To think people idealise the private sector as more efficient, when it’s just as subject to egos and mismanagement as the public sector?

[MyAmusedOpalCrab]

I often see the private sector being held up as the gold standard for efficiency, cost-effectiveness and good management, while the public sector is dismissed as bloated, bureaucratic and wasteful. But in my experience, the private sector can be just as bad, if not worse, when it comes to incompetence, office politics and poor leadership.

I’ve worked in both sectors and I’ve seen shocking mismanagement, inflated salaries for ineffective leadership and decision-making driven more by personal agendas than actual efficiency. At least in the public sector there’s usually some level of transparency and accountability, whereas in private companies, things can be just as dysfunctional but hidden behind a polished image.

AIBU to think that people overestimate how well the private sector functions or is my experience just unlucky?

I’ve never worked in the public sector but I have worked with public sector organisations. I’m always amazed by the bureaucracy of the latter; the endless policies, procedures, mission statements, pointless steps that don’t need to be taken. That said, private sector isn’t immune from that, particularly big organisations.

Er yes I’m aware of the concept of productivity increase. The point I was making is that private sector efficiency is more likely to make the already wealthy even more wealthy (while being as tax ‘efficient ‘ as possible) - while damaging standards of living, employment prospects etc for society as a whole. Ask any recent graduate how they feel about that right now.

So you have to question what the purpose of that efficiency is. You only have to look at countries around the world where 90% of the wealth is held by 10% of the population to see how unsuccessful that model is for the majority. And unlike the US, there is less space to ghettoise a large proportion of the population and pretend they don’t exist.

Most people will not like or benefit from the outcome of mass unemployment or precarious employment, wages far exceeded by the cost of living etc. Most people will suffer from overstretched public services even more than they already are.

So yeah, all for productivity but let’s not kid ourselves it’s improving anything for the majority.