Irish Waters new €55,000 fitness centre

FAILSAFE 00

am i bovvered wrote: »

No one has a problem with people laughing at work ???? If the report is true do you agree with this money being spent on a laughing yoga class. If so, IMO that is the problem, some people that defend this kind if waste are totally out of touch with the reality of a normal workplace.

Actually with regard to work seminars such as Yoga €250 is really cheap. The norm is €500 upwards.

It's about cost per person.

stevedublin

Cork Lass wrote: »

Irish water is not a public sector employer.

It is a State company.
The taxpayer is paying for the gym.
What is the point of your post?

Cantona's Collars

wprathead wrote: »

Bet the IMF and Troika are scratching their heads when looking at us - all these Water charges were implemented to reduce defecit and all we've done is blow millions in setting it up..

Pity they wouldn't step in and do something about it,all these taxes were blamed on the troika.At least they could pop over and ask to see what the money was spent on and have the likes of this waste justified.

housetypeb

Cork Lass wrote: »

Irish water is not a public sector employer.

Really? Irish Water have more power than you realise.
I had a blocked main sewer in the street outside a property in Cork that was beginning to cause problems.
Rang Cork city council who told me I would have to ring Irish water and gave me the number,Irish Water took my details and said they would now inform Cork CC who would log it into their system and have men out to me in due course,two hours later a gang of city council employees arrived to block the street and cleared the drain-and oh how they did bitch and moan and the word "Quango" was thrown around like confetti.

am i bovvered

Gongoozler wrote: »

No I totally agree you should get your €0.0000555556 back :mad:

Forget it... No point having a discussion with you about it, good luck.

Banjo String

Phoebas wrote: »

That's over egging the pudding a bit.
Lots of employers either provide these kinds of facilities or subsidise gym membership.

Ah forgive me, I thought you meant employers in the private sector.

Phoebas wrote: »

Yeah. There are plenty of examples of public sector organisations providing these kinds of facilities.
Gardaí, Are Rianta, Telecom Eireann spring to mind.

But Irish Water isn't a public sector organisation. It's semi state. Why didn't bord gais fund all it from their own purse instead of the vast majority from the tax payers one?

Maphisto

Banjo String wrote: »

Agreed.

With thax payers euros though

I don't have a problem with it, if its all costed in. That this enterprise has to attract good people and offers a salary of X and things like a canteen and blah blah.

Maybe the suggestion here is its not all costed in, that the enterprise is just looking for the next half good idea to spend some money on.

I don't know the answer to that, but having fitter, healthier, happier people work for you is only a good thing - no?

Sam Kade

I hope it gets more use than the gym in the dail.

Gongoozler

am i bovvered wrote: »

Forget it... No point having a discussion with you about it, good luck.

\o/ yay I win!
:pac:

I see what you're getting at, but it's still boring. In my last job I was gobsmacked at the wastage and the money spent, bitching on boards isn't going to do any good. It's not even a discussion. It's just everybody coming on to say oh my god I am outraged!

The wastage is so widespread and everyone is a part of it. Taxi drivers over charging on public sector accounts, maintenance guys putting in for more time than the job took, etc. But no just take out your anger on the public sector front line staff because it's easy to blame the big bad people. Jeez we wouldn't be paid a wage if it was up to ye on here.

Phoebas

Banjo String wrote: »

But Irish Water isn't a public sector organisation. It's semi state. Why didn't bord gais fund all it from their own purse instead of the vast majority from the tax payers one?

Two of the three examples I provided were also semi state. I'm not clear what distinction you're trying to make.

dirtyden

Its a large company. They are going to provide towards employee welfare. Am I the only one not seeing anything wrong with this? An investment in employee welfare usually generates a return in productivity.

Do people want semi state bodies to be places where no one wants to work?

am i bovvered

Maphisto wrote: »

I don't have a problem with it, if its all costed in. That this enterprise has to attract good people and offers a salary of X and things like a canteen and blah blah.

Maybe the suggestion here is its not all costed in, that the enterprise is just looking for the next half good idea to spend some money on.
I don't know the answer to that, but having fitter, healthier, happier people work for you is only a good thing - no?

No problem with that. Although I think the idea that a quality salary does not mean quality employee, but I agree it does help. I actually agree with the setting up of Irish water. The problem as usual is the waste or perceived waste of public money. IMO theses costs are unnessecary at this time.

Cuddlesworth

Phoebas wrote: »

That's over egging the pudding a bit.
Lots of employers either provide these kinds of facilities or subsidise gym membership.

Most businesses now days would in no way fund or supply a new gym in offices in town. The cost of the office space makes it unjustifiable. Subsidized gym membership would be the norm if its required. I'm sure there are exceptions but I doubt there are any recent facilities built outside of board gas/irish water in recent years.

Little CuChulainn

I'd be careful trusting stats from the Indo. They have a tendency to word them very carefully. They leave out the more important stats. Personally, I'd reserve judgement until I knew how many employees it was going to cater for and how much it costs per member. If this is something that they'll recoup in 10 years then it's a good investment. Any company that invests in the health and fitness of it's employees will probably see a return in reduced sick leave and increased productivity.

SEPT 23 1989

dirtyden wrote: »

.

Do people want semi state bodies to be places where no one wants to work?

You are a funny guy thanks for giving me a laugh lol

michael999999

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

I'd be careful trusting stats from the Indo. They have a tendency to word them very carefully. They leave out the more important stats. Personally, I'd reserve judgement until I knew how many employees it was going to cater for and how much it costs per member. If this is something that they'll recoup in 10 years then it's a good investment. Any company that invests in the health and fitness of it's employees will probably see a return in reduced sick leave and increased productivity.

All well and good for the lads in the office.

I know a lad that spent a few weeks working for one of the company's fitting the water Meters. They didn't even have access to a portaloo, working 10 hour days in the frost!

Shakespeare's Sister

woodoo wrote: »

Getting a job in Irish Water will be like winning the lotto. It will be like the ESB where pay is great and ever rising, working conditions will top notch and your job will be 100% safe. Get ready for more news like this. We will be screwed by this Semi State company year after year after year from now on.

The above is choc-ful of inaccuracies. It's better to post based on fact rather than just something you think.

Mrs Garth Brooks

Maphisto wrote: »

Yeah but no water

With our water

Jawgap

Phoebas wrote: »

Yeah. There are plenty of examples of public sector organisations providing these kinds of facilities.
Gardaí, Are Rianta, Telecom Eireann spring to mind.

I think their facilities are provided by a staff association.

In this case the private, unlimited company who nobody knows anything about is taking money from it's only income stream (the water tax we pay) to set up a gym - as a public sector worker, I think that's wrong.

There's nothing to stop the staff organising an association, leasing space from the company for a gym then fitting it out at their own cost.

......and I'd be saying that even if I wasn't about to leave the PS for private sector job that comes with a gym membership

joe swanson

Most public sector workers who get this benefit pay for it via a social fund as far as i know. Maybe iris water employees are also.

Jawgap

joe swanson wrote: »

Most public sector workers who get this benefit pay for it via a social fund as far as i know. Maybe iris water employees are also.

You're right we do - BUT, the set up costs are usually paid by the staff too, the employer might chip in by allowing some space to be rented for a nominal fee.

Where I work we have a gym - organised, paid for and kitted out by the staff. The employer lets us have the space for free (because if we paid the employer would be sub-letting and this would have been contrary to the lease), but we're metered separately for electricity.

lightspeed

No Pants wrote: »

Irish Independent doing its usual vomit out numbers act, yet take no note of the fact that Bord Gais paid for some of it for reasons unknown. Of the numbers provided, no indication is given to show which ones should be added together, which ones are part of a larger number, etc.

Irish Water should have a bit of cop on though. They know that they're unpopular, yet they seem to be pissing through money that isn't theirs. Not sure if it is arrogance or ignorance yet.

Why would they care about popularity?

People are forced to pay for their water by law and its not like they have any competition.

NordieSteve

But but but, its for da local 'menities. Just pay yore taxez.

People that think this tax is going towards anything to do with fixing "local amenities"....I applaud their extreme naivety.

NordieSteve

Magaggie wrote: »

The above is choc-ful of inaccuracies. It's better to post based on fact rather than just something you think.

Care to point out said inaccuracies and counter them with factual based evidence?

Shakespeare's Sister

NordieSteve wrote: »

Care to point out said inaccuracies and counter them with factual based evidence?

Pay isn't ever rising in the ESB and jobs aren't permanent any more (I don't work there but still know about this via others).
The rest of the post is utter conjecture.

oppenheimer1

As far as I understand, Irish water will have an annual budget in excess of €200m. People are getting worked up over €55,000, less that one member of mid level staffs wages, less than 0.0275% of their budget. These kind of measures generally pay for themselves over a short period of time in terms of increased productivity - with fewer sick days taken.


This is a non story, some posters here need a bit of perspective.

NordieSteve

Magaggie wrote: »

Pay isn't ever rising in the ESB and jobs aren't permanent any more (I don't work there but still know about this via others).
The rest of the post is utter conjecture.

So no then.

MagicMarker

dirtyden wrote: »

Its a large company. They are going to provide towards employee welfare. Am I the only one not seeing anything wrong with this? An investment in employee welfare usually generates a return in productivity.

Do people want semi state bodies to be places where no one wants to work?

99% of employers don't provide on site fitness facilities, it doesn't seem to have a negative effect on their employees?

dirtyden

MagicMarker wrote: »

99% of employers don't provide on site fitness facilities, it doesn't seem to have a negative effect on their employees?

A lot of large companies do or subsidise sports club memberships and provide sports and social budgets. I work for a multinational and they provide employees with health and social benefits, running boot camps onsite and providing free comprehensive health checks. The previous company I worked for had a football pitch on site and had arranged cut price gym memberships locally. It's not uncommon. These companies would not do this unless they saw it as a business benefit. For semi states the benefit in having healthy and happy employees would also apply.

emo72

the local economy is very bad at the moment. ask anyone involved in retail and they will tell you its dead slow. cash is very short at the moment. i dont think people realise how much water they use i think it will be much higher than you think.

now wait till people start trying to pay that bill. more money that goes towards bills, less money in the economy. madness. we havent even started paying this yet. things are going to get bad.