Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Josquius]

Psst you're the one that brought up the 14 year thing

Which is irrelevant to the UK's crap gini coefficient.

[HVC]

So why did you bring it up?

[Tamas]

So turns out its an equivalent of double minimum wage for a entry level job for the government? Doesn't seem that bad to me.

A friend of mine earned almost that much as a sous-chef (maybe not even that?) in London 10 years ago.

[HVC]

So turns out its an equivalent of double minimum wage for a entry level job for the government? Doesn't seem that bad to me.

A friend of mine earned almost that much as a sous-chef (maybe not even that?) in London 10 years ago.

Isn't a sous chef pretty high up in the chef hierarchy? Not a entry level.

I'm not saying it's a great salary, just doesn't seem as bad as originally presented for a starting position.

[garbon]

No idea about firing civil servants. Be the same as anywhere else I guess?

The responsibilities clearly weren't for a entry level position.
And in a country with such a broken gini coefficient that has spent the past 14 years circling the train even double minimum wage would be way below what you would expect for a mid level role let alone the fairly senior responsibilities of this.

There are screenshots floating around social media of it, I don't have any to hand. No idea whether they filled it or withdrew it.


Edit - OK quick googling I find the listing elsewhere. https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/job-listing/poland-country-lead-department-for-international-trade-JV_IC2671300_KO0,19_KE20,54.htm?jl=1009388269559

The job doesn't have to be in London, according to your listing:

"Location: Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, London, Salford"

"National: £32,858-£34,586 London: £36,583-£38,272"

There's also a fantastic pension scheme equivalent to employer contribution of 27%. Given that's tax free, I'd say it's worth nearly £10K pa

It's at Higher Executive Officer level which is either entry level or second job. You don't need a degree and this role does not include any management requirements.

Incidentally, the UK's Gini co-efficeint is pretty much the same as it was 14 years ago

A pension won't pay the bills in your 20s.

[garbon]

So turns out its an equivalent of double minimum wage for a entry level job for the government? Doesn't seem that bad to me.

A friend of mine earned almost that much as a sous-chef (maybe not even that?) in London 10 years ago.

Isn't a sous chef pretty high up in the chef hierarchy? Not a entry level.

I'm not saying it's a great salary, just doesn't seem as bad as originally presented for a starting position.

I just converted my starting salary in 07 as a lowly market research analyst. With today's rates, I was making more than that. With the conversion rates in 07, I was making much less.

[Josquius]

So why did you bring it up?

Because more than one thing can be wrong in a country?
Our gini coefficient is crap and the country has been slowly falling apart the past 14 years.

[Gups]

I'm dubious on the location given they have to work with the Polish embassy.

Naturally, you know better than the people advertising the job.

[Sheilbh]

How easy is it to fire civil servants?

From my understanding quite difficult - plus, as Gups says, very good pension. Also generally pretty good on benefits, work/life balance stuff etc.

That's the trade-off. Having said all that, the trade-off's a lot less attractive when you take into account housing costs etc in London.

I'd be surprised if that Poland job is particularly senior - not least because trade policy is an EU competency (I imagine the civil servant responsible for that relationship is far more senior), so it'll be working on country level specific projects.

[Josquius]

I'm dubious on the location given they have to work with the Polish embassy.

Naturally, you know better than the people advertising the job.

I know roughly where the Polish embassy is yes.
And if there's one thing that connects most organisations its HR being really competent especially when it comes to setting up recruitment ads.

[Gups]

For the majority of positions, I don't think the civil service much cares where you live. I fairly senior bloke I work with at DHLG lives in Wales and just comes to London a couple of times a month.

It was widely reported last week that occupancy rates in Government departments was 17% so the average civil servant is working just one day a week in the office.

[Sheilbh]

For the majority of positions, I don't think the civil service much cares where you live. I fairly senior bloke I work with at DHLG lives in Wales and just comes to London a couple of times a month.

It was widely reported last week that occupancy rates in Government departments was 17% so the average civil servant is working just one day a week in the office.

Not only do they not necessarily care, they can't. This was one of the slightly weird things about Rees-Mogg complaining about civil servants WFH is that the civil service was a real pioneer of WFH - not least because government had sold off a lot of the government estate (love selling assets) so there literally wasn't enough space for them to work in the office.

I think, as with other sectors, it probably does vary a bit on if you're trying to climb that ladder. And I've definitely been on calls with the civil servants with them all WFH from all over the country.

[crazy canuck]

Selling off office space does not mean office space cannot be found. Commercial office space is at historically abundant levels.  It would be a trivial matter to acquire the necessary office space if that was indeed necessary.

I think it much more likely that government, and especially a Labour government, doesn't want to push the issue of workers returning to the office.

Much the same thing is playing out here.  And there is more than enough office space for government workers.

Lastly, Gups said there is a small percentage of occupancy in government offices.  Your claim that can't care about where people work doesn't make much sense given that fact.

[Gups]

Yes, I think there is plenty of space on government offices, many of which ae big, ugly 60s and 70s buildings ripe for redevelopment.

[Tamas]

Allegedly a guy in Pakistan has been arrested for being the one to start the rumour about the Southport murders having been committed by an illegal immigrant.