Can somebody tell me what is going on? Please?
Hmm. This may not be completely on topic, but it does concern my current job. I would quit, but the cost would be far too great.

First, some background. I’ve worked in the public sector since 1991. I’ve worked across several departments, moving between them either due to promotions or just fancying a change. But my service transfers over, and I don’t have any break in service. I’ve been in my current job about 19 months now, and can honestly say that I mostly enjoy it. However, these last few weeks have become increasingly tiresome, not because of the work (at least, not wholly), but because of the management wranglings going on at a higher level than us mere mortals get paid to understand.

Namely, as the current board sig will testify, the blight that is restructuring. Because of the changes that are happening in local government up here, our board of directors has decided that we need to restructure the organisation in order to be ‘fit for purpose’. Fit for purpose. Hmm. Isn’t that what we should be anyway, or have I missed something in translation?

This restructuring has been going for a year now, and many people have either been moved around internally, doing either the same job, or something slightly different, or have been made to disappear. My team (I do rural stuff) was finally subject to a matching exercise on Monday, which involved our head of team meeting with ‘Human’ Resources and looking at people’s job descriptions in comparison with what jobs are available, according to the new job descriptions that have been drawn up. It’s now Thursday, and no one from ‘Human’ Resources has been in touch with anyone in the team to discuss the matter of whether we still have a job or not, or if we are surplus to requirements.

In the meantime I’m trying to get some work completed on a particular aspect of the funding programme I’m working on signed off, but am being stalled by arguments raging at a national level regarding what we can and can’t do. I’m not convinced that the people doing the arguing actually fully understand the concept of the programme they are arguing about, as they seem to want definitive outcomes and indicators laid out. Which, by the very nature of the initiative, is difficult to quantify as it’s an overarching programme that will generate individual projects as it develops. So I’m in a bit of a stalemate situation. Meanwhile, we have groups that will be delivering this overarching programme chomping at the bit to get started and wanting to know when the money will be coming their way. And we can’t tell them, because we honestly don’t know.

On a personal level, if I still have a job, great. I’m 99% convinced that I will; what I’m not so sure about is where I’ll be. If I find myself walking out the door, I’ll pick up a nice little redundancy package for my troubles, based on my years of service and current salary, which is the highest I’ve ever earned. So I’m not really too concerned either way. Plus it would be a massive kick up the arse for me to go and try something different. I’d be reasonably confident of finding another job quite quickly, but if I didn’t, theoretically my pay off would see me through for a couple of years minimum. However, some of my colleagues will not be so lucky if they are made redundant, because they don’t have the same level of service, and any redundancy payments received wouldn’t be that significant. Some of them are already looking elsewhere, but quitting isn’t an option for anyone as we’d all forfeit our pay-offs.

So, four days on, and with the outcome of the matching exercise complete, why has nobody from ‘Human’ resources been in touch to discuss the results yet? Is it too much to ask to get a date in our diaries for these discussions?

Bunch of arsewits, the lot of them.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Thu 22 May 2008, 13:52, 7 replies)

I wouldn't work in the public sector if you paid me.
Anyway, good luck in reaching some sort of outcome with this.
( girlinthehole, Thu 22 May 2008, 13:58, closed)

Ta
I’ve been through more restructurings than I care to remember. This is just the latest in a long line, but it’s definitely been the most frustrating!
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Thu 22 May 2008, 14:09, closed)

That sucks
my employers made half a dozen IT people re-apply for their own jobs a couple of years back. They were all the "left school early and learned on the job" types. They were so pissed off they all left and now two of them are back as contractors on twice the money.

Private sector ain't much better my friend!
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Thu 22 May 2008, 15:03, closed)

Ta, matey
You're right, my head is relatively screwed on about this - been through it too many times in the past to let it fluster me, and I've always come out unscathed. But yesterday I just got soooo hacked off (as you could probably tell). This rant was prompted by my finding out from our admin person that HR had put 4 private appointments in the team leader's diary fo June 10th. Four appointments, 4 people waiting to hear about their jobs... bit of a coincidence.

We had a random fire drill in the afternoon, so I sidled up to her and asked if she had any indication as to when we might get some feedback from the matching session - did she know anything? To which she replied, "yes, jobs have been matched and the due process is being observed".

Did she mention the appointments in her diary? Did she fuck... hence, my slightly wordy and possibly slightly incoherent rant yesterday.

I should mention that she herself has already been through the process and was matched about 3 months ago. Prior to that she was like a bear with a sore head. Now she's proudly announcing to all and sundry about her new role, but how stressful it was not knowing. Er, yeah, we know, thanks -how about looking after your staff now instead of yourself?
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Fri 23 May 2008, 9:50, closed)

Those who can do, those who can't restructure
Really nasty for you DG - it's a really pap situation to be in - but ultimately they have to do stuff, and as long as you are a do-er rather than a restructurer then you are who matters. Not necessarily in the short-run, but you've got something to offer...

The big problem is the lack of apparent delivery in the public sector, and senior politicians feeling that 'something must be done' The back story is that a huge management bureaucracy has been imposed on the public sector, because there was a worry if you gave people more money for public services, it would cause salary rises not better service delivery. So you give them more money, and hire managers to make sure they hit the targets.

Naturally not spending on services, and spending on managers, hasn't improved services as much as it has cost because it is easier to 'manage' people than deliver services. And managers love to create management posts and new opportunities for their own promotion justified as being necessary for 'strategic purposes'.

So people are really panicking, all this money has been spent, and nothing really achieved, and the costs have gone up. And all they have got for it is a management tier, not a delivery function. Which is a real bugger if you are supposed to be delivering some particular service.

So what they do is restructure, not just themselves, but the whole organisation. And the further you are from management, and the closer to service delivery, the more disruptive and the less useful it is to you, you spend time having to fight your turf, against the managers, rather than doing things that help society and make people happy.

So the restructuring makes things worse, naturally, but the only control function managers have is restructuring - because you have downgraded the professional autonomy of your service workers - so you have to try and solve the problem with another restructuring. The organisation becomes locked into a downwards spiral of restructuring and falling service standards.

One large public sector organisation has spent the last five years in restructuring and has achieved precisely bog all towards being either fit for purpose, or actually doing something with that fitness. And stands on the verge of being abolished.

Location: handcart. Destination: looking ominous.

Length: about 14 years (south of the border...)
(cheesehead, Fri 23 May 2008, 12:50, closed)

Don't get me started
In 2006 we didn’t get a cost of living rise, because we were way over on our staffing numbers, and therefore over budget. Those who qualified got their pay hike based on performance (not me, because I came in after the reporting period and so didn’t qualify), but there wasn’t enough in the pot to pay the cost of living rise. Our chief Executive stood in front of everyone and told them he wasn’t accepting his bonus until the matter had been resolved and the cost of living increase was approved.

Which it wasn’t.

However, on later being quizzed on the subject of his bonus at one of the regular ‘where we are now’ corporate bullshit back-patting sessions, he was very shifty about it and refused to answer. Hooray for the internet, and a website detailing the top paid civil and public servants in the UK. There’s our chief exec in the top 100. Salary for the year - £120k, with pension, bonus and benefits taking it up to around £180k. His bonus was detailed separately – just over £21k for the year. Which was awarded on the basis that the staff had done there jobs properly and exceeded every Agency target set.

And, when restructuring was first being rolled out, on the basis they had too many staff and not enough budget to pay them with, somebody made the bright and informed decision to give the Chief Executive two assistant Chief Executives, and their PAs assistant PAs…
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Fri 23 May 2008, 14:06, closed)