By Nick Mann | 9 November 2011
More than half of central and local government workers would be unwilling to recommend a job in the public sector to others, according to a survey published today.
Recruitment consultancy Badenoch and Clark’s latest quarterly survey of more than 1,000 public sector employees found that 63.9% of central government employees would not recommend working in the sector to those starting work or considering a career change.
And 53.9% of those working in local government agreed with the sentiment.
In total, 47.7% of those questioned said they would not recommend a career in the public sector to potentially future colleagues.
Badenoch & Clark said that, given the important role existing employees play in giving potential new recruits insight into the public sector, the results of its survey suggested the flow of new talent into the sector could be at risk.
Nicola Linkleter, Badenoch & Clark’s managing director said: ‘It is quite alarming that nearly half of all public workers harbour such negative sentiment about the sector at the moment and this could make recruiting the future pipeline of talent a growing challenge for public sector employers.
‘Graduates and those considering a career change who seek insight on working in the public sector will likely turn to existing employees as their first port of reference.’
But she said the attitude of existing employees was ‘unsurprising’, given the dwindling job satisfaction in the public sector. Only 4.3% of those questioned in the survey believed morale in their department had improved in the past 12 months, while 19.5% said they did not feel motivated in their job at all.
Calling for the issue to be tackled ‘imminently’, Linkleter urged public sector managers to develop a strategy to keep their staff engaged. In particular, she said it was important for managers to show employees their work was valued and their career progression was being taken into account.
Commenting on the survey, Unison general
secretary Dave Prentis claimed the results were particularly unsurprising given
the potential impact of the government’s proposed public sector pension
reforms.
‘No wonder, when local government workers are seeing their jobs cut, their pay
frozen and their terms and conditions under attack, staff say they would not
recommend working in the sector. And now, to make matters worse, government
ministers are coming after their pensions,’ he said.
‘Local government workers do vital jobs – helping to educate our children, caring for the elderly and vulnerable, as well as providing the services that keep our communities running. We will all suffer the consequences if people no longer see the sector as a positive place in which to work.’
