Public Pay Scale Query

Cool story, bro. Wanna try again, only maybe attempt at answering the questions this time?

What's your goal? What is your endgame? What do you hope to achieve by insulting people and (mistakenly) telling them they're doing menial work and deserve to paid a pittance because of it?

Thanks for confirming you have no idea what an AO does from one organisation to another, as predicted.

1. Nobody said it takes a genius
2. What are the rest of the duties associated with that job, you wouldn't be leaving stuff out deliberately to try to further your point, would you?
3. What does an AO do in Justice? Or Social Welfare? Or Finance?

Probably not.

Completely subjective twaddle. One man's realistic salary is another man's dream wage. But again, coming from someone who has such an obvious axe to grind and who also hasn't a feckin clue what an AO does (or most grades within the PS, I'd wager), your opinion is tainted and not worth any serious consideration (which is my opinion). Why should anyone even entertain you when all you're doing is denigrating their position in life and making disparaging remarks about them? Why would anyone listen to the mad fcuker out front who's ranting about fairness and equality if he's insulting them at every turn? Spoiler alert: They won't. You might as well be writing your posts in the condensation on your bathroom mirror for all the effect they're gonna have. Your message, which I think is a load of bollocks, incidentally, is being lost in your method of delivery.

This is honestly the only part of your post that even merits any sort of a response, tbh. So let's take a look......

• I disagree OP thinks they're being hard done by. Their use of the word 'only' isn't great, but I took their opening sentence as "does this mean I would only DEFINITELY receive 55k initially with increments each year WITH NO WIGGLE ROOM TO START ON A DIFFERENT POINT"
• Using average or median wage is a ridiculous starting point.........an AO requires a level 8 qualification. What's the median wage of college leavers with a higher degree in this country?
• Anyway.....Median weekly wage in 2023 was €907, or €47,164 yearly. AO starting wage is €36,864 (21.8% below the median).
• OP posted a higher salary range, which you better believe means there's extra work and responsibility involved. Again, you haven't got a clue what his role is. You haven't even got a clue what a regular AO does, never mind whatever specialised role the OP is looking at. This could be well below similar roles in private sector, for all you know.
• The median salary range you've posted is about 85-90% of the starting salary provided by OP, which, again, is for those with a level 8 (one level below a masters and two below a doctorate). That's hardly "well below", in anyone's language. Also, lest we forget, you're lumping all AOs into the same bracket when the vast, vast, VAST majority of them are on nearly 22% LESS than the median. You're unfairly putting your own spin on it, and it's painfully obvious
• This is all completely overshadowed by the uncomfortable fact that you are encouraging a race to the bottom. You're essentially advocating that public employees should be paid the absolute bare minimum and not a penny more. This is how you end up with absolute idiots and incompetent fools getting these jobs. Anyone worth their salt wouldn't even bother applying to these roles if the money on offer is a relative pittance (you'd be aware of this if you had any experience of the issues with recruiting suitable IT roles in the public sector, where the wages on offer far outstrip the public wages). In a graduating class of 35 accountants, the top 75% will snap up the decent paying private jobs while the rest will be left to shuffle into the lower paid PS jobs. Competent people - low wages - decent public service........pick any two, but only two.

You look and sound like a crank. The people at whom your message is aimed, are ignoring you because of your chosen method of delivery. You might as well be posting pictures of burgers in the veggie forum. Be better, for your own sake more than anything else.

Incorrect.

Increments are only obtained upon satisfactory completion of your annual appraisal, whether that's through PMDS or some other system. You don't automatically get awarded anything. I know plenty of people who have been refused an increment or who have had one delayed for a whole multitude of reasons. Including me, though I successfully appealed it.

I was speaking in general. What may or may not happen in your or any specific university is independent of any formalised appraisal system or increment policy. I guarantee you there are people in your workplace who have been denied one or had one delayed in those 20 years. I guarantee it. The fact you've never of heard it is immaterial. I've also no idea where you're getting this "authorised by the Minister" stuff from either. First port of call is your line manager, who makes a recommendation, then the head of the unit or department, then HR. Minister's don't get involved in the minutia of day-to-day personnel matters, except maybe at the very high levels.....e.g. (emphasis mine)

At the end of your PMDS you are given a rating, either satisfactory or not. That is an appraisal, no matter what way you slice it.

So when you said "yes increments are automatically applied each year", you were incorrect and misleading? Thanks for the clarification.

And you know everything about every person's personnel record that's worked there for the last 20 years, do you? Everything? Especially stuff that people might be ashamed to talk about like being denied am increment? I guarantee you it has happened, multiple times.

That's exactly what PMDS is. It might not be applied that way in your university, but that is not the norm and using an outlier of an example as a general statement is incorrect.

How could it be your policy if you don't run it any more? Then it wouldn't be your policy. You're not making any sense.

So you're taking your own Ts&Cs and assuming they're applicable to everyone, then? Others have different conditions of employment, yet you're making statements based on your own. You can see how that's incorrect and misleading, to use your own terminology, yes?

And yet, you made a broad all encompassing statement that all increments are paid automatically, when this isnt the case? Why?