There are limitations
Mostly the way that it works in the private sector is that if you have a permanent job, then it is secure. If you leave your job, you won't be replaced (those around you just have to compensate for your workload). If you end a contract, it won't be renewed.

I know this because I am a public sector worker (a frontline health professional in the NHS). My three year contract comes to an end in three weeks and it will not be renewed. I have been completely unable to find work elsewhere because the NHS aren't hiring at the moment (and the private sector don't significantly employ my profession).

The teams I have worked in over the past two years have consistently shrunk (due to people leaving/going on maternity leave etc. not being replaced) whilst our workload has increased.

Whilst the job security that exists is a luxury in this economy, it is also an absolute necessity for teams who work on skeleton staff doing essential work. It is also part of the pay-off many of us accepted (along with the pension and maternity benefits) when we agreed to work for such low wages relative to our qualifications and experience, and in such poor working environments.

The vast majority of the public sector has been so understaffed for so long, that the fact that it is not shrinking now at the same speeds that many private businesses are, does not mean it is not suffering.
(cherrynicola, Tue 27 Jan 2009, 20:34, 1 reply)

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The NHS is laying people off, really? Shit, that's harsh.

In the long run you've got demographics on your side, the UK population is aging so you're in a profession where demand will increase. That probably doesn't help when you're looking at the end of a contract though.

Maybe I read the wrong parts of the press but it sounds like the public sector is not understaffed overall, it's just that too much money goes on useless projects like the police force hiring media relations experts or the NHS hiring multiple layers of bureaucrats.
(TheCircleIsNowComplete is longing for the endless immensity of the sea, Tue 27 Jan 2009, 21:04, closed)

Yeah
But think about how the press report on your industry or profession - be it science, technologies, whatever; on the whole, the mainstream press takes a very uneducated, sensationalist stance on just about everything.

Having worked in nine NHS teams across six trusts over the past nine years (equivalent to a residency position), every one of my managers has been hugely over-worked and under-resourced. In comparison to the 3 private hospitals I worked in, there is virtually no management presence at all.

It's true that at times we get frustrated about how resources are getting allocated, or about who is making financial decisions and how, but the press is so far off the mark it isn't funny.
(cherrynicola, Wed 28 Jan 2009, 11:50, closed)