private sector. For the level of responsibility and budget I work with, I would be paid significantly more in the private sector.

Constantly being asked to do more with less resources (money and manpower)

Constant abuse and ridicule from the public. There is a constant perception that the council are to blame for everything and that the staff don't care.

We also were not furloughed, and definitely were not appreciated as keyworkers during the pandemic.

I don't look for sympathy for my choice of job role, but I absolutely wouldn't then judge other public sector workers for legitimate concerns about their working conditions.

(On annual leave today, not wasting public sector work time on Mumsnet!!)

I forgot about the delayed pay rises. Mine amounts to £600 this year. If you’re on UC as so many council employees are because the pay is so low you can’t live on it, you lose a chunk of your “increase” as it’s paid as a lump
sum. So not everyone even gets the whole thing.

I am perpetually amused by the almost hatred private sector workers have for those in the public sector, yes the holidays are generally better as is the pension, the actual pay often isn’t anywhere near as good as people think, perks are non existent , but usually I just think, if it’s so good in the public sector, come and work there rather than complaining not like there aren’t vacancies

@HonoraBridge
What I haven’t forgotten was the 10 years from 2007 when there was NO annual increment for nurses. There was a pay freeze.

Oh yes and the gold-plated final salary pension scheme that we voted to remain in was bloody great, it kept a lot of people from leaving.
BUT despite the vote, they moved us all to a different (not gold-plated) pension scheme anyway.

Yeah - come join us in the public sector. It’s a hoot.

Agreed. You would think if everyone thought it was so amazing that we wouldn't have such a battle to recruit.

"I am perpetually amused by the almost hatred private sector workers have for those in the public sector"

You are right I suppose but it should be the other way around, seeing as we are limping all different services into an amorphous blob as it were.

It was the private sector that caused the banking crisis and the public sector that has largely paid for it.....

Is this about the 5.5% pay rise op?
Why shouldn't people want to strive to better their careers. Bottom line is we all work for money ...no matter how much we say we have a "calling!"

Public sector is very broad range of roles and organisations. For me, I have been in a non departmental government body for 15 years; we had a pay freeze for 10 of those which was very difficult. We also worked throughout the pandemic so no furlough for us. Pay definitely hasn't kept in line with inflation, absolutely nowhere near.

You have no idea of the reality. I have got rid of several underperforming staff in my time as a public sector manager, and that is easily and fairly done if you follow a transparent process, which exists. Sick pay is there if necessary, but even after a few days’ absence you have a return to work meeting and we refer to occ health regularly. There also seems to be an idea that the pensions are non-contributory - wrong! Not for over 20 years. The NHS is not where I have worked, so I can’t speak to that, but with the numbers of people leaving (including European workers who moved home after Brexit), the general contempt for its staff and the treatment they receive from the sorts of people commenting on this thread, it’s no wonder to me that they are so understaffed that they are burned out and sick, and even under performers are being begged to cover shifts.

But most of these factors affect the private sector too.

We don’t all work solely for the money. There’s myriad other factors involved, from being mentally stimulated to feeling we’re doing something worthwhile. I help a lot of people every day. I don’t just make a difference in practical terms - the nature of my job means that’s hit and miss. But I give disadvantaged and isolated people a bit of respect and self-determination which they can so often lack because again, the nature of what I do means they’re treated like rubbish in today’s society.

I work in the civil service. The reason workers in our sector feel hard done by is because wages are so incredibly low that a lot of public servants cant afford childcare and are using food banks. Average wage in the civil service is around £28,000 and yet the workforce is for the most part very highly educated. This is part of the reason people ‘take the piss’ in the public sector e.g using sick days when actually sick, making use of flexible working etc (not that I think any of this is ACTUALLY ‘taking the piss’ by the way, these are basic employment terms that SHOULD be available to all) - people in the civil service have the education, intelligence and skill that they could potentially earn much, much more in the private sector but instead prefer the trade off of a stable, flexible job which allows them work/life balance.

This is the payoff. The country gets a highly educated and caring workforce at a bargain price. Public sector workers get flexibility and job security but low wages compared to the private sector.

If civil service wages had risen in line with inflation the last 20 years then the average public servant would be earning something like 58,000, by the way (and still would have all of the perks, such as job security and good pensions). This is a massive wage - two parents earning that amount could afford private schooling for their children or foreign holidays - houses even!

I work in the public sector. There is much more opportunity for my career in the private sector (salary almost double!) but I stay because I like the flexibility while I have a young DD and future children. The pension is good too.

I worked in the private sector before and will return there for the money in due course. My colleagues are a mix of the most knowledgeable, hardworking & insightful people I've ever met, and the most useless, lazy & uncooperative. There is a local authority "type" that exists that would never survive outside the public sector.

The benefits of public sector working are less now that the private sector has caught up with flexible working.

“My colleagues are a mix of the most knowledgeable, hardworking & insightful people I've ever met, and the most useless, lazy & uncooperative”

Why is this so true 😂😂😂