To wonder why the Civil Service is so worshipped?

[Babysonfire12345]

I definitely understand that the pension is one of the best out there.
However, flexi is offered elsewhere, WFH is offered elsewhere. I can't think of a single other benefit.
It's not even necessarily a 'job for life', there are redundancies. Pay is really low for AO-HEO grades for what is expected.
I don't see the appeal of it except for the pension, what am I missing?

@Anniedash Okay we get it . The whole civil service is shit.

I think that's a view based on years of Tory rule making nearly everyone think the useful jobs are business based.

Tbh the civil service recruitment in NI uses to be weird, not sure if it's changed. I wanted to go into certain dept where my degree is based uopn - nope you have to do a general entry and could be placed in any department. It seems utterly insane to me

Why limit this to the civil service anyway. Why not say the whole public sector is shit and have done with it,

All the useful stuff. What does a hedge fund manager do?

It’s not really vague at all. Policy delivery = delivering the developed policy based on steers of the government. Legislative process = the process in which policy becomes an act of parliament. Very simple things I’d have thought is taught in PHSE.

You’re really not helping change the impression around vague random words there.

I get all this in the private sector plus decent pay rises.

What are you missing?

Its about the cushiest employer out there.

Pretty much unrivalled job security - both from redundancy aspect and being managed out on performance issues.

Non cash benefits on par with the best out there (sick pay, mat pay, annual leave, flexible working hours, part time / job share options, accommodating family demands like sick kids).

Salary’s are solid, and pension value again on par with best in class.

Anywhere else you’d have to be a high performer and putting in extra to be confident of keeping that lot. Civil service land and a long run of being mediocre will do that lot no harm, so job is safe through periods where you’re totally distracted by family life. And if you want more senior roles with some work life balance that’s there too. I know of several G6s on job share, vs none at that level in the private sector. (And I know more people working at that level in the private sector than I do civil service)

Maternity leave, Flexi, annual leave entitlement, family friendly as in if the kids are ill I can just log off and go and get them, no sickness/annual leave I can just use my Flexi hours. I managed my own time, and there is no risk of getting made redundant. Don't think about work when I leave, interesting work but pretty easy too

I actually have zero clue on that either 😂

I wasn't aware that the Civil Service was worshipped, but if it is, I should think it is the pension and perhaps the fact that you are unlikely to lose your job except from genuine redundancy; it is very hard to sack anyone. I worked in the civil service for 5 years and these were reasons given for wanting to stay indefinitely - my colleagues were kind of horrified when I left simply because I wanted a change.

I don’t get this either. My SIL is on mat leave. My brother keeps harping on about how good the NHS is and yet her mat leave pay is not anywhere near as good what my company offers in the private sector.

@LondonPapa nope - still means nothing?
Is it an office job? A hands on job? Is it one that seems to involve endless meetings? Is it a team job or you do it by yourself?
How do you "deliver policy"?
If you had to sell it at a job fair what would you say?

See that's what I mean. Vague random words

Ok let's break it down. Governments set agendas, eg "we're going to introduce 30 free hours of childcare", politicians obviously do not set that policy into motion themselves, instead, civil servants who work in policy, will take that steer and operationalise it; that might include writing legislation around it, setting the rules and parameters eg who is in scope, the financial limits etc. Other civil servants from other sectors then get involved to fully operationalise it, eg, digital staff may build a technical platform for you to apply for your new benefit, civil servants may be hired to work in a help centre to answers queries on it.

When government says it's going to do something, politicians aren't the ones doing the doing, civil servants are.

@aCatCalledFawkes it depends on the department, each department is a separate legal entity there is no such thing as The Civil Service in that sense. One department I know offers 9 months paid leave, others less.

I was a civil servant until last year. I found it massively hierarchical and not very creative so ultimately it wasn't for me. However, it was very fast paced, everyone worked really hard. I was a grade 7 and can honestly say that everyone I worked with was pretty sharp. You had to be to do the job. This was a Whitehall department on a high profile area, I can't speak to how operational departments are

I am a former Civil Serrvant, and I can promise you that the Civil Service has never been worshipped.
As suggested, there are good parts and bad parts - like all jobs.

Just to say it isn't impossible to sack people, I've seen plenty of people sacked. The problem is management, the jobs aren't protected much more than any other job, but if a manager doesn't have the balls to enact the disciplinary process it's the same as anywhere else, I suppose the difference is it's easier to move either yourself or the dud employee around so perhaps that's why people end up languishing for longer. But really this could be fixed with better management.

I’m a CS. Have always been good at my job but haven’t pursued SCS as I don’t want the stress. I do 60% in the office which is pretty much mandatory now.

I have meetings, send emails, talk to lots of people. Mostly at my laptop but also use other government IT systems which are restricted to office use because of security.
I have targets (‘Goals’) aimed at efficiency and quality of operations.

I have a great deal of responsibility. If my team didn’t perform it would have major national security implications.

I work with a few time wasters. Generally though I believe we offer great value for money. Our senior team are extremely under paid. The junior staff not too bad.

I wouldn’t join the CS if I had my time again. The pay is too poor for high performers. London weighting really needs raising. I get about 4k more in London which doesn’t even pay for my commute.

Because most people who talk about how crap it is can't differentiate between the two, they believe what the daily mail tells them.

I wouldn't say it is. The brightest and the best often don't really want to be there.
I guess people who work in the private sector envy it for its perceived perks and security. Though the sectors are different I'd say neither is favoured overall. There are positives and negatives to both private, public and third sector work.

NHS is similar I wanted to work somewhere that thought more about service etc than money - only problem is that the upper levels of leaders aren't terribly good and have got promoted to get them away from direct patient contact or have bullied their way up.

I left a science based role in the CS for a far more interesting role with a hefty pay rise, better pension and benefits, far more flexibility and opportunities.

I lasted a matter of months in the CS. As I left, one of my other team members stopped me and said 'I knew you wouldn't stay, you are far too capable and nowhere near grey enough' (she meant my personality, not my hair). That was the best part of 20 years ago. I like to think it might be more interesting and varied now, in that area, post Brexit. From the view of my current job, it looks like that department outsources the interesting work to consultants and experts though.

@awkigydrs thank you. That's the best answer I've ever had on these types of threads.
That actually makes some sense to me.
🙂