@steveTu I thought I caught something on the radio this morning about offenders being made to pay their duties to society. Did it not used to be called "Community Service " or has that ceased now ? Whilst it did more often than not consist of physical labour, I cannot imagine anyone, be they in government or not, referring to "chain gangs " in this day and age.  I dislike the commonly used " ....... gong forwards " which seemingly has to be added to every statement these days but in this context going forwards beats going backwards any day.
I did once briefly temp for Lambeth Council as an office assistant. It was an eye opener into buck passing and prevarication.
Much the same could be said for almost any office in any form of Government department.
As a teenager I did a couple of stints temping as a clerical assistant in what was then the Inland Revenue. Some of the permanent clerical assistants didn't appear to do very much at all (not all of course, just some).
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Isn't the problem 'image'? How many times have we heard about abuse of children within council care/homes or within the church? I don't for a minute think that any more than a minority of employees were active in the abuse, but isn't the issue always someone higher up being made aware of the issue (and maybe even escalating it up the chain) only for the complaint(s) to be buried - simply because the organisation doesn't want the bad publicity. The 'not on my watch' problem. But then that makes it appear that the organisation condoned the actions and in a way they did. By not taking action and doing a Nelson, the poor sods continued to be abused and some evil b'stards get away with it. Edited to add: AND the people then who ignored it and hoped it would go away, become as bad as the perpetrators don't they? As they facilitate their actions.
We see this all the time - Govs do it with enquiries - make sure the enquiry is so long in coming, that the people originally involved are out of the way. And when the enquiries are so long after the event, the events seem less appalling to some degree.
Do you all feel, that as you get older, you see the world differently? Maybe I never took that much notice of politics and the news in my youth, but over the past few years I seem to see so much injustice - obviously it's always been there. Crap happens in all generations doesn't it?
@steveTu I thought I caught something on the radio this morning about offenders being made to pay their duties to society. Did it not used to be called "Community Service " or has that ceased now ? Whilst it did more often than not consist of physical labour, I cannot imagine anyone, be they in government or not, referring to "chain gangs " in this day and age.  I dislike the commonly used " ....... gong forwards " which seemingly has to be added to every statement these days but in this context going forwards beats going backwards any day.
A few years ago it was quite common to see groups of people in hi-viz jackets with 'Community Service' or something similar on the backs. I understand they were stopped because the ooman rytze lot got involved, claiming it was degrading to those who were then identified as offenders!
I did once briefly temp for Lambeth Council as an office assistant. It was an eye opener into buck passing and prevarication.
Much the same could be said for almost any office in any form of Government department.
No it can't @KT53. I worked in a Government Office and it was nothing like that at all.
Pleased to hear is Songbird-1 but we clearly had very different experiences. I've seen managers immediately trying to blame people in their department when something has gone wrong, rather than accepting that it's their department and therefore their problem.
We had a visit from a very senior civil servant who took a Q&A session. Every issue raised was immediately batted away as being somebody else's responsibility.
I could quite literally count on the fingers of one hand, the number of managers who actually managed effectively and 'took ownership' of problems.
I did once briefly temp for Lambeth Council as an office assistant. It was an eye opener into buck passing and prevarication.
Much the same could be said for almost any office in any form of Government department.
No it can't @KT53. I worked in a Government Office and it was nothing like that at all.
Pleased to hear is Songbird-1 but we clearly had very different experiences. I've seen managers immediately trying to blame people in their department when something has gone wrong, rather than accepting that it's their department and therefore their problem.
We had a visit from a very senior civil servant who took a Q&A session. Every issue raised was immediately batted away as being somebody else's responsibility.
I could quite literally count on the fingers of one hand, the number of managers who actually managed effectively and 'took ownership' of problems.
i think managers , managing effectively, are in a minority in every industry. Most, in my experience look after No 1 , their own career advacement opportunities and deflect every "issue" onto others.
A few years ago it was quite common to see groups of people in hi-viz jackets with 'Community Service' or something similar on the backs. I understand they were stopped because the ooman rytze lot got involved, claiming it was degrading to those who were then identified as offenders!
The problem is that the vests were more to do with government vanity than any kind of valid punishment. We've moved on a bit since putting people in the stocks and throwing things at them but this is basically the same thing.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
One of the other issues with managers is that they often lack effective training. My own experience reflects this. I was a senior lab scientist but the only way to advance was to become a lab manager, later on I often said ,they took the pipette out of my hand, put a pen in it called me a manager and expected me to get on with it. Later I discovered I WAS actually quite a good manager but the years of self doubt meant I could have been much better. Then there has been the culture of calling everyone a manager even when its just a title to get people up the pay scale. That's certainly true in the NHS, as the basic pay scales are so poor and it can take a decade or more to get to a reasonable level, unless you become a "manager ".
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Much the same could be said for almost any office in any form of Government department.
Did it not used to be called "Community Service " or has that ceased now ?
Whilst it did more often than not consist of physical labour, I cannot imagine anyone, be they in government or not, referring to "chain gangs " in this day and age. Â
I dislike the commonly used " ....... gong forwards " which seemingly has to be added to every statement these days but in this context going forwards beats going backwards any day.
As a teenager I did a couple of stints temping as a clerical assistant in what was then the Inland Revenue. Some of the permanent clerical assistants didn't appear to do very much at all (not all of course, just some).
A few years ago it was quite common to see groups of people in hi-viz jackets with 'Community Service' or something similar on the backs. I understand they were stopped because the ooman rytze lot got involved, claiming it was degrading to those who were then identified as offenders!
Most, in my experience look after No 1 , their own career advacement opportunities and deflect every "issue" onto others.