Civil Service - Post Lockdown - Blended Working?

TaurenDruid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119111331#Comment_119111331

Agreed they would need to declare it. And Data Protection Officers generally seem more on top of the law than, say, their FOI equivalents. I doubt any department would want to be the first to have been found to be illegally monitoring their employees!

and kept it quiet through any such deployment except for whispers?

file under bollocks tbh

billyhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119113231#Comment_119113231

I heard it might not be illegal monitoring but staff are aware of the software. It would tell the manager how long you have been away from your PC.

Dodge

Its nonsense. civil service PCs and laptops can barely run office never mind secret spying software

Hotblack Desiato

..

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119113840#Comment_119113840

It's not just staff would have to be aware of it. They would have to declare it in their privacy policy. They'd have to specify what data they are holding, for what purpose, for how long and more.

There would have been uproar from trade unions, privacy advocates, staff themselves (and each manager using the data will be the staff member who's data is going to their own manager).

TaurenDruid

We're up to 89 responses so far, but only 9 of those are from someone working where an official blended working policy has been published.

I'll leave this open until Tuesday 31st.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KNlYHF0Z7rtCElZoQ0ex34HyKltprjzzQPxtmVKyAzs/

lightspeed

When is it expected that there will be an update from forsa on any potential salary increase?

Are they due to meet with government again and this likely to drag out weeks or how does it usually work?

doc22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119112752#Comment_119112752

You used the wrong calculator new entrants are on the single scheme(far less generous)

And you gave yourself 11 years extra service to bring service to 40 years

The 3/4 is the fact you will only have served 30 of the require 40 years for full pension.....

The excel calculator for 30 years service and starting as HEO with career pay increases and inflation adjustments assumes a current value pension of

Hotblack Desiato

Wow that's amazingly shít!

onlydaughter30

Hey ,does anyone know what the blended arrangement (if any) is in the Data Protection Commission? The Laois Office

thanks

cuttingtimber22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119099673#Comment_119099673

It would but the knives would be out. And ye would be worse off in the end.

Ahshurlookit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119115331#Comment_119115331

Currently two days a week in the office.

NapoleonInRags

I think you were a bit premature with the survey- given that most bw policies are still being negotiated - the deadline is end June.

TaurenDruid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119115336#Comment_119115336

It's true. Nothing in the history of the world has ever been achieved by workers taking industrial action.

• Pay deaks
• the five-day working week - not to mention the imminent four-day working week
• security of employment
• annual holidays and public holidays
• health and safety legislation
• things like TUPE and the Working Time Directive?

All of those things we have now are a direct result of our employers being all-round decent skins, and nothing else.

🙄

TaurenDruid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119115428#Comment_119115428

Actually it appears many BW policies aren't being negotiated with unions or Partnership Committees (over 75% of respondents so far answered 'don't know', 10% saying union involved, 6% saying no union involvement). So either unions aren't involved much, or they're being really poor at communication.

cuttingtimber22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119115649#Comment_119115649

Don’t forget the court of public opinion. It would reopen the public vs private sector debate. And those hard won better working conditions were in many cases driven by the private sector.

Tombo2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119115762#Comment_119115762

I have a fairly strong view on this one.

The court of public opinion will always fall down against public servants. Public servants considered "fair game" when it comes to social media group, the more official print media and TV media, and more disappointingly in my view when it comes to public pronouncements by politicians. You rarely if ever hear politicians having anything good to say about public servants.

There is a big big disparity between the realities of a public sector career, and the common stereotypes.

So if your concern is the court of public opinion, then you are on to a guaranteed loser.

However - right now, we have an extremely hot labour market. We have high inflation And we have public sector wages that are simply not moving. It is a fact that a very high amount of public servants, could - if they actually thought about it - walk into higher paid jobs in private sector.

And at this point, therefore its a choice of either pay people more or watch them leave.

TaurenDruid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119115825#Comment_119115825

This!

There are plenty of government bodies using agency staff right now because they can't attract permanent staff. That's at ordinary admin grades, too, not just senior staff. I mean, just look further up the thread where someone has a HEO job offer and is hemming and hawing about taking it. When it gets to specialist and senior staff, it's a joke. Head of Cybersecurity for major agencies or, in fact, the whole country - expected to sit down with Secretaries General and Ministers to tell them their setup isn't up to the task - and we'll pay them around the same as a private sector senior dev. Just with vastly more responsibility.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119115762#Comment_119115762

The court of public opinion thinks we should either be all sacked, or work for free 🙄

Not only should we work for free, but I remember a thread here recently where someone was insisting that civil servants should not be reimbursed for mileage and should pay their own food and travel costs from their own pocket, when travelling for official business.

Crazy stuff.

cuttingtimber22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119115825#Comment_119115825

Yet when you look at benchmarking and how many in power waited in the long grass to punish - it is arguable that benchmarking was worse for public servants in the medium term.

JoeSexton

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119114229#Comment_119114229

We've been told that it will be at least 4 more weeks until our BW policy will be signed off. Then there will be an application process which will no doubt take several more weeks (at least) to get through.

onlydaughter30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119115399#Comment_119115399

Thank you

TaurenDruid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119116669#Comment_119116669

I'm sure there's a "Masochism for people who don't actually like physical pain" thread over on After Hours?

Yeah, I would have been much better off not getting a pay rise in Benchmarking I that put me on roughly the same as a private sector employee (not really, I was working in I.T.) for those several years before austerity hit. No, wait... no, I actually wouldn't have been! I just wouldn't have got the extra pay for those couple of years and still would have gotten pay freezes, pay cuts, extra hours and the loss of some flexi benefits when FF fucked up the economy for everyone for the second time in living memory.

cuttingtimber22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119117366#Comment_119117366

Well I was a public servant in that period - my opinion is valid and I suffered those pay cuts. Part of the mess the economy was in back in 2008 was the high level of current expenditure and a narrow tax base combined with a massive global recession and the banks having lost the run of themselves.

And I don’t want to get into a public v private sector pissing contest.

TaurenDruid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119119258#Comment_119119258

Yup, I'm aware of the global recession and the banking crisis - and the warning signs, the people warning it was going to happen really soon and the likes of Bertie saying the people giving the warnings should commit suicide. Then after the crash we were told "everyone partied."

blended working, anyway

Hotblack Desiato

What's always conveniently forgotten about is the 1.5% a year public sector pay deals in the years leading up to benchmarking, when the cost of living was racing ahead...

BhoyRayzor

We were told details would be given mid May and online system live from June for applications on WFH. Still nothing and could be September at this stage.