My thanks to the anonymous reader yesterday, who cryptically pointed me in the direction of the Civil Service People Survey 2010.
HMRC's specific results have already been covered on this site. However, the overall rankings (department by department) have now been published.
Out of 103 Civil Service departments which took part, HMRC came last with an engagement index score of 34 against a median of 56.
Comments from Dame Lesley Strathie are very welcome!
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Is their an error with the Link "have now been published"?
ReplyDeleteIt says Page Cannot Be Found.
Sorry, fat fingers on my part...link now works!
ReplyDeleteGiven that their idea of 'engagement' is based on the concept of "We talk, you obey; you talk, we switch off and go and do what we were going to do anyway", we don't want the bastards to 'engage' with us (not even in the J-L Picard sense).
ReplyDeleteWe just want them all to sod off and stop wasting our time.
Mangement are scumbags, thats their job and thats the main reason why hmrc is the worst rated UK Dept.
ReplyDeleteBut serious questions need to be asked about the PCS union who have allowed some of these practices like pacesetter and lean, agressive mnagement and bullying to be steamrolled in.
They are meant to protect members conditions and well being but have failed.
How have tens of thousands of hmrc people paid submissions into the PCS account and at the same time their conditions have worsened?
HMRC issued the following statement to staff with the survey results -
ReplyDelete"The results show that HMRC's 34%engagement index score was the lowest of the 103 organisations surveyed".
Well - there is surprise !
Maybe there is a secret plan to make staff so disenchanted that they will resign rather than wait to be made redundant thus saving redunancy costs
NB-Please excuse my spelling above.
ReplyDeleteIn reply to 8 February 2011 18:24, I think you will find that PCS are only interested in their own membership numbers. The local reps in the main are good but limited in what they can do.
ReplyDeleteI have spoken to the head office regarding working conditions and they are not interested. But as soon as redundancies are mentioned they jump into action.
I am surprised HMRC managed to score as highly as 103rd!!!
ReplyDeleteOn a good note the CSA staff do not seem to be any happier. So I feel for HMRC staff but laugh at the CSA staff.
ReplyDelete@ 17.02 is correct. The problem is that there is TOO MUCH engagement, not too little. You can't move in the place without every single one of your actions being monitored and analysed to death on a thousand spreadsheets. For example, forget about collecting tax, because there are much more important things to think about, such as the umpteen regulations about which bin you should place your apple core in, and woe betide you if you get it wrong. Yes, they need to sod off and stop wasting our time
ReplyDelete8 February 2011 18:24
ReplyDeleteWhat can the union do? They are only able to influence things - they don't make the decisions.
When it comes to terms & conditions they ballot on industrial action and how many people bother to vote? Once a decision is made how many people stay out on strike days? How many refuse to work overtime?
Management know the union is weak so just ignore them.
Well done Ken - knew you had it in you!!!
ReplyDeleteBut wouldn't it be awful if HMRC staff were banned from discussing this development?
Surely CaM, the internal comms people in HMRC wouldn't lock a thread on the staff forum boards soon after these results were known thereby denying HMRC's own people the chance to enter into some adult and honest debate?
No, that would surely never happen in an organisation that wanted to raise staff engagement...
The dept i.e HMRC are only to blame for this outcome and a shame they dont celebrate such an auspicious result.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt a scape goat will appear,whilst PCS do their best ;letsremember any union is only as strong as its members they arent miracle workers after all
"whilst PCS do their best ;letsremember any union is only as strong as its members they arent miracle workers after all"
ReplyDeleteDont talk nonsense.
The working practices that hmrc management introuduced after 2005 to bully and humilate staff should have been fought tooth and nail by PCS, who have maybe 50,000 hmrc members. ( Im not talking about the ordinary Rep on the floor).
A senior Rep told me in 2005 he thought the merger between Customs and Excise and the Inland Revenue would be a good thing.
As 18:34 said they only give a shit if their numbers are affected, i.e. the amount of paid submissions into the PCS Account.
The union is the members. The members don't want to stand up for themselves and see the union as a separate entity. So the union is weak and are ignored by management no matter what objections they raise.
ReplyDeleteThey did argue against the introduction of lean/pacesetter but unless people are prepared to take action it doesn't make any difference.
PCS has to work within its means... as pointed out, if ballots are held and members dont vote or come in on overtime (when the overtime ban is still extant) then it weakens the PCS bargaining position.....Please tell me what other 'weapon' exists that PCS reps can use?.....
ReplyDeleteto 22:04
ReplyDeleteTry using the Management of Health and Safety in the Workplace Regs 1999 and demand to see the Risk Assessments for all the processes and procedures they have introduced. RA's must be completed by competent persons i.e. people who know what the work actually entails. If a Risk Assessment has not been carried out in the prescribed manner it is considered unlawful and according to the Civil Service Code you only have to obey LAWFUL instructions. The RA must take into account how the process or procedure will affect staff that have to operate it as confirmed by Dave Hartnett at a Town Hall meeting in 2008.
Oh sorry I forgot this has been raised umpteen times in the past with PCS and they have done naff all about it.