The Public Sector

timespast

OK This might take sometime....... The embargo on recruitment within the Public service doesn't appear to have made much difference to numbers employed despite thousands leaving through retirement. (I'm still trying to work that one out)

If anyone loses their job....... their's a 10 week wait for jobseekers benefit so you then go to another dept. for HSE payments....and then you pay back when you receive jobseekers.So we are employing 2 depts. to accomplish one job....why not cut out the middle man?

Anyone wishing to claim a student grant for their son/daur. going to college is usually being told ........ there are so many claiming we have been inundated with claims...... wow.... given the way unemployment has risen over the last 2 years don't you think they could of forseen this? Can't they use civil servants from other dept's. .....Oh Im sorry.....they can't ..they'd have to be compensated!

The Health service.......should I go there? Perhaps not.

Have you ever had to wait months to hear from the Revenue commissioners when you owe them?

I'm not having a go at the person on the ground but management and those who control them are a drain on this country.

I'd love to hear from Public servants to hear their side of things....... one question....if there is no "go slow" are you encouraged to drag your feet to slow up payments on any of the above?

T runner

timespast wrote: »

OK This might take sometime....... The embargo on recruitment within the Public service doesn't appear to have made much difference to numbers employed despite thousands leaving through retirement. (I'm still trying to work that one out)

Not to permanent posts but anyone on part-time temporsry contracts are gone. This means a direct hit to front line services.

Anyone wishing to claim a student grant for their son/daur. going to college is usually being told ........ there are so many claiming we have been inundated with claims...... wow.... given the way unemployment has risen over the last 2 years don't you think they could of forseen this?

The majority of people who have lost their jobs are on the front line. see above. This is the result to date of government policy supported by a majoprity of the outraged indignant non public service Irish public.

Can't they use civil servants from other dept's. .....Oh Im sorry.....they can't ..they'd have to be compensated!

Under the Croke Park agreement you can be redeployed within 45km. (you dont have to move house)

I'm not having a go at the person on the ground but management and those who control them are a drain on this country.

In fairness to management not much you can do if you dont have the front line people there.

I'd love to hear from Public servants to hear their side of things....... one question....if there is no "go slow" are you encouraged to drag your feet to slow up payments on any of the above?

Dont think you have a clue what your talking about. Just another vague rant against public servants. Yawn

Lockstep

I'm really not sure what you're asking here, aside from a general rant against public sector workers. There's enough of them already.

timespast

T runner wrote: »

Not to permanent posts but anyone on part-time temporsry contracts are gone. This means a direct hit to front line services.




The majority of people who have lost their jobs are on the front line. see above. This is the result to date of government policy supported by a majoprity of the outraged indignant non public service Irish public.



Under the Croke Park agreement you can be redeployed within 45km. (you dont have to move house)



In fairness to management not much you can do if you dont have the front line people there.



Dont think you have a clue what your talking about. Just another vague rant against public servants. Yawn

In fairness to management? LOL

Clerical officers....front line? see above.

If you read properly I was asking questions and invited Public servants to reply.......keep ya shirt on.

As you are the one being vague I suggest you look here....perhaps you can comment on it.

Im sure you understand tongue in cheek....... if you are employed in management with the Public service......GET BACK TO WORK! ;-)
http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2010/feb/28/public-service-staff-cut-by-just-05-as-embargo-ign/

timespast

kickoutthejams wrote: »

I'm really not sure what you're asking here, aside from a general rant against public sector workers. There's enough of them already.

Where's the rant?.......a citizen loses their job. They are told they have to wait 10 weeks. They are then sent to a dept that processes their application within the week. Do you get it now?

God forbid that we dare to criticise management in the Public service.

Lockstep

timespast wrote: »

In fairness to management? LOL

Clerical officers....front line? see above.

You claim to want answers and yet dismiss them with nothing more than LOL

timespast wrote: »

If you read properly I was asking questions and invited Public servants to reply.......keep ya shirt on.

Clarify what exactly you are asking and you'd stand a better chance of getting an answer.

timespast wrote: »

As you are the one being vague I suggest you look here....perhaps you can comment on it.

It is fairly vague in fairness. It's not the most coherently written post.

timespast wrote: »

Im sure you understand tongue in cheek....... if you are employed in management with the Public service......GET BACK TO WORK! ;-)
http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2010/feb/28/public-service-staff-cut-by-just-05-as-embargo-ign/

You're posting during the workday on a Monday. Irony?

Lockstep

timespast wrote: »

Where's the rant?.......a citizen loses their job. They are told they have to wait 10 weeks. They are then sent to a dept that processes their application within the week. Do you get it now?

No, I'm afraid I don't. Your posts are fairly incoherent.

timespast wrote: »

God forbid that we dare to criticise management in the Public service.

Criticisms are grand but poorly constructed rants are hard to work with.

timespast

kickoutthejams wrote: »

You claim to want answers and yet dismiss them with nothing more than LOL

Clarify what exactly you are asking and you'd stand a better chance of getting an answer.


It is fairly vague in fairness. It's not the most coherently written post.


You're posting during the workday on a Monday. Irony?

Lucky me...... I get to do what I want in my working day.

As for posting times.... have you just got in from school/college?

timespast

kickoutthejams wrote: »

No, I'm afraid I don't. Your posts are fairly incoherent.



Criticisms are grand but poorly constructed rants are hard to work with.

You don't have to work with it.

I have an opinion...I gave a few examples and asked for a few replies from those in the public sector.

If you don't agree or you are looking for a petty argument then I suggest you look elsewhere.

I think I'll leave it at that.

Lockstep

timespast wrote: »

Lucky me...... I get to do what I want in my working day.

Unless you're self-employed/unemployed then you're hardly in a position to judge what public sector workers do in their own time.
And if you're self-employed, it's hardly a sign of good business ethics.

timespast wrote: »

As for posting times.... have you just got in from school/college?

Nah, I posted that while in college. I work night shifts.

timespast wrote: »

You don't have to work with it.

I have an opinion...I gave a few examples and asked for a few replies from those in the public sector.

Like I said,your posts are extremely hard to read. I'm not a grammar-nazi or anything like that, but semi-coherent posts full of ellipses and question marks are not the best way to try and ask questions.

Trunner tried to address your points and you dismissed the answers with a 'lol' rather than any attempt to engage with it.

timespast wrote: »

If you don't agree or you are looking for a petty argument then I suggest you look elsewhere.

Given that you dismissed an attempt to address your poorly-presented 'argument', I'm not even going to point the irony here.

dan_d

Well actually - and I'm NOT contributing to PS bashing, but I find this bewildering - I registered in a certain SW office in July. I was told there'd be no problems, I'd hear from them in 2 weeks at the latest. 4 weeks later I rang them - they hung up on me 3 times. Eventually getting through to someone, I was told another 2-3 week wait.3 and a half weeks later (after numerous attempts to contact them by phone) I showed up at the office to be told not to be so ridiculous, I'd have to wait another 5 weeks due to the Gov embargo on recruitment (to which I was tempted to say, I'll stamp it, I'm doing nothing else and you told me there would be no problems). I made a phone call that evening to someone I know in another office and the letter came in the door 2 days later - stamped a week and a half previously. I would have had to wait a good 11-12 weeks otherwise.

Now, how was that letter stamped a week and a half previously and why hadn't it been sent? How come, upon that phonecall, (late on a Friday), I managed to get that letter in Monday morning's post? And how am I expected to take seriously a statement like "Gov embargo on recruitment...too much work" when I showed up at the SW office at 1.30 pm and find it's closed til 2 for lunch...it's opening hours being 9.30 - 1 and 2-4pm.How much work would anyone get done in those hours????Why is it that some offices can process much quicker that others presumably with the same staff and customer problems? Why is it, that 2 and a half years after this mess began, they still haven't got it under control??

I appreciate that people are entitled to their lunch.I appreciate that many SW workers probably work late to process paperwork. But if there's that much of a backlog, the sensible thing to do would be to stay open during lunch and take it in turns to take 30 mins each for lunch (or in pairs), while other cover your desk. Or divide the team in such a way that there are people covering at least 3 of the 4 hatches, and the rest processing paper in the back (which may happen anyway).Can you blame the general public for being extremely cynical, when this is the face of the public service that's presented to them? And I haven't included the explanation of how I was told 3/4 totally conflicting pieces of information in the process....

On the other hand I know people working in social care who are extremely dedicated and work very, very, very long hours and over time to get through what they have to get through. Mind you, they get a lot of time in lieu for it (something that never existed in my previous job, regardless of what I worked), which is the other side of the coin - but the public don't see them....

_Kaiser_

Well speaking for myself, as a former PS worker who was made redundant late last year as a result of the recruitment embargo, I can tell you that certainly where grants etc are concerned (I worked in the education sector) the numbers ARE as the OP was told.

Applications have gone through the roof, and with temporary wholetime Grade III/IV clerical officers/admin staff being let go, there IS no one to take up the slack. This effects other functions such as Finance and HR as well.

Of course the irony to the situation is that the very PS workers that ye all give out about (ie: the "lazy, only-in-it-for-the-paycheque-and-pension types .. and there ARE a lot of those alright!) are NOT affected by this recruitment freeze.

Instead it's people like myself - younger, more qualified, came from the private sector with that work ethic (personally I worked my ass off for the 4 years I was there (I was in IT) and often worked extra hours/weekends etc as needed to get stuff done) that have been cut back on, leaving a shortage in headcount AND skill that can't easily be replaced. Oh and I certainly didn't get the "massive salary" and "gold-plated pension" that is so often used as justification.. my salary was about 5-8k LESS than the equivalent role in the private sector, a good portion of my salary was deducted for "Superannuation"/Pension, "Widows and Orphans" and then "income levy", "pension levy" etc - so the stereotype that every PS worker is lazy and overpaid simply isn't factual.

To give an example: The one person in our office who had a practical working knowledge of an application used to pull data and generate reports from the HR/Finance package that is used, was also one of the first to be made redundant. There is now no one in the office who can use this application to the same effect, which means reports take longer and involve more manual work.
Meanwhile others, who are simply there too long, continue to be paid for jobs they haven't kept current with (insofar as newer, more efficent ways of doing things is concerned).

But as usual with our government, it gives the illusion that they're taking action and deflects attention from the real issues that they AREN'T addressing. And of course, gullible sheep that the Irish public are, they fall for it every time until the next scapegoat (now it's the unemployed) is dragged out - meanwhile those who benefit most from this idiocy sit back and laugh at the silly little peasants.

timespast

Thanks to Dan and Kaiser for their comments.

I wanted to hear from people who had experience ........ I'll point out again I was not pointing the finger at the worker on the ground but those at the top.

If some find that difficult ...tough.