Clerical officer civil service

Its a big change and only you can evaluate if your current job or if a CO job is better for you.

I'm currently working as a CO in the CS. What I love is that when you finish work, you finish work. You don't have people contacting you out of office hours. You can start any time between 8am and 10am and finish any time after 4pm - provided you average 7h24m hours per day in the week.

Once your PMDS is satisfactory each year, you will be paid an increment until you reach the top of the scale.

You need to be working as a CO for two years before you can apply for an internal EO position. The internal EO competition usually takes place every two years - the current competition opened last October and closed in November. (I was placed very high nationally in the competition and am currently awaiting my assignment).

Is the work hard? It depends on your background and where you are being assigned. I came from a very different background (I joined the CS in my 50s) so I found it very different to what I was used to (Culture, work practices and socially). You will get good training and be encouraged to do courses. Different sections may have different mentoring programmes.

Flexi-time was suspended when Covid restrictions were put in place. Flexi-time allowed you to work up to 11h06 (1.5 days) which you could then take the following month. This is currently suspended for those working from home, and I'm not sure how it will pan out going forward. But it was fabulous. An extra 18 days a year off (you worked the hours so it wasn't free) which could be used for things such as taking kids to the dentist or even getting your hair done.

Yes, there is talk that the 37h per week will drop to 35h per week. The work will still be there to be done, so it may well be working more smartly rather than anything.

I am glad I joined the CS. Its been a lot less stressful and a lot more family friendly. I don't have to work additional hours without pay, I'm not on call during my holidays or when I am sick. There is a lot of focus on employee wellbeing and for the most part, my personal experience is that its a happy place to work.