Waste in the public sector

[mumzy]

AIBU to be incensed about waste in the public sector which we all pay for?. I was listening to the news about waste in the public sector which if reined in could fund essential services. I've worked in the public sector and in my time have come across shocking amounts of money wasted. Examples include:hospitals letting thousands of pounds of drugs to go out of date because fridges were'nt checked on a regular basis. Computer systems in the NHS which are so unuser friendly they are more of a hindrance than a help. A council department paying consultants mega bucks to come up with policies which were'nt fit for purpose when a perfectly good template was available free on the internet and we only needed to fill in our details. The same department paid a marketing company to come up with a promo event which we had to redo as users did'nt understand how to use it. Has anyone else come a cross similar waste in the public sector

I used to work for a local authority before being made redundant. Some of my current coworkers have difficulty believing that, on the grounds that "No-one gets made redundant in the public sector!"

Right now however, I work for a FTSE listed company. When I started, I dedicated myself to removing and reducing inefficiency in my area of responsibility. After a year or so I had shifted most of my work onto a computer, and could spend 95% of my time browsing the internet. A more effective organisation might have listened to me pointing out I had very little to do, and given me more to do. Instead, office politics intervened, and I got told to keep quiet and keep my head down. I spent the next 18 months doing almost nothing...

I've got more work on now, but I can still spend 2-3 hours browsing the internet. Sometimes I feel I must be imagining this, because no-one gets paid to spend half their day staring into space in the glorious, ultra-efficient private sector. Then I go and read xkcd and the Daily Mash, and the feeling passes.

at Public Sector bashing.

Many many employees are committed individuals who work very hard for not very much money. Many of these people are 'local' people working in 'local' council departments delivering a service to all. Over the past few years efficiency savings have been shaved off and senior managers have been paid more and more. Contracted-out work (ie efficiency savings, don't make me laugh) has cost a fortune, in many ways it has failed and cost bundles. There's a pay freeze in local government this year, pensions have been cut, there's redundancies, cut backs, job evaluation, and local economies are suffering because of it. I could go on.

But the fat cats do a good job don't they. Not.

Many people don't consider or even know what public sector employees do. I'ts very much taken forgranted. Grr

Oh an by the way, it's going to get worse, and very very noticeable.

Paperwork/ database work bane of life, but child care social workers and managers have to record more than any other professionals I know. It's procedural and built in to our work, so even talkng about how inefficient it is won't make it go away.

Re training, it's such a valuable resource we're far more likely to complain about getting half a day when it should really be 3 day course! We have a lot of stuff online too, so we don't even leave the office for some compulsory stuff. In my work we definitely put in loads more than we get paid for, so it just gets annoying when some people think we swan about drinking tea and chatting about lunch all day...

Err, ReallyTired...how can you say that public sector employees don't work hard? How can you possibly state that as if it were fact? Bizarre. I am sure that there will be some who don't, just like there are lazy arses in the private sector too.

And the spending up of budgets happens in private sector too.

Besides...the public sector is HUGE. Are people tarring every single section with the same brush? Difficult to do I suspect...

"Err, ReallyTired...how can you say that public sector employees don't work hard?"

I am a public sector worker!!! I do IT support in a school.

I didn't say that public sector employees don't work hard. I said there is no real MOVIATION. People who do work hard in the public sector do it for the love of the job. They don't PERSONALLY gain from working hard.

I get no performance pay and there is little recongition whether I go the extra mile or do the bare minimum. I would get my annual increment on the pay scale whether I surf mumsnet or do loads of unpaid over time.

"There is very little moviation for a public sector employee to work hard."

Please explain your thinking behind that astonishingly stupid statement reallytired.

Reallytired I am a teacher , I am not motivated by money but there are plenty of other things do motivate me.

"I am a public sector worker!!! I do IT support in a school."

@Really Tired
I salute you... what a crap job that must be.

There is no monetary motivation is probably a better way of putting it. And yeah, I know what you mean. The intangible benefits of a job well done are hard to measure (and therefore, for management, don't exist) but they are there.

I used to work as a temp in the local county council. I was disgusted by the total wasting of money. They could have cut my department in half and still got everything done (there were so many slackers! There was no real motivation to work hard, some people totally flouted the flexi time rules coming in regualrly at 10 and leaving at 4 with more than an hour for lunch). I worked for 9 months on a website that never actually made it live because there just wasnt the demand for it, it wasnt needed. Thousands of pounds was spent on it, but not actually enough to make it something that people would want to use! It was like projects were created just to give people stuff to do!

Obviously this is only my experience, but I cannot imagine mine was the only department like it in the entire public sector.

mablemurple, do you work in the public sector? If so, what moviates you to work hard?

What is there at the moment to reward public sector employees to work hard? Its certain isn't any kind of financial reward. There are no bonuses or performance related pay in local governant. With the tightening of purse strings there is no chance of promotion either.

It is rare for anyone to get sacked from local governant unless its gross misconduct.

I worked in the civil service and it was exactly the same. In fact the civil service is worst than local governant, everything is decided by blardly committee and it takes ages to get anything done.

It must be nice to be perfect and never make any mistakes!

@Really Tired

The bit about IT support being crap wasn't sarcasm (I re-read it and worried it could look that way). It's simply that you combine two of my least favourite things (IT Support and Other People's Children) under one job title...

As I said before am a teacher and have just been promoted in recogition of the fact I work hard and am good at what I do. If i want to I can apply for threshold to reward me for doing a good job and working hard.

I agree it should be easier to sack public sector workers if they are crap.

There is clearly some shocking waste in the public sector, but you can't tar everyone with the same brush. People take everything so personally.

DH is in the Navy and is currently abroad. He is working 6and a half days a week. Often 6am to 10pm. Does he get overtime? Ha bloody ha. Does he get paid tax free (again ha ha). If he gets an A* in a report, will he get a bonus? Hahahahaha! He does it because he enjoys it. He has made cuts where there are inefficiencies in the past...

sorry this is a bit rambly, but while I basically agree with OP, I take issue with a few attitudes on here.

"There are no bonuses or performance related pay... there is no chance of promotion either."

You just described my [private sector] workplace to a T...

I also have a friend who works for the public sector. She expects first class travel (novel idea to me in private sector) and an unlimited amount of time off sick ("you need at least 2 weeks off for tonisilitis" I was once told. If she worked for my (private sector) company, she would have been rumbled a long time ago. Waste of a different sort.

Assuming that there is only a financial aspect to reward is a very simplistic view. People find motivation in many different ways, which is just as well, or we'd all be chasing lucrative jobs.

I know many people who work in the caring profession because they are motivated by the personal satisfaction they get from helping others lead a more dignified and comfortable life. I know some archaeologists who only care about preserving the ancient monuments and settlements in the area. Sure, most people would like to be paid more but some would choose other rewards over money.

How odd to say there's no motivation for public sector workers.

When I worked in the public sector, my pay rise was influenced by my grade at review.

Moreover, I'm not motivated just by money. I take pride in a job well done. I would hate to jsut sit on my arse and be complacent. I like it when I achive, and when people notice that I achieve. And I like it when I feel there's a greater benefit from the work I do.

I agree with people who are pointing out that the public sector is very diverse.

I have worked in the private sector and was a lazy oik who took the piss. That of course does not mean that everyone who works in the private sector is the same. My dp works in the private sector and works very hard. I personally am not really motivated by making someone else money and am not that interested in making myself money so the private sector offers little in the way of motivation.

I read somewhere that primary school teachers spend on average £199 of their own money subsidising school budgets. So rather than wasting public money they are adding to it.

this is in danger of turning into a tiresome Public Sector V Private sector debate.

And who else has had to be really careful typing "public". Eh?

I've worked on several government projects whilst working in the private sector, and I'd have to say, the vast majority of civil servants I came across were utterly shit.

I would like to add I am now a teacher. Now you cannot saythat people do not work hard in my school (you do it because you care about the kids though rather than for financial reasons). However, the amount of sickness is

And there is no policy of recording when people go off sick (ie. you dont need to fill in any kind of sick form so there is no record of absence).

Yes; I've never claimed travel expenses despite using my car for work travel. I do quite a bit of mileage too.