baldyman27
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Or don't want to see maybe?
Time off for Christmas shopping in public service.
- Thread starter baldyman27
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Or don't want to see maybe?
BoscoTalking
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who knows?
That is not what he is saying.
I have seen it and been and been told the same my self. Many departments/areas/quangoes go on a spending spree to use up the budget, on the ‘Use it or lose it principle’.
For example, I have seen whole offices equipped with brand new top end 'Gaming PCs', for want of a better word. They would have cost 2 or 3 times the price of an average PC. I queried this, as writing Word Documents and a bit of Excel etc was all they were going to be used for. With a straight face, I was told that “We had left over cash in the budget and if we did not use it up, we would lose it next year.”
baldyman27
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Which department allocates the budgets to the various councils, etc.? I would have thought (and this is in the simplest form) that council A goes to whichever department and says 'we need x amount of money for running costs and we plan to spend x amount on capital projects and we feel a contingency fund of another x amount would be prudent which, should we have to draw down from we will show why'. Instead, it seems that they can say we spent all the money you gave us last year and so much didn't get done so now we want more. Am I right in saying this? If so, surely its the department that's at fault for not properly governing the various councils, etc.
I understand fully what he is saying. He is backing up a sweeping statement with one example (something about cycle lanes). I weas merely countering that statement with an example of my own.
BoscoTalking
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no i do not agree with that at all. Whoever is buying €€€ worth of stuff that is not needed then just to spend a budget then they are at fault.
This "systemic failure" BS actually sends me into orbit - whatever happened to individuals being responsible for their actions.
baldyman27
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Very true, its the question of accountability Im wondering about though. Most people will try to get away with what they can, fact of life. Who is ulimately responsible for asking where the money is being spent or why it's being spent on completely OTT stuff? Apart from the good people on AAM, of course.
I'm a public servant and am getting a little bit sick of being made the scapegoat for everyone's troubles. I'm one of the "post 1995" employees which means I pay PRSI at class A1 and have the same terms and conditions as most people in the private sector so I'm not "unsackable". As for pension I have to pay into it, its not free! As for sick pay I pay into an insurance plan which covers sick pay. As for performance criteria, We're too busy to get involved with that as we're busy covering for people who leave/retire and are not replaced.
The department I work for actually makes money from the work I do so I cost the taxpayer zilch. I don't go on junkets and don't receive bonuses.
P.S. I don't get a half days leave for shopping or banking time but I get a half day on Christmas Eve.
The department I work for actually makes money from the work I do so I cost the taxpayer zilch. I don't go on junkets and don't receive bonuses.
P.S. I don't get a half days leave for shopping or banking time but I get a half day on Christmas Eve.
I work in the Civil Service and I have no privelage day. Im back in work on Mon Dec 29th. I finish work on Xmas Eve at aroudn 2.30/3.30. However out of my friends who work in the private sector almost all of them finished up on Friday 19th and are not back until Jan 5th yet they only have to take 4 days of their annual leave.
If I was to take that amount of time off I would have to take 7 days annual leave.
If I was to take that amount of time off I would have to take 7 days annual leave.
Those pensions have to paid for by the civil servents. They are not free and they have to be paid for 40 years in order to get the maximum benefit.
What do you mean by sick day quotas??
I know plenty of post 95 entrants to the civil service who were sacked.
We have to do PMDS every year and if you do not get the relevant marking you dont get any increments and it effects your promotion prospects.
If the public service is such an attractive prospect why are there not more people applying to join?
I'd love to know where your friends work , because I don't know any private sector employer with these conditions.
Well I am only stating what they told me the other day. The building I work in houses my dept and 8 other private offices. 6 out of those 8 offices closed on Friday and are not open until Monday 5th Jan.
Lots of private sector companies close those dates , but in every company I have come across every day (not a public holiday) will be taken from annual leave.
BoscoTalking
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i imagine they, like me, have to take the days off in their annual leave. As in there is no option to work these days.
I don't want to sound all "civil servants are wasters etc" but what i do think is that they do not have a grasp of private sector as much as they think they do. Check over on educationposts this morning and there is a teacher asking are they entitled to a "moving day with paid sub" like, hello missus get into the real world!
The reality to me is that there are senior civil servants who look at budgets as pocket money and don't really care if they are squandered and come up with rediculus perks for employees because they believe the private sector get them. For example: paying someone's estate agents fees if when they take up a transfer they wish to buy a house or sell their existing house - in all fairness, did they apply for the job or were they begged?This may happen in pribvate sector if someone is headhunted because their skills are in need and they need to be wooed but certainly not as a rule and absolutely not as an "entitlement". The idea that nobody was interviewing for civil and public service jobs during the celtic tiger is rubbish, they were valued as job with fantastic benefits just as much as they are now.
I can only go on my own experience in the Civil Service and as much as I would love to have taken annual leave and be off from Dec 19th until Jan 5th like my friends who work in the Private Sector there is no way my boss would allow it. The nature of my work means that there has to be a presence in the office on every weekday over the xmas (apart from Dec 24th and Dec 25th). I had to come in to work at 8.15 this morning and I wont be leaving until 7pm. That is common enough in my section and while I am happy to have a job at something I enjoy the long hours can sometimes be a pain. I dont get overtime for doing anything over an 8 hour day though I do get time in lieu(one hour for each extra hour worked)
Also I dont get the point you are making about estate agent fees?? When I decentralised and sold my house I certainly didnt get any money or compensation for doing it as it was a voluntary more.
Of course. I've never heard of any other way.
R
rmelly
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This year my employer introduced 2 (paid) 'Company Leave Days' at Christmas, in addition to the standard annual leave, for all permanent (i.e. non-contractor) employees, which was nice.
For those posting and counter posting about time off at Christmas can they please state their total annual leave? It would also be good if they could state their standard working week and if they can work up extra days off by working overtime.
I get 20 days, my minimum hours are 39 and everyone here gets paid overtime. I never work less than 48 hours a week and have taken 10 sick days in the last 18 years, 6 of them for hospitalisation.
Many friends in the private sector work long hours with no time off in lieu, no paid overtime and no paid sick days.
One more small point; it is very unlikely that most public sector employees with defined benefit pensions will come anywhere close to funding their own pension.
I get 20 days, my minimum hours are 39 and everyone here gets paid overtime. I never work less than 48 hours a week and have taken 10 sick days in the last 18 years, 6 of them for hospitalisation.
Many friends in the private sector work long hours with no time off in lieu, no paid overtime and no paid sick days.
One more small point; it is very unlikely that most public sector employees with defined benefit pensions will come anywhere close to funding their own pension.
If you don't like the terms and conditions of where you work you'd assume you'd move to a job with better terms and conditions. If you don't move, the assumption must be either you can't get a better job, or you are happy with the terms and conditions. Whats the point of comparing the different terms and conditions? Its not as if all occupations have the same working day/week either.
Some people get sick more than others. Again some occupations might be more dangerous than others. You might be a professional footballer and get injured, or work in creche with kids and catch their bugs? or you might work in a gym all day? Whats the interest in sick days?
Some people get sick more than others. Again some occupations might be more dangerous than others. You might be a professional footballer and get injured, or work in creche with kids and catch their bugs? or you might work in a gym all day? Whats the interest in sick days?