Council Recruitment Freeze

[Starcrossed]

Hi folks,

I've not been around for a while but thought you might be interested to hear about budget problems for my employer, Devon County Council:

http://www.devoncountyunison.org.uk/site/budget-crisis.html

This has variously been put down to lower support from central government (Devon historically has a low settlement, hence higher council tax than the average), overspend by some departments such as Social Services and increased fuel bills.

Given the DCC is the biggest employer in the county and this freeze affects every department, this is a big deal down here.

Hope everyone is well and fighting the good fight.

Starcrossed.

[BuyingBear]

Given the DCC is the biggest employer in the county and this freeze affects every department, this is a big deal down here.

The distrinct council the biggest employer ?!? No offense but was Devon unbeknowingly occupied by Mother Russia at some stage, if they raise the council tax aren't they essentially robbing their own employees and hence they'd have to raise it again to compensate?

[Starcrossed]

No, DCC stands for Devon County Council.

[The Masked Tulip]

You think that is bad - Swansea NHS Trust is in crisis and this week announced sweeping budgetary cuts that basially means no senior nurses on duty during the evenings or weekends. My Mum is in Intensive Care currently and, well, I am frightened by her being this ill let alone having this extra worry on top.

Alas, this news has not made the BBC in Wales let alone the national News. The local newspaper is the only part of the media reporting this. The NHS is supposed to be having more money pumped into it than ever before but not from what appears to now be happening in West Wales.

[Elizabeth]

The distrinct council the biggest employer ?!? No offense but was Devon unbeknowingly occupied by Mother Russia at some stage, if they raise the council tax aren't they essentially robbing their own employees and hence they'd have to raise it again to compensate?

• Teachers

• Dinner ladies

• Care Workers (outsourced)

• Social Workers (to stop kiddies and old folks being abused - I know you hate paying for them but if they are cut back and so fail you're also really good at complaining that Council isn't doing its job)

• Residential Care Homes

• Suport Workers (I know you hate them too but they keep people out of residential care homes and hospital for a lot less)

• Environmental Officers (What a waste. I agree. Damn environmental officers. Damn them to hell. Greenhouse effect? Why don't YOU just use your car 2 days a week less? Personally I am NEVER going to use the frigging bike pool. I would rather take the bus - oh and since I have a travel card anyway to get to work the b'stards won't compensate me for my ticket, so I am subsidising your council taxes with MY travel card. Waste not want not! In the meantime, the Council Environmental Officers may as well check a few private rental slums for basic health and safety.)

• Street Sweepers

• Local Safety wardens and Security Staff

• Housing Workers (lets get rid of them, the squatters will be pleased)

• Child Care Workers

• Maintenance Staff (outsourced)

• Public Buildings (outsourced)

• Traffic Wardens (outsourced - boo)

• Building Inspectors

...

And then there are the administrators at various levels. And you hate us too. We are the oil and the WD40 for rusted joints and the way the best of us tend to judge our success is by whether the things mentioned above happen without you noticing us, so that you can have the comfort and complacency of being able to slag us off as anonymous technocrats - a waste at whatever level our wages are paid... So lets just get a load a care workers and not roster them to go anywhere, employ all those people but not bother to pay them, if fact lets forget about interviewing them, check references? why? CRB checks? Hell why would you want to know about a Teachers criminal background? why not outsource a load of functions and trust the private sector to do everything in the contract because they are doing it from the heart... in fact, why don't we just double the contract because we know the private does it cheaper, because they tell us so...

The private sector is always cheaper. House prices never go down. Council Workers are overpaid, and don't have a purpose. Sacred Holy Cow. I am at the end of my rant. Thankyou to those who could be bothered to read this far. To the rest of you

[jellybean]

The private sector is always cheaper. House prices never go down. Council Workers are overpaid, and don't have a purpose. Sacred Holy Cow. I am at the end of my rant. Thankyou to those who could be bothered to read this far. To the rest of you

My missus is a lgo and works for the senior mangement team. She says there are a lot of dedicated hardworking people in the council but a lot of lazy useless b as well.

People who do absolutely nothing and get paid a lot of money for doing it. Multiple layers of management each building it's own pointless empire.

The climate is such that it is easier to live with it than do anything about it. I bet you none of these people loose their jobs when the cuts come. It will be the poor bugger working in the care home on minumum wage.

[dog]

Like so many local authorities, Devon has plundered the local population and businesses. Now they have run out of money. What should they do in this situation? Protect the old and vulnerable you might think. Is this what they are doing? No chance! The old and vulnerable are the first to be sacrificed. There is no way their new 'Excellence cluster coordinator' is going to give up his or her £100K package.

[No6]

Devon are blaming that nice Mr Blair.

Cllr Greenslade said: "What the Government is planning is taking grant from Devon which is way above what the county raises through Council Tax on second homes. It would mean not only an end to the good work we have been doing to help with affordable and supported housing, but also put enormous extra pressure on vital public services and Council Tax.

"The major problem is that the Government's system for distributing grant is still largely influenced by property prices and not by people's incomes. The Government wrongly assumes that because property prices are high in Devon, Devon must be a rich county. The reality is that average incomes are the third lowest in the country. We owe it to the people of Devon to lobby for justice on their behalf."

http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/your_council...pealweekly1.htm

[laurejon]

The problem with basing an economy on the creation of public service jobs is the simple fact that when the borrowing budget runs out, the jobs will dissapear and there will be no taxpayers left to pay the bills.

Simple Economics that would be GCSE level at best, but unable to be grasped by a Socialist Dictatorship of war criminals and sleaze merchants that have finally had their day.

Its a shame Joe Public didnt vote the evil b$stards out, but now it doesnt matter.

Simple Basic Economics and Global Politics will wipe that smirk off Blairs face and give him the bloody nose he so deserves!!!.

Karma Mr Blair, and its coming your way.......

[pricedout]

The cuts to Local Authority jobs have been happening for a few years now, the Authority I work for has, in the few years I have been there, gone from 600 down to 300 mainly due to outsourcing.

This month a further round of redundancies has been announced ranging from the very bottom to Director level. All due to budget cuts. Practically every Authority in the west (and probably nationally) is doing the same.

So many here on this site complain bitterly about the well paid "fluffy jobs", and rightly so.

Unfortunately the creation of these non jobs masks the fact that many of the comitted hardworking employees are gradually getting the push.

Under Nu Labour the balance has been lost somewhere along the line in many areas of life, Local Authorities and housing to name only two.

[laurejon]

The problem with Tasking Managers to cut jobs is obvious and inhrent in both Public Services and the Private Sector.

They dont lay off their own, they lay off those beneath them, hence the fact that there are now so many managers and no workers left.

[Elizabeth]

The problem with Tasking Managers to cut jobs is obvious and inhrent in both Public Services and the Private Sector.

They dont lay off their own, they lay off those beneath them, hence the fact that there are now so many managers and no workers left.

OK. laurejon 1

[Wayo]

Devon are blaming that nice Mr Blair.

Cllr Greenslade said: "What the Government is planning is taking grant from Devon which is way above what the county raises through Council Tax on second homes. It would mean not only an end to the good work we have been doing to help with affordable and supported housing, but also put enormous extra pressure on vital public services and Council Tax.

"The major problem is that the Government's system for distributing grant is still largely influenced by property prices and not by people's incomes. The Government wrongly assumes that because property prices are high in Devon, Devon must be a rich county. The reality is that average incomes are the third lowest in the country. We owe it to the people of Devon to lobby for justice on their behalf."

http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/your_council...pealweekly1.htm

That must be the same Councillor Greenslade who pocketed £35k in expenses this year - DCC councillors expenses are apparently rising even faster than the council tax - up 18% this year to over £850k.

Of course it will be the council taxpayers, public libraries, care homes, and the overworked, poorly paid council staff who do anything useful which will be taking the budget hit.

http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/displayNode....&folderPk=79934

The 'recruitment freeze' hasn't quite started yet: http://www.devonjobs.gov.uk/devon/searchresults.asp

Just 182 jobs still on offer today - there are also plenty of 'external agencies' that still have money to burn and proving that public sector salaries are usually inverse to the amount of use they are to the community.

Highlight must include a director of External Relations at The West of England School and College who can look forward to £45k (no educational background required).

[laurejon]

LOOK FAMILIAR TO YOUR WORKPLACE?.

[OnlyMe]

LOOK FAMILIAR TO YOUR WORKPLACE?.

Yeah, that's me down the hole.

I'm also all the others cracking the whip on myself.

[Elizabeth]

Yeah, that's me down the hole.

I'm also all the others cracking the whip on myself.

Die laughing

[laurejon]

What they forgot in this picture is to stick a broom up the backside of the guy digging the hole so he could sweep the floor at the same time.

[OnlyMe]

laurejon,

You missed the caption :

"Oi, when I said put the pole down the hole I meant the one with the little 'p' not captial 'P'"

Edited January 21, 2006 by OnlyMe

[gus]

LOOK FAMILIAR TO YOUR WORKPLACE?.

Spot on. I love it.

[the don]

LOOK FAMILIAR TO YOUR WORKPLACE?.

great photo

one of my pet bug bears is the common situation in construction where there is one guy doing some work and 4 to 10 people monitoring him.

The problem with Tasking Managers to cut jobs is obvious and inhrent in both Public Services and the Private Sector.

They dont lay off their own, they lay off those beneath them, hence the fact that there are now so many managers and no workers left.

i dont think that ths is unique to the public sector

in my experience whenever there is a need to cut costs in industry, most companies begin by reviewing the headcount of the frontline troops.

they will chop out 4 or 5 internal sales/ admin clerks/ factory labourers at a salary of mavbe £12000 p.a , whilst avoiding getting rid of 1 senior manager who is engaged in an activity trap at package of maybe £50k plus car etc etc.

i dont believe in employing surplus troops, but i have learnt that you can fire a lot of middle managers without any adverse effect on the business. in many cases effciencies improve without the managers who engage in activity traps.

[pricedout]

Your photo is wrong - where are the people from health and safety and someone checking to see if the works comply with the environmental method statement (I am presuming they have one) ?

[dog]

LOOK FAMILIAR TO YOUR WORKPLACE?.

Brilliant!

Is this an example of work/life balance?

[Smurf1976]

Been there, done outdoor work. My observations:

Outdoor workers - most are productive but there's usually one bad apple who does little and effectively slows everybody else down. The overall productivity rate does, however, make it a cheaper option to employ your own staff than use outside contractors once all the short cuts, variation charges, supervision, disputes and so on are taken into account. The private sector may be more productive in terms of output per worker, but it's also more expensive (up to 3 times as expensive in cases I've seen where the sums have been done) which defeats the point of outsourcing since it leads to HIGHER taxes rather than lower.

Supervisors - generally overworked and receive more than their share of abuse over the phone from the public. A good one who relates well to the outdoor workers is an asset, a traditional manager type who likes things concepts such as "hierarchy", "authorise", "project management" and so on is a liability. Supervisors are best recruited from outdoor field staff, NOT office staff.

Managers - generally a complete waste of time apart from taking some of the workload off the supervisor. Generally good at calling meetings, producing all manner of emails, charts and so on, love coming up with acronyms, love all kinds of non-productive things and ultimately contribute little to the overall work output. An office administrator could handle the same functions at less cost and less disruption to actual work. There are exceptions of course, I've seen good managers who add greatly to the team, but many don't. Best indication of a good manager in this type of work is having them actually do some physical work when it's busy, people are off sick etc. A bad sign is sitting in the office delegating everything to the supervisor.

So don't blame the outdoor workers. Blame the fools sitting in the office wearing ties. They're the ones adding basically nothing whilst usually hindering the outdoor workers with all manner of ridiculous requirements which simply aren't necessary in practice. I've seen forms that management wants filled out each day which end up taking an hour away from productive output. The purpose of the form? To monitor workers and make sure they're being productive. Typical manager nonsense.

[SarahBell]

Council spending in Manchester

"If there's a particularly dirty classroom - say with coffee spilled all over the floor - then we don't have to clean it. We don't do toilets or anything like that. And we don't touch cleaning fluids."

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/men/news...ean_school.html

The £4.80-an-hour pay is well above the national average, which for 16 and 17 year olds in £3 an hour. Bosses at Loreto took the unusual step of employing pupils after finding it difficult to recruit and keep a team of professional staff.

[Elizabeth]

Been there, done outdoor work. My observations:

Outdoor workers - most are productive but there's usually one bad apple who does little and effectively slows everybody else down. The overall productivity rate does, however, make it a cheaper option to employ your own staff than use outside contractors once all the short cuts, variation charges, supervision, disputes and so on are taken into account. The private sector may be more productive in terms of output per worker, but it's also more expensive (up to 3 times as expensive in cases I've seen where the sums have been done) which defeats the point of outsourcing since it leads to HIGHER taxes rather than lower.

Supervisors - generally overworked and receive more than their share of abuse over the phone from the public. A good one who relates well to the outdoor workers is an asset, a traditional manager type who likes things concepts such as "hierarchy", "authorise", "project management" and so on is a liability. Supervisors are best recruited from outdoor field staff, NOT office staff.

Managers - generally a complete waste of time apart from taking some of the workload off the supervisor. Generally good at calling meetings, producing all manner of emails, charts and so on, love coming up with acronyms, love all kinds of non-productive things and ultimately contribute little to the overall work output. An office administrator could handle the same functions at less cost and less disruption to actual work. There are exceptions of course, I've seen good managers who add greatly to the team, but many don't. Best indication of a good manager in this type of work is having them actually do some physical work when it's busy, people are off sick etc. A bad sign is sitting in the office delegating everything to the supervisor.

So don't blame the outdoor workers. Blame the fools sitting in the office wearing ties. They're the ones adding basically nothing whilst usually hindering the outdoor workers with all manner of ridiculous requirements which simply aren't necessary in practice. I've seen forms that management wants filled out each day which end up taking an hour away from productive output. The purpose of the form? To monitor workers and make sure they're being productive. Typical manager nonsense.

The sacred cow that the private sector does it cheaper is rubbish. Its not who owns the enterprise but how it is organised internally and whether everyone is working to the same hymn sheet. Government sector tend to be so tied down in old practices, but in new units with clear objectives it tends not the be the case. As well there is often a need for a rotation to break the complacency of big private sector organisations that can always win at the tendering game because they have the money to look good on paper but not the commitment to the outcomes for their own sake. They also demand significant profit margins that eat into the practical delivery margins (which when profit is at the centre does become simply marginal). The not for profit non government sector can do great work if their given the chance - I have an instinct that the tendering process is geared to lock them out, particularly in central government tendering exercises. No evidence but it would make a nice little thesis for some management student!