Civil Servant Covid Recognition

27-09-2021 6:19am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117943122#Comment_117943122

By reimbursing businesses for lost income on those three days they may be forced to shut? Or are you saying the Government will pay three days wages for every employee in the country? Any idea how much that would cost?

Ironically, the very people who the reward was meant to benefit, front line staff, still have to work on bank holidays.

Triangle · 27-09-2021 9:59am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117943338#Comment_117943338

I cant believe you have to explain this.

Either some people live in a bubble or are just idiots. Surely everyone knows at least one Healthcare employee and knows the **** they put up with this last 18 months.

mohawk · 27-09-2021 10:22am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117942672#Comment_117942672

We have one of the lowest numbers of Bank Holidays in the EU. We also have the bare minimum of annual leave allowance of 20 days again compare us to rest of EU where some countries have 25 or more. Some studies show people in Ireland work way longer hours then France, Germany etc. Not every business is struggling after Covid. Industries such as hospitality tend to benefit from Bank Holidays. So given the above why should workers be concerned about businesses paying for this Businesses in economies weaker then ours can afford it.

I presume healthcare workers that are scheduled to work a Bank Holiday either get paid for it or get it added to their holiday entitlement. I am open to correction on that.

27-09-2021 10:42am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117944359#Comment_117944359

You are missing the point, this started as recognition for hospital workers who are state employed, now the government is going to extend it to the private sector. Not every business is struggling, but the last thing needed is for them to be closed another day, or have to pay staff extra to work.

Mad_maxx · 27-09-2021 11:04am

Pay the medical professionals who dealt with covid, no one else should get anything including HSE employees who were not dealing with covid patients.

That will earn support from the public and the unions can sing for those in the PS who worked from home

The guards don't deserve a bean

mohawk · 27-09-2021 11:10am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117944451#Comment_117944451

Once a bonus was suggested for one group then every other group was going to go looking for their cut. The government are probably in a no win situation with this. A BH means every worker gets something. Realistically not everyone in health service needs a reward as they aren’t all on the frontline. It gets very messy deciding who deserves it and who doesn’t.

My point was that a BH is hardly going to ruin the country when the rest of private sector in EU can manage just fine. There appears to be many businesses close to the brink and they will go under BH or no BH. Bank Holidays are associated with increased spending.

HerrKuehn · 27-09-2021 11:19am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117943338#Comment_117943338

The situation that front line health care workers had to endure last year was horrendous. If we think back to the time when Italy was being overrun and needed ventilators. It was a very scary time as we didn't know much about the virus at the time other than what we had seen in China and Italy. Health care staff were still expected to go to work when many of us were sitting at home safely. My wife is a nurse and had to go through this, it was awful. There was a point where there were 17 of the staff on the ward out with Covid (not just isolating) and that meant she had to do more shifts! The last thing you would want to do in that situation is spend more time in the hospital, particularly when it was running rampant.

The fact that people need to be reminded of this is really disappointing. It will probably be difficult to recognise this in any meaningful way to be honest, as then we would also have to give bonuses to our heroic librarians and passport office staff. I think the least people could do is show a bit of gratitude to those we expected so much from in the early days of the pandemic. That costs nothing.

27-09-2021 11:44am

It’s a matter of the gubbermint saying “we must do something for these people, what will be do? We’ll throw out ideas and see how they go down in various quarters. Whatever brings us the most votes next time.”

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000 · 27-09-2021 11:55am

We're talking FRONT LINE workers here, the people who put themselves in harm's way, now you've other civil servants and retailers jumping in on this...like you can even compare what hospital staff went through and what the deli girl did during the pandemic. Get a fücking grip. Half the people moaning here had their arses plonked at home for over a year getting well paid or had a years holidays on covid payment.

27-09-2021 12:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117944577#Comment_117944577

Did EU countries have the restrictions we had, for as long as we had?

I really don’t see the relevance of comparing other countries and saying if they can afford it, we should, they are not this country. Also, unlike yourself, I think those businesses on the brink and the people working for them should be helped, not given up on.

Degag · 27-09-2021 12:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117943869#Comment_117943869

Of course some will have to work the bank holiday. But they will either get paid for it or added to their holiday balance.

May suit some who knows.

HerrKuehn · 27-09-2021 1:19pm

It is also worth mentioning that a lot of the larger retailers like Aldi, Tesco and Dunnes paid a 10% bonus to staff. What frontline health care workers are looking for is nothing like that scale.

27-09-2021 2:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117943338#Comment_117943338

I think you and staff like you should get a bonus. I worked from home 80% of the time during Covid. I don’t particularly want a bonus. But if I get one I’ll take it.

Hotblack Desiato · 28-09-2021 12:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117943450#Comment_117943450

You've already been told more than once that your "point" is totally wrong, so you no longer have the excuse of ignorance to rely on for posting shíte...

HerrKuehn · 29-09-2021 8:00am

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/teachers-demand-to-be-included-in-covid-19-bonus-payments-1.4686065

Farcical stuff, maybe it's best to just drop the idea altogether.

Deeec · 29-09-2021 8:40am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117952692#Comment_117952692

I knew this would happen! I wouldnt support teachers on this at all - the level of work that my childrens teachers put in during the lockdowns was a few hours a week ( way less than their normal working week ) - very little interaction just sent a list of work for parents to do with the kids. We as parents became the kids teachers.

twinytwo · 29-09-2021 8:46am

Just done by the government to win votes and distract from all their other BS.

All I'll say it should we start paying firefighters extra every time they go into burning building? As for nurses they face situations every day where they could potentially contract **** a lot worse than COVID.

Per head, we are the third most endebted country in the world and FFG just can't stop spending money.

HerrKuehn · 29-09-2021 8:55am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117952765#Comment_117952765

Same, half an hour zoom call a week and a few exercises from Twinkl sent on. I mean I don't expect a lot from them as you can't really teach a 6 and 8 year old remotely in my opinion, but they were already well compensated in extra time off over the last year and a half.

cms88 · 29-09-2021 3:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117952765#Comment_117952765

But but but they said they were working more than ever. Why would they say that if it wasn't true?

Madeoface · 29-09-2021 11:51pm

This was about civil servants in particular as opposed to public servants? Or perhaps OP didn't know the difference. The two offices of the civil service that stayed open and provided extra service were probably revenue and welfare. But not all of their employees would have been working on covid payments and schemes, so those that didn't should be excluded from any bonus. In fact I'd say a lot of them sat on their arses. They each employ about 7,000 people so no way they all worked on covid relief. However, those who did push through those new schemes so swiftly deserve something.

But what did the department of public reform do, or opw, or foreign affairs, or enterprise and employment, or tourism, or agriculture...etc etc. Most of them should have been on the pup in reality but now a bonus? FFS. No.

As for the wider public service? Teachers? Nope, I did their work for a few months as well as my own and even got snippy replies from one saying not to email him after 2.45pm, being his regular finish up time.... unreal sheltered attitude.

All guards and nurses? Nope. Some, for sure. Prison officers, yes. Local authorities? Lol.... some of these were probably transferred to do contact tracing etc cos the day job ceased to be, so no extra payment deserved there. Defence forces, no.

Irish water... Jesus there are people literally doing nothing there and pulling a wage... still.

Populist shite this idea, backed up by sickening unions... my corner shop minimum wage employees were my heroes. Feck the civil and public service slackers leeching off the few in there who did work harder.

There are approximately 330,000 civil and public service employees (30k civil and 300k public). How many did essential work? 10% max would be my guess, yet they all want a slice? Jesus wept.

Sleepy · 30-09-2021 6:07pm

For the hope that the front line medical staff (Doctors, Nurses, Health Care Assistants, Hospital Cleaners, Reception Staff etc.) might still be working there when we need them ourselves could we not all just agree they had it harder than anybody else during the lockdown, did heroic work and deserve to be rewarded for it, give them a decent one off bonus that'd cover the price of the holiday they and their family could well do with and pat ourselves on the back for having done the right thing instead of clamouring for "our share" of the mythical pie?

If a few nurses that happened to be allocated to quieter than normal wards uring the pandemic benefit for the sake of keeping the admin simple who gives a ****?

Goldengirl · 30-09-2021 7:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117932380#Comment_117932380

Do you not know that what private hospitals was used for or not in the first wave was down to HSE Management, not nursing or other healthcare workers?!

Also if you are going to start a thread it might help to do a bit of research so that you understand what you are ranting about!... Nurses and Gardaí are not CIVIL servants, they are PUBLIC servants.

Very surprised at your claim to work in a hospital given this level of ignorance?

30-09-2021 7:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117960423#Comment_117960423

I think everyone knew what the op meant.

Goldengirl · 30-09-2021 7:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117960440#Comment_117960440

That's not the point....

30-09-2021 7:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117960447#Comment_117960447

It really only matters to a few posters, to the rest of us, it’s just a misnomer, we all get the gist of his/her post.

Goldengirl · 30-09-2021 8:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117960461#Comment_117960461

Again, not the point!

Any body claiming to work in a hospital should know the difference and would not be making or supporting some of the ignorant comments that have been made here.

Blaming hospital staff for the cock up over private hospitals is another obvious clanger.

I don't believe the poster is genuine.

Claiming the hospitals ' were never so quiet', is another load of..... Usually claimed by rabid anti maskers/ Covid deniers.

It was all a myth was it?

Most of us who worked our asses off through this know what we did and how bad it was, unless you were in a private hospital somewhere or some local hospital down the country that didn't see too much Covid.

But even they were few and far between from January this year on.

Thankfully it is not a decision for a few online posters but one that wil or not be made by the government, based on a little more data than tiktok videos or social media, as some here appear to base their viewpoint.

cms88 · 30-09-2021 8:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117960554#Comment_117960554

I'll take it you're a nurse then? Not happy with anyone who doesn't fall over themselves to tell you how great you are?

Plenty of others worked hard the last 18 months who'll never get any thanks for it. Yet once again some nurses think they're the only ones who did anything.

FFVII · 30-09-2021 8:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117960554#Comment_117960554

https://www.inmo.ie/Trolley_Ward_Watch_Analysis

check Trolley watch figures for January this year and Jan last year so. Pandemic this year.

Healthcare here for the last 30 years....theirs no excuse for it. 885,189 on waiting list now...obviously it's run by idiots paid 100,000e a year but the staff in there have let this carry on for decades and just getting worse.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/more-than-100000-children-now-waiting-on-essential-hospital-care-40528766.html

Goldengirl · 30-09-2021 9:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117960621#Comment_117960621

Yes . No just the disrespect as another poster put it .

I have never claimed that others didn't work hard . Many did and deserve recognition like civil servants in revenue , social welfare and health .

Also essential retail have my eternal gratitude , and am glad that they ( some ) have gotten well deserved bonuses . They all should.

Goldengirl · 30-09-2021 9:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117960739#Comment_117960739

Gosh you are really disingenuous.

Why do you think that trolleys weren't packed in Jan 2021?

And mismanagement of Health Service would be down to HSE , not nurses or doctors or healthcare workers . I consider HSE managers as non healthcare workers by the way . Also it is down to them and the government along with those managing health services all over the world to sort waiting lists , way above my pay grade !

And you claim to be working in a hospital ? I really don't believe anybody could work in a hospital and know so little , unless you have just started and somehow been wfh all through this ?

As you said , quite rudely , to a genuine poster .." put up your payslip !"

Of course I have no interest in who you are , really , so that is rhetorical ...

FFVII · 30-09-2021 9:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117960873#Comment_117960873

That's the poster going on about putting through PUP payments.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0930/1249976-pup-claimants-cag/

Blame Hospital management, nurses aren't part of the problem. yeeeeea.

30-09-2021 9:57pm

My workload was large before covid and increased massively during COVID and involved direct contact with COVID. I dont want a bonus or time off as a reward. Reward enough would be to reform the system and deal with the serious amount of waste, mismanagement and abuse of services. Also would like to see action taken against all the staff that ran for cover during the pandemic leaving the rest of us(risk factors and all) with more work

Hotblack Desiato · 01-10-2021 2:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117960621#Comment_117960621

Plenty of others worked hard the last 18 months who'll never get any thanks for it.

I'll bet you're not being told by ignorant loudmouths that you should've been on the PUP, though.

02-10-2021 8:25am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117963256#Comment_117963256

If you are a teacher and sat at home doing **** all while schools were closed, it is hard to argue that you should have received full pay, and even harder to justify entitlement to a bonus. That isn’t ignorance, PUP was introduced as a payment for people unable to do their job due to the pandemic.

What great sacrifices were made or hardships suffered by public or civil service office workers during the pandemic? Is working from home that bad?

02-10-2021 2:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117966230#Comment_117966230

Do you think it was so easy?

Do you think having to adapt to working in a completely different way, without all the facilities of an office was a walk in the park for anyone? Do you think implementing new wrk practices, trying to adapt from mainly paper based systems to electronic ones practically overnight, was simple and not fraught with difficulties? No one could have forsaw what lockdowns brought.

Do you think it was magically easier for civil servants to adapt to working working from their kitchen tables or spare rooms (if they had one) surrounded by kids, spouses etc, than it was for private sector workers? Do you think they had money or equipment thrown at them to set up home offices like I read many in the private sector did?

It continues to amaze me that those who know the least about the civil service, are those that continue to complain the loudest. Its just pure ignorance of the worst kind.

Have to laugh at the poster above who thinks government departments literally closed their doors and sent their workers home when the pandemic hit. Its just another whole level of ignorance towards what civil servants do.

Government's don't shut down. Public offices were closed yes, and some services were curtailed due to public health measures but that doesn't mean there wasn't work being done. Hint - read my first paragraph again about civil servants adapting to new ways of working.

BTW, none of us asked for any bonus, either.

02-10-2021 2:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117967451#Comment_117967451

Get down off the cross.

It may not have been easy, but it wasn’t that difficult to adapt to wfh, it seems that a significant proportion of office workers enjoyed it so much, they don’t want to return to office based jobs.

Transitioning from paper based to electronic is never without its challenges, but I suspect few sectors remain paper based, welcome to the 21st century.

02-10-2021 3:03pm

I could say the same to you.

Stop posting rubbish about things you obviously know nothing about.

LOL, look at you preaching at me about how difficult it was to do my job during the pandemic - as if you were the one doing it, not me!

The changeover to WFH has been done now, and proved successful so of course many people don't want to return to offices full time - but a significant number do want to return in some capacity. Mostly parents, funnily enough!

This is not exclusive to the civil or public service.

02-10-2021 3:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117967539#Comment_117967539

I’m not preaching at you, I just don’t think the suffering you experienced was anymore than others, many of whom would appear to have adapted easily to wfh and want it to continue.

Changing to paperless working is something most companies have done over the past decade, it is challenging initially, but not for long.

I do know about both transitioning from paperless to electronic, and remote working, a high percentage of families in Ireland do as at least one family member is working on a laptop. Thankfully not all experience the suffering you have.

02-10-2021 3:30pm

One thing that probably made the switch to WFH more difficult for the civil service is their poorer IT skills. They tend to come from non technical backgrounds like Arts or Classical English or something like that rather than engineering, IT, science who tend to be in the private sector and more savvy with computers.

In the public sector, if you don't have the skills, there is no onus on you to improve. You sit back and wait for a course or something to come up. It's the employer's problem you're useless with computers.

I once had to show someone working in the civil service how they could select multiple files at once to upload to something or attach to an email. Before that they were selecting and uploading a single file to some system for about 20 files. That's just a simple example.

02-10-2021 3:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117967586#Comment_117967586

Did those companies have to make under take these challenges practically overnight, in the midst of a pandemic? In many cases, drastically under resourced, or without infrastructure?

Again, you underestimate exactly what was involved and how challenging it was. We're not talking about one company. We're taking about every government department with responsibility for the whole country.

Everyone has suffered, but at least I am capable of acknowledging that. You, it appears, seem to believe only one sector suffered at all - the private one.

02-10-2021 3:38pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117967637#Comment_117967637

When was that, 20 **** years ago?

02-10-2021 3:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117967658#Comment_117967658

The transition started at a particular time for everyone in every business, we transitioned on a specified date over 10 yrs ago, after which no more paper was used.

You have made my point, everyone experienced “suffering”, most adapted and even thrived, despite workload. There are enough threads on boards where office based posters are saying that remote working is actually more efficient and that employers should be at least offering hydrid working if not total wfh.

If you aren’t capable of adapting to modern work practices like paperless offices and electronic communication, you really shouldn’t be working where you are.

02-10-2021 3:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117967700#Comment_117967700

And we were one of those who adapted, and thrived, and have done so brilliantly, thanks very much - not that you'd ever acknowledge that because it might mean you'd have to give us some of the respect we actually deserve.

You know what, you've changed my mind.

Give me the bonus.

We **** deserve it for putting up with all the crap we have to put up with.

02-10-2021 3:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117967739#Comment_117967739

You really don’t. You did your job, same as others did, nothing more, nothing less. Do you deserve recognition for that?, of course, well done, do you deserve a bonus or special recognition for doing your job? Hardly.

02-10-2021 4:21pm

Oh we really do, and thanks to you, I now realise it, and also realise its the only acknowledgement we'll ever get for what was an extremely difficult situation.

Thanks for that.

02-10-2021 4:38pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117967823#Comment_117967823

You are welcome, finally a moment of clarity followed by realisation, you have accepted many people’s view of public/civil servants in relation to special recognition/bonuses. Well done again.

agoodpunt · 02-10-2021 4:43pm

Anybody try access PS depts where did they go? took me a yr to get a PSE card and it was in an office through someone i knew he said all the staff just went home nobody knew what they where doing no the should not get anything.

Have a close relative work for HSE social service sat on there hole for the last 18months do nothing no monitoring what so ever

cms88 · 02-10-2021 5:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117963256#Comment_117963256

There's been plenty of examples of people in the public sector who were actually not working at all but were still being paid their full wages. Or do you pretend that didn't happen?

02-10-2021 5:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117967886#Comment_117967886

LOL, the only thing I have realised is that some people are very stubborn, even when they know they're wrong.

What I also realise is the value of my own work, and that of my colleagues, and that we did an extraordinary job in very difficult and challenging circumstances.

You simply don't want to admit that, even though you know it. But you know what, derisive and disparaging attitudes like yours and "many people's" will only succeed in the hardening of attitudes of civil and public servants - especially after the last 18 months. Something I suspect that will stand to us very well in the next few years.

Because mark my words, the powers that be won't find the civil or public servants as accommodating and facilitating as they were after the collapse of the celtic tiger - not this time.

Have a nice evening.

Fann Linn · 02-10-2021 5:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117968165#Comment_117968165

Can ye give some examples please? And bearing in mind if people were actually sitting at home doing SFA they were probably doing it on foot of Govt/ Health advice.

The same Govt who coincidentally decided to toss out this 'bonus' in the first place.

Civil Servant Covid Recognition

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