Private to public sector - struggling to adjust

[Anxiety17]

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone had been in a similar situation or could offer any advice.
ive worked in a career in the private sector my entire life. My original job was a vocation which morphed into a field adjacent (think film making to marketing even though it isn’t quite that).

my last role was extremely intense in the private sector. I was promoted several times and ended up with a lot of work on my plate and was very well respected and regarded - until a management change ended up with me having to leave.

Ive taken quite a large pay cut to do a role of the same title technically in the public sector. I am extremely grateful for the job and how quickly I got it, plus the fact it seems at present like the public sector is a better work life balance etc.

i am hired on an FTC for a specific project. The team is 9 people large and everyone on the team is from a different area (eg project management, engagement etc) so I’m not sat in a team who all have the same role as me. I do have a dotted line to the head of the department my role would conventionally sit in.

im finding the pace of work so painfully slow. It feels like the project is taking a while to get off the ground and I’ve done everything I can do until things start moving - I’ve been proactive, provided plans and forecasts, connected with colleagues, trying to learn what I need where I can. But I can’t deliver anything yet and I feel like everyone is looking at me like I’m twiddling my thumbs.

im used to doing so much that I didn’t look up from my desk all day, spinning lots of plates and being good at it despite how it ended. It feels here like there’s a lack of speed and although I want to enjoy the slower pace as I know the last role was unhealthy I’m struggling to not feel guilty day to day about not doing anything? My manager is fine, I regularly communicate what I’m up to but I can’t shake the feeling.

anyone else had this?

My experience has been the opposite. I moved to public sector and suddenly everywhere single aspect was my responsibility. I used to to till point x and then someone else continued. Now I do it all by myself without any support. There was and is a lot of ridiculous hurdles I had to get through to even get started and in every turn. There is no space for critical thinking, which adds to the work load. Which is partially die to everyone being so overworked and jot given any dedicated time to work with support services (where I was working). There are ridiculous amount of layers on public sector but it would need a massive overhaul and systematic change that would require investment of fuckton of money. Unfortunately nobody has enough money to make the public sector more agile. We havw to save mobey all the time from the most ridiculous things. With maybe a half a million investment to our department we could make that money back in 5 years.

Some CS departments are so inefficient and ineffective it’s very demoralising when you’ve worked somewhere with a much smaller budget that delivers more, more quickly and to a good standard. I couldn’t deal with the frustration so I left.

@HairyToityThere is not better work life balance in the public sector. Thats a myth.

That last part is just not true though. Nearly everyone in the private sector will have worked with utterly useless people who've been there years and seem untouchable, usually because "face fits."

I had one private sector job where I worked on five projects in 13 months. In all other jobs it's been about five projects a month. I would literally sit in front of my computer watching the clock change.

I haven't worked in the public sector but the way posters are talking about private, as if it's always super efficient and demanding, makes me take it all with a big pinch of salt.

I have done three private sector jobs prior, and in my experience the poor people were managed out. Eventually the bosses higher up would see them for what they are; they could well be in the jobs for several years before being managed out though. The private sectors I worked in were not massive firms though. It might well be different if employing thousands of people.

I've never witnessed someone being managed out in the public sector though. I've been in my current job 5 years.

Reminded that I met someone working for financial ombudsman. They said they are done by about ten am and can't ask for more work.

Oh they’re managed out in the NHS alright. Just not very well.

I think they’re managed out less well in education, from what I hear.

@Fernsrus I work for the council, and have not yet seen anyone manged out. It could well be different for NHS and Schools.

Yes. Went from an advertising agency to a charity to do something more “worthwhile”. It was exactly as you and many others have described. It was so soul destroying I became depressed and left without another job to go to.

It's where people who wouldn't and cant survive in the commercial world end up. It's full of incompetence and sadly, this is what you're discovering. It's why pouring more money into councils, the NHS etc makes no difference. There's already more than enough money there but there's no leadership or ability to deliver. I'd personally get out before it drives you completely mad.

I once did a project at a county council. At 4pm on Friday we were told we had to leave as they close the building since every single member of staff had finished by 4pm. Most evening at 6 my teams cars were pretty much the only ones left. I don't think it is a myth - certainly not at that council.

Exactly this, these threads come up with depressing regularity about how awful and slow the public sector is, nothing is ever signed off, lots of different layers blah blah blah

Its tax payers money thats why, for every person that wants the garages re felted, theres someone opposing the type of felt, the company that makes it, the longevity of the felt, the tendering process takes ages, then someone has made a typo on one of the commissions so it has to go again etc etc

Anything with IT takes an age due to needing to test out what is needed, how often, does anyone speak to the person on the front desk who cant load up the screen while also searching for something else, this all has to be checked and tested before being commissioned about what is needed.

The tax payer wants transparency and accountability, that takes time, it takes loads of layers and double and triple checking and back round it goes again.

The public are high need and unpredictable, wanting the best service, the lowest price, accountability and transparency, its not like stocking tins of beans, you buy the beans, you sell the beans, nice and simple.

No. We get rid of incompetent staff quite effectively.
Have done for years.

I am finding this thread reassuring to my current situation if slightly disheartening on the whole. I was looking forward to starting at an LA after 5 years of extremely intense work and I also thought I’d find it more rewarding but compared with my old role I’ve just done nothing. Was concerned I’d be under scrutiny to be honest but I will try and appreciate the slower pace of work.

also not a rave thread about the way private companies work generally - I was worked to the point of meltdown and even then could see that a lot of my responsibilities were arbitrary and there to make my manager look good

Yeah but you're just fire fighting. There's no actual change or improvement or strategic aims or tactical plans or strategic leadership.

Good points, @soupyspoon . We're spending taxpayers' money, so it is very different, as you say.

I've seen it in all sizes of firms. One employed just over 100; I just had a look on LinkedIn and the chocolate teapot is still there, 12 years on. It's far from unusual.

I’m am definitely going to try and get in to the CS after reading these posts. I don’t want a high pressure, money making (for someone else) job. I want to be finished by 10am!!

Well, just to reiterate, I've been in stare sector secondary school management for many years.
Yes, incompetent teachers do get managed out, or even sacked.
So that's really a myth that it doesn't happen.

Well, it certainly sounds good, and I'm tempted!
Great pension as well 😁

I was in the same boat. Got made redundant from a big tech role in London, took a fixed term job at a regional university as it was all I could find (also fancied a change). Hated it. So much bureaucracy, layers of approval, committees, and colleagues clearly coasting towards retirement and their fat final salary pension pots (which they don’t offer any more to new staff). I was there a year and literally could not deliver a single project to completion because of red tape, budget cuts and lazy department staff doing absolutely sod all. Felt as though it made me look bad too, even though I’d done everything I could. I quit at the end of my contract despite being offered a permanent role. The flexibility of being able to pick the kids up from school and go to the gym during the day was great, but I think if I’d stayed there long term my brain would have rotted and I would have been unemployable anywhere else. Now back in a busy private sector job and thriving on the challenge and pace of it all - have been there less than a year and already been promoted.

It's absolutely soul destroying have to sit there with nothing to do. It's not like you can put on Netflix or read a book at work. Sitting in a shit desk chair for 7 hours staring at a screen is intolerable.

Surely if you wfh you can do other stuff?

Are you in the office 5 days a week?