Why on earth would you work here? (My Experiencs and Advice)

Member Name: wtwildcats

Product:	My Experiencs and Advice
Date:	13/11/02 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: flexi hours, pension

Disadvantages: it is local government

This will be a review of working in Local Government. Having spent all my working life inside this organisation, in various councils, I thought I'd share with you the bounties of my wisdom on this subject lol.

As a Local Government Officer (LGO) I am a public servant, and thats worth remembering. What it actually means is that for the majority of the time, you are paid less than market forces would say you are worth.

So why don't I leave? Well, I happen to believe in Local Government, and enjoy my job, believe it or not. It's not just about money at the end of the day.

Whatever your skills, you could probably be suited to a job in Local Government. Admin staff are crucial to the smooth running of an Authority. Accountants are needed, Accounting Technicians sort out payroll (and you become friends with everyone!), pensions, pay bills etc etc. Environmental Health Officers and Planners are employed by Local Government. Lawyers are important, as are people qualified in Sports Management. Gardeners, Plasterers, Bricklayers, Joiners, Plumbers, and people with muscle are all needed to fulfill the functions of Local Government.

And a lot more besides!

The majority of office based jobs within Local Government are worked by staff whose contract allows flexible working patterns - commonly known as "Flexitime". This is an amazing benefit of a job in an authority. I personally have to be in work between 10am to midday and 2pm to 4pm. Outside of those hours, well, I decide when to arrive and leave.

Of course you have to put in the hours eventually. You can't expect to work just 4 hour days and get away with it. A week in Local Government is worth 37 hours of work. So long as you average that amount of work, then flexitime is a great benefit.

Of course, you can accrue time by working slightly longer than you need on some days and you will then be able to have extra leave given to you, when yo
u have accrued enough flexi time.

Any employee in Local Government is allowed to be a member of the LGSS - Local Government Superannuation Scheme. Thats a pension to you and me, but it is a good pension. It is superannuated, and therefore the employer contributes to your pension fund too :) It is a good pension scheme, but at the moment there is some uncertainty surrounding it, as there are most pensions, because of how badly investments are currently paying out.

As far as you can have job security these days, a job in Local Government is fairly secure. There are, however, a Government led initiative called Best Value which makes Local Government review exactly what it does, and why - with the emphasis of increasing service at less cost.

To be frank, this is a complete pile of rubbish. New Labour doesn't value Local Government and consequently they introduced this scheme in an attempt to privatise Local Government services - something which a supposedly socialist party should be against.

Best Value is possibly the worst of the recent initiatives to hit Local Government. Some services inevitably do get sold off to private contractors who say they can provide the same service at a lower cost. Staff would then transfer to the new employer, and most would be lucky if there was a job for them.

I fail to see how service to the public can be improved when a service is sold off to the private sector. Whilst in the public sector, all services are provided on a not-for-profit basis. Private companies are out to make a profit, so how can they keep the same level of service up when they take on a service at less cost? They can't!

Local Government is also going through something called Job Evaluation - this is a mechanism devised to evaluate the responsibilities of your job and make sure you are paid sufficiently for your job. Ha ha ha ha ha1. Sorry about that. In real terms, what it is is a mechanism to justify the C
hief Exec's and Directors massive pay rises, and justify why you are lucky to get what you already do !!!

Am I cynical, yeah, I think I am. But its what happens. Nothing happens fast in Local Government, so you do get demolerised and feel undervalued after a time.

Members of the public think badly of us. We are the poorest relations of Public Servants. We get poor pay rises in comparison with the rest of the public services, and our pay has in real terms gone down, to below the market value for our jobs (in the main at least.)

Recruitment and Retention is a massive problem, especially in London, where the cost of living is prohibitive to most people. Salaries aren't enough there.

People moan at us, think we are lazy, complain that we are useless and generally dislike us. And yet LGO's smile and keep on working.

There are 3 different sectors of Local Government: District Councils, County Councils and Unitary Authorities.

A District Council has a smaller range of functions and services to deliver - street cleaning, household rubbish collection, pest control, env health, planning, recreation and leisure, housing, collection of council tax and a few other things.

County Councils have the following functions: waste disposal, education, social services, and a few more.

A Unitary Authority is a combination of a District Council and County Council - they have all the functions, and they don't have a County Council.

For example, all authorities in West Yorkshire are Unitary - there is no County Council. Derbyshire has a County Council, so the councils in Derbyshire are just District Councils.

(You may be interested to note that the vast majority of your Council Tax bill goes to the County Council, the Police and Fire Authorities, and not the District Council who you pay it to.)

There are trade unions active in Local Government - the biggest, and in my opinion be
st, is UNISON. It it the largest public sector union, and the largest trade union in the country. If you are employed in Local Government I would strong advise that you become a member of a union, for the protection it can offer you. Yeah, I am a Branch Officer and Steward of UNISON where I work, so of course I would say that. But so would all my members who have needed the union when things have gone wrong.

I hope that some of you remain, and that you've found this interesting. Thanks for reading this, please rate and leave comments (esp. if you think this could be improved).

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