Public sector pay may lure best staff

Apr 15 2009 by Bill Midgley, The Journal

ONE of the difficulties that the private sector will face in the next few years will be the ability to attract and retain the best skills to fill employment vacancies.

The gap between public and private sector pay continues to widen and the whole attitude of the public sector towards rewards is something which business, certainly in the current climate, can ill afford to match.

The latest example, the crass decision by the Crown Prosecution Service to pay a bonus to those members of staff who actually managed to get into work for a day during the snows of February, is merely a further indication of the contempt which the public sector shows towards any responsibility to the taxpayer and particularly to those many businesses which are struggling to survive.

Interestingly, I have seen no reference to whether part of the bonus was withheld due to late arrival or whether staff were allowed to go home early. As a comparison, many private sector employees who failed to get into their place of work will find they have been docked a day’s pay.

Three of the organisations of which I am a board member are unlikely to be able to increase pay during the current year. Alongside this a wide range of the public sector is receiving above-inflation increases, presumably sanctioned by Government who, at the same time, are increasing their own salaries irrespective of the outcry from many who see an abuse of the expenses system.

If recession means hardship, then it has to mean hardship for all and restraint needs to be demonstrated at all levels of employment. Anyone giving advice to a school leaver or graduate seeking employment would have to recommend the public sector as a career, given the way it is currently isolating itself from any form of hardship and absolving itself from what might be considered a responsibility.

As and when we move out of recession, the best brains will be needed by business and industry to ensure that we can compete in world markets and even on the domestic front, where jobs will continue to come under pressure from overseas providers.

A greater level of responsibility, therefore, needs to be shown in public sector rewards, led I would have thought by Government. Given recent examples, we may have to wait some time before any such leadership is demonstrated.

Bill Midgley is a North East business executive and former chairman of the British Chambers of Commerce