Hard working civil servants

[Mr Penguin]

Sometimes, civil servants get accused of not working hard, I don't know why they have that reputation when clearly they work all hours - this one even managed to fulfil three full time jobs at once.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/civil-se...

[Gas1883]

No idea about civil servants , but they should sort this wfh out , sun comes out and her next door is out on her sun bed

[Countdown]

Is that Noel Gallagher ?

[MikeM6]

Gas1883 said:

No idea about civil servants , but they should sort this wfh out , sun comes out and her next door is out on her sun bed

That isn't a WFH issue, that is an individual performance issue.

If I didn't work from home for the majority of my week, I would not get anywhere near as much done, regardless of the weather.

[9.3]

Mr Penguin said:

Sometimes, civil servants get accused of not working hard, I don't know why they have that reputation when clearly they work all hours - this one even managed to fulfil three full time jobs at once.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/civil-se...

Paywalled sadly ..

[Countdown]

9.3 said:

Paywalled sadly ..

https://archive.ph/Z4ovR

[Xenoous]

Gas1883 said:

No idea about civil servants , but they should sort this wfh out , sun comes out and her next door is out on her sun bed

I work from home twice a week. I report to the directors on a weekly basis with items that need attention, progress, completed items etc. I wouldn't ever dream of not working when I'm specifically asked.

That isn't so much a WFH issue as a lazy bum problem.

[Countdown]

It's a crap line management issue more than anything else.

One of the worrying things is that, had his other roles not also been in the Public Sector, this wouldn't have been picked up. It makes you wonder how many people in the Private sector are pretending to do multiple jobs.

[Puzzles]

It’s a management issue imo.

[Camoradi]

Countdown said:

It's a crap line management issue more than anything else.

One of the worrying things is that, had his other roles not also been in the Public Sector, this wouldn't have been picked up. It makes you wonder how many people in the Private sector are pretending to do multiple jobs.

If this is the standard of line management we have in the public sector I'd imagine there are plenty with only the one employment, but not actually doing much. I wonder whether this guy was picked up by one of his line managers or some external audit?

As for the private sector, I'm flat out pretending to do just the one job.

[Countdown]

Camoradi said:

If this is the standard of line management we have in the public sector I'd imagine there are plenty with only the one employment, but not actually doing much. I wonder whether this guy was picked up by one of his line managers or some external audit?

As for the private sector, I'm flat out pretending to do just the one job.

He was picked up as part of the NFI check.

They cross check Purchase Ledger and HR/payroll details across

1. Multiple Local Authority / PubSec organisations
2. HMRC
3. DWP

So, for example it will pick up things like

- people on payrolls at different organisations
- people claiming benefits living at the same address (eg single occupier CT discount)

In an ideal world they would be able to match up supplier invoices with HMRC / Companies House submissions but (IIRC) we're a long way from that.

[Camoradi]

^^ Thanks for that. Interesting

[rodericb]

Puzzles said:

It’s a management issue imo.

So not a greedy employee problem?

Do you not have employment contracts which state that employees shall not work elsewhere unless approved by the employer?

[Mr Penguin]

rodericb said:

Puzzles said:

It’s a management issue imo.

So not a greedy employee problem?

Do you not have employment contracts which state that employees shall not work elsewhere unless approved by the employer?

It's both. Employee is greedy and defrauding the taxpayer, management aren't attentive enough to notice that he is only working a third of the time (at best).

Although Spain and Germany both have him beaten.

[scenario8]

Just on the wfh thingy wrt “not really doing much”, I work from other people’s homes. Often for extended periods. The amount of “not really doing much” I witness still hasn’t stopped surprising me. Some of it really is remarkable. Naturally I can’t be entirely certain I’m catching people at an unrepresentative time but I really can’t help wondering.

Just how pathetically inefficient are some people/roles? Just how little productivity do some organisations tolerate? For someone with a very direct link between their productivity and pay I find it very hard to get my head around it.

Anyway, back to work…

[eharding]

If he's found guilty and sent to jail for these multiple offences, can the judge decide that he was not allowed to serve the sentences concurrently on the grounds that it was that sort of thing that got him into trouble to start with?

[Countdown]

scenario8 said:

Just on the wfh thingy wrt “not really doing much”, I work from other people’s homes. Often for extended periods. The amount of “not really doing much” I witness still hasn’t stopped surprising me. Some of it really is remarkable. Naturally I can’t be entirely certain I’m catching people at an unrepresentative time but I really can’t help wondering.

Just how pathetically inefficient are some people/roles? Just how little productivity do some organisations tolerate? For someone with a very direct link between their productivity and pay I find it very hard to get my head around it.

Anyway, back to work…

I thought everyone was far more productive since they started WFH . In fact you only need to look at UK productivity figures since lockdown if you needed evidence of how much more productive people have become

[MC Bodge]

scenario8 said:

Just on the wfh thingy wrt “not really doing much”, I work from other people’s homes. Often for extended periods. The amount of “not really doing much” I witness still hasn’t stopped surprising me. Some of it really is remarkable. Naturally I can’t be entirely certain I’m catching people at an unrepresentative time but I really can’t help wondering.

Just how pathetically inefficient are some people/roles? Just how little productivity do some organisations tolerate? For someone with a very direct link between their productivity and pay I find it very hard to get my head around it.

Anyway, back to work…

Having WFH in a well-paid, but slow, job during COVID, I found it very boring and frustrating. Colleagues were dragging things out a lot, having inconclusve meetings about meetings, and doing re-work.

I moved on. I have worked on site since.

I suspect that there are still quite a few desk-based people who do very little for their wages and not only in the public sector.



By the way: Are you a sex worker who does house calls?

[Sticks.]

Camoradi said:

^^ Thanks for that. Interesting

I 2nd that, thanks.

eharding said:

If he's found guilty and sent to jail for these multiple offences, can the judge decide that he was not allowed to serve the sentences concurrently on the grounds that it was that sort of thing that got him into trouble to start with?

Very good

[Ian Geary]

I'm surprised he's not pleaded guilty - he seems to be caught bang to rights.

As a public sector manager, before lockdown there were always staff dragging work out, or doing the "presenteeism" thing

I guess wfh just let some of them cash in on not being managed very effectively.

For balance I've had team members who work every bank holiday, weekends, late into the night etc for free, and also seen private sector workers being lazy sods.