Is this normal for the public sector? Feels a touch illegal

[Nightingaleuk122]

I am four months into a new director position within a UK FE institution, after ten years in the private sector. I am gobsmacked by the chaos, lack of focus on the most basic areas of business and treatment of staff, including me, which includes:

I have an autistic daughter and, as agreed with HR, it was written into my contract that my on site hours are 8.30 until 4 with remaining hours completed at home. Since starting this has been entirely ignored, no accommodations have been made and I have to stay late approx 3 times per week.

I have been included within the duty manager rota, that includes regularly staying until 9pm. Responsibilities include suspending students for poor behaviour (including violence), fire drills and lock down procedures for if there is a threat to student welfare (not unlikely given the location). For this I have received 45 minutes of training on lockdown only, with the words 'just use your common sense' used. I feel utterly unprepared for if the situation occurs.

Last week duty managers were called upon to go to the car park to deal with gangs. I am a petite woman with zero experience in this situation. I feel like they are putting me at risk.

The workload is off the scale because it is not managed. Despite a busy week with a large project I needed to deliver, I was given a written report to prepare for Monday entitled 'ideas', which just seemed so utterly thoughtless and not strategic. I will now be spending my Sunday completing said report.

The structure seems chaotic. The CEO asked me to design a project plan which they then agreed to. I started to implement the project but was called out by the other members of the SLT team for not running the project past them first. I now have no idea who I'm supposed to check things with.

The organisation has a huge HR department, yet their focus appears to be small, inconsequential projects eg arranging menopause meet-ups, instead of fixing the fundamental issues like the above training issues or recruiting crucial staff members.

The problem is, I think I'm the only one who sees this as a problem. So the question is, is this normal? And if it isn't, what the hell do I do about it?

I left a job I loved for this.

it was written into my contract that my on site hours are 8.30 until 4 with remaining hours completed at home Then stick to this and go home at 4.
Regarding the Duty Rota, check that it is not in your contract, and (I'm guessing it isn't) refuse to do it.
If you have a similar situation in the future, at any time of day, with a gang in the car park, stay inside and phone the police.

Email your HR and line manager to reinforce your hours and terms of employment, and that this is what you will do from Monday (tomorrow)

As far as the project "Ideas" do some bullet points - maybe some staff training would be a good one 🤦🏻‍♀️

Stop trying to rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic. Look for something else. Check with your previous employer - if you left on good terms, they might have something you could apply for?

Good luck, OP.

Sad to read even though not surprising. Many of the students in FE and indeed some at universities would be much better off doing a job, earning money and developing that way.

I favoured post 16 (A level and BTEC etc) being in a school environment and structure, and the experiences described make me think my view is correct.

I hope OP manages to find another job soon.

Re the gangs - why did you go out there.

If it's a crime that they are there - dial 999 and let the police chose whether to address it

If it's not a crime them being there then just ignore them assuming you aren't employed as a security guard.

I once worked at an investment bank that was known for being high pressure and cut throat but it was actually great, everyone was committed to doing their job and pushback was normal

This sounds horrendous and I’m so sorry you’ve found yourself in this position.

I’d be reminding them of your contract and looking for work elsewhere because in my experience (15 years in the education sector..but thankfully no longer) these things don’t tend to improve. I would say a large percentage of my days in education were illegal in some way!

I work in FE and this sounds like our place (apart from the gangs). We have an evening duty manager rota and are expected to do “behaviour duty” - challenging students behaviour with no training. I’m not student facing I’m HR. I know you had a dog at the HR department but if the SLT don’t want to change things there’s not much we can do you know.

After 30 years in public sector, this sounds about standard. Most senior management are clueless and wouldn’t last 5 minutes in industry.

Save your breath, OP; long experience teaches that all you're experiencing is only too common in the public sector, and that "underfunding" is often merely a bleat to cover for incompetence and lack of accountability

There's a very good reason why many professionals refuse to work within it, and unfortunately the only real answer is probably to move. You're not going to be able to overturn the ingrained and mulish mindset, so unless you've a taste for bashing your head against brick walls you may do better elsewhere

Typo

I work in the public sector. Poor training and expectations to hit the ground running are normal. Flexibility and understanding of caring roles is usually good. I wonder if HR made a mistake agreeing to your hours on site. A manager obviously should be on the duty manager rota so unless you're not actually on a management pay grade I doubt there is anyway to get out of that.

This is normal, you need rock solid boundaries because if you don’t honour your own contractual terms then they won’t enforce them for you.

Get another job before it affects your wellbeing, family and CV.

That’s the public sector for you. Pissing taxpayer cash up the wall at every given opportunity and then asking for more. Public spending is at its highest ever, with the results at their worst ever.

These public sector organizations need to be cut to the bone.

One additional point occurs to me as I read this thread. In the public sector you are often working directly with people who need help. If you don’t deliver or say that’s not my job you know there is a real risk they will come to harm. You then have to live with that (and potentially a serious case review or equivalent review of your professional actions). That makes leaving at 4pm etc. very difficult. It also makes professionals working on the front line appear to be challenging when they are in fact anxious and trying to protect themselves.

You are in a management director position, time to embrace your position and associated responsibilities

Sounds about right from what I've heard anecdotally! Of course the public sector has very talented people working in it but they are often hamstrung and demoralized by mindless bureaucracy, chronic inefficiency and totally incompetent people that can't be made redundant

I’m so sorry that you’re experiencing this from the outset. I could have written your post, albeit in a different sector. The root of the problem is that public sector roles do not (generally) attract the high flyers so when one comes in from the private sector (that generally does) the chaos is frightening.
Challenging things makes no difference, in my experience, as those who facilitate the chaos cannot see that change is necessary and in any case don’t have the capacity to bring it about. They know they couldn’t get a job elsewhere so are all protecting themselves. I have been able to make a few minor changes for the better but all staff in my area are completely demotivated.

The cross-organisational meetings you join remotely or send a representative.
You tell the person who creates the rotas that unfortunately, you won’t be able to able to do cover after 4pm because of your contracted hours. You can’t not communicate this and then wonder why people aren’t psychically helping you.
It does sound politeness is getting in the way of you communicating; you say that your contracted hours are being ignored but how are people to know?
The gang in the car park, you call the police.
I’ve no doubt it’s a chaotic environment, but you won’t help yourself by being a passive passenger.

Working conditions in ( and funding of) FE are absolutely terrible. They have been the poor cousin of post school education for years. I think things are about to.change though as the Govt is.looking to put.much more funding into FE . This is to be at the expense of HE ( where I work) but I think although HE is about to be decimated, that FE may improve,. Probably not early enough to affect your job though

HE historically was the better working environment for staff but as I say, I think this might change . HE is becoming increasingly chaotic and stressful to work in at the moment.

I was in the public sector so much waste. Went on maternity leave. Had time to think. I resigned

My friend went in three weeks into a public sector position was sent with another young newby female colleague to sort out a traveller camp that had rocked up that morning. They'd set up, police phoned, council because it was in the park adjacent to the school. They had to organise portaloos, skips for rubbish and liaise with the camp leaders. Neither of them had any past experience.

Give me the private sector any day

So sorry to learn of your situation OP.
I work in the NHS and you could be describing my place of work on a good day!
The problem with the public sector, in my view, is:
People get promoted to positions they are not qualified or trained for.
The comment above especially applies if you are difficult as this tends to accelerate your career progression.
There are no consequences for poor performance which is not managed.
There are no consequences for poor behaviours which go unchallenged.
Sickness absence is not addressed.
People have unmanageable workloads because they are forever dealing with the consequences of colleagues who don't perform
Senior Leaders are too busy 'feathering their own nests' instead of leading effectively.
Nepotism is rife.
Good people leave because they realise their worth.
There are no consequences for poor work ethic and there are no rewards for good work ethic (other than you get more work).
The way people behave, and think it is acceptable to behave, is shocking.
There are whole departments, teams and directorates devoted to Equality and Diversity but no zero tolerance in terms of racist or discriminate behaviour.
The structure is too hierarchical and totally archaic

Get out whilst you still can OP and before it makes you unwell x

one of my favourites are seniors saying “it takes x amount of time” to do something when in reality it takes (for example) 2x

they then have the nerve to look shocked when you tell them this, try to pushback that you must be doing something wrong but when challenged and with “well why don’t you come and show me how to do it properly then within the correct time scale” they shut up and go remarkably quiet…

… or compare you to someone who does do it in the that time scale and you point out that that person skips steps/does it incorrectly they say “oh well aren’t micromanaging so we are unaware of that”!but then fail to address those issues so the incompetent staff carry on being incompetent

Btw don’t underestimate your seniors either. The chances are they are very tough people. They may or may not support you. But if you are having your contractual hours trampled the chances are they think you are a soft touch who will just suck it up. Don’t assume that public sector means nice; in fact there is quite a lot of effective bullying. Myself I’d leave, but if you are staying, mind you don’t get to be the dogsbody. That’s common enough in the public sector.

I have worked in the private sector my whole life (apart from five months in a third sector organisation). Is it really always this bad?

I periodically fantasise about moving to the public sector as it allows people to do things that are meaningful for society as opposed to making already rich people richer.

But when I hear stuff like this I am gobsmacked thst this goes on. I don’t think I couldn’t cope with the incompetence, the toxic politics and the slowness of it all. It all just seems fantastically slow and bureaucratic.

Why are public sector organisations always so poorly managed? Is it just inherent or is there a very embedded culture of inefficiency? Genuinely curious as it seems so endemic.

Its because they are not in a darwinian 'survival of the fittest' thing like private sector
Take a local authority for example. They'll still get their revenue via council tax regardless of how badly they are managed, and they don't really have any competitors. So there's no incentive not to be shite.

Compared to, eg a retailer that is mismanaged, we can all think of many that have gone to the wall in recent years, crap management = poor sales = eventually go bust.

It’s because “survival of the fittest” means a totally different thing. Some public service is good, and has good management. They have the resources and skills to do their jobs. The fittest are the people who have the charm and skills to get resources, and keep them. This is much harder than it looks.

Invariably these organizations never advertise externally. They don’t need to. They will get the best of the public sector who will go there voluntarily. If a public sector organization is going external, the chances are it’s a highly demanding and undesirable job unless they have preferred candidate internally.

If any of this repels you then the public sector is not for you. I was there for many years. Private is a blast. I don’t have to fight on the basics. Much more boring though

It sounds about right for FE. But they shouldn't have promised you conditions that they can't offer. A 4 pm finish does sound unrealistic. Is the position very well paid.

I'm in the fortunate position to be working for both, sort of, at the same time. I'm working for a commercial organisation that is arms length to a LA. Which has its frustrations at times - and the politics is weird as the LA is the customer but also the shareholder - but the culture is 1000 x better than the actual LA we are arms length of and much more like private sector.