Government hopes that the private sector will provide jobs for unemployed public sector workers look increasingly shaky, according to new research from uSwitchforbusiness.com.
Its recent study found that the majority of SME employers are put off employing public sector workers because of concerns over productivity, training and skills and even attitude.
Almost a quarter of SMEs (22%) intend to take on more staff in 2011 but only 2% of the employers surveyed said that they would actively seek to recruit public sector workers. Nearly a quarter of small businesses (23%) would only look to recruit a public sector worker if it was for a role that they couldn’t otherwise fill and one in ten (12%) said they would not be prepared to employ a public sector worker at all.
Only 6% of private sector bosses believe that a former private sector work would fit in well in their business. Over half (55%) believe that public sector workers have unrealistic expectations regarding pay, holidays and employment terms, while just one in ten (11%) agree that they are as productive as private sector workers.
Four in ten small business owners (41%) believe that there is a cultural issue that would make it very difficult for a public sector worker to successfully adapt to the private sector. and only 8% of private bosses see public sector workers as ahead of the private sector in terms of training, up-to-date knowledge and skills.
Public sector redundancy is expected to increase dramatically in 2011 but only 18% of SME business owners believe that the private sector will be able to pick up the slack from the expected job cuts. This is despite the fact that 72% of SME owners think that their business will grow or at least retain its size in 2011.
James Constant, Director of uSwitchforbusiness.com, commented: “The Government is pinning its hopes on the private sector being ready, willing and able to offer employment to redundant public sector workers. What it hasn’t grasped is that employers view public and private sector candidates very differently.
“Small businesses need workers that can fit in quickly, hit the ground running and add value to the bottom line – what this research shows is that there are grave doubts as to whether public sector workers can meet this demanding brief.
“Trading conditions are tough and business owners have to ensure their business is as agile and competitive as possible.”
I agree with the concerns voiced by the SME owners/recruiters. I have worked in the Public Sector for six years now. I have created my own small business as a route out of the public sector as I dont feel it offers the skills, experience or training required. I certainly dont hold any hopes for a job based on my mistake of accepting this one in the first place which I feel would have put my career in reverse only for the effors I have made personally in my own business. I plan to recruit within the next 12 months and I certainly wouldn’t entertain many of the 3,000 people here.
The problem is that every task is given a job title in the public sector so very few people end up doing full jobs thereby experience is extremely limited. Managers also spend their time trying to maintain the number of people they have regardless of whether they are needed or not so people are not busy enough. Poor recruitment and promotional behaviour in the public sector has also created a underskilled and under confident management pool. These managers are then not competent enough to enable their staff to develop competencies like creativity, innovation or problem solving thereby creating a mass of people who will only follow policy and never consider a new approach.
Another issue related to the above is that because public sector staff are not busy enough, their work expands to fill the time available rather than managing their time to deal with the work they have to do. This is not to say that they dont feel busy, they do feel very busy. However, the capacity to successfully handle a days work where there are a range of demands and deadlines and more than one role to fulfil has been long knocked out of them.
One in ten SMEs wouldnt recruit a public sector worker – this is generous. By the way, I am making this extended comment while in my public sector role just after a meeting with my manager where my busyness has been highlighted (I feel vastly under-utilised). Would I respond to this article when in my own business mode? Absolutely not.
Until August 2010 I worked for 10 years in the public sector and left to join the business I set up with business partners 4 years ago to provide online assessments to the public sector at affordable prices. I worked my little butt off for 10 years and worked alongside others doing the same. I met worked with highly educated, skilled, fantastic people working for a fraction of their worth,providing the most amazing support to vulnerable people. I was part of the senior management team within social care and I ran my dept as much like a private business as I possibly could. We managed continual government policy change and new initiatives, restructures, budget cuts and led innovatively. For the first 7 years, I regularly worked 45-50 hour weeks but one does become demoralised at the lack of respect, recognition and reward for achievement and innovation. The slackers co-existed alongside honest, skilled and hardworking people. To a certain extent, the slackers cannot be blamed because of the management culture, lack of training provision and threat of bad publicity with the potential to damage political parties, poor performance was not generally managed well. Recruiting wisely, the private sector will find some gems from the public sector.