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Civil Service - not 'family friendly' at all!

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  • 06-03-2019 8:05pm
    #1
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭


    Hi there,

    Just in case of any bashing I totally understand that most of these issues occur in the private sector. However, I moved to the public service from the private (and took a huge drop in pay) on the understanding that there would be a more 'family friendly' atmosphere. As a bit of background, I commute 1hour and 15mins to work and I have 3 children under 5 at home. My priorities are my family and maximising my time with them. I usually leave the house at 7am and work until 4.30 or so (only taking 30 mins for lunch) in order to get home and spend time with them before bed.

    I currently work as an EO in a smallish regional office. My first issue is our working times. We are all on flexi time ie. we need to be in work between 10am and 4pm. Our offices are open to the public from 10-12 and 2-4 Monday to Friday, as are our phone lines. In between these times we just carry on with our own work. Approx. once a week due to the nature of the job, I will be at work (not in the office) from 9am until 7pm - often without a break. I also often need to travel, which can result in longer days also. However, in the past few months our manager has drawn up a rota where two members of staff must stay in the office until 5.30pm once a week. This means that I won't arrive home until 6.45pm. Ultimately, twice a week I will barely see my children before bedtime, for no apparent reason. The manager will not explain why the office needs to be manned until 5.30. I'm wondering does this happen in any other offices around the country - we have a caretaker who locks up the building at 7pm every night so it's not as though anyone needs to be there for that. We are also on call for a week once a month, which means limited time with family that weekend.

    My second issue is holidays. It is nearly impossible to take holidays throughout the year. At Christmas we were told we could take a max of 3 days. I was not allowed any at Easter. We were told that our only hope of getting time off during the Summer is to avail of the Shorter Working Year (I have done this and was granted 2 weeks out of the 4 requested). We have been told that due to most of the office availing of the scheme we won't be able to take any additional holiday days during the summer break. I have a wedding on a Wednesday (a 2 hour drive away) and I have been told I can take either the Wednesday or the Thursday off but not both. I worry about when my children start school - I'll never be able to get any time off with them!

    I worked in a different Department previously where there was no issue leaving at 4pm each day once work was completed and our hours had been worked up, and also where holiday days were no problem (within reason of course) I'm going to contact my union about these issues but just wanted to see if anyone else is experiencing similar?


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