Cutting-edge public sector projects and competitive
benefits are luring IT professionals away from the private sector.
John Kavanagh reports
It says a lot for the state of IT innovation and the new
emphasis on professional development in the public sector that
people are taking pay cuts to move across from the commercial
world.
"The public sector has some of the biggest and most exciting
technology and integration projects that any IT specialist would
want to work on," says David Etherington, director at recruitment
company Capita Resourcing.
"With such big projects and diverse opportunities, we are seeing
people prepared to take a drop in salary to get involved in things
they might not be able to find on this scale in the private
sector."
These projects are the result of government targets to make all
public services interactive by the end of 2005. After years of
traditional applications in separate central government
departments, agencies and local authorities, the government created
the Office of the E-Envoy in 1998. When Andrew Pinder took over the
job in 2001, most government websites were information sources
only, but this was set to change.
By 2004 the E-Government Unit was created, with Ian Watmore
appointed to the new role of government chief information officer.
Work focused on joined-up government, with IT crossing departmental
boundaries. For example, systems were considered to link different
parts of the National Health Service and to bring together the
police, the courts and other sections of the criminal justice
system.
"Delivering e-services has given everyone a buzz and the
performance has been quite phenomenal," says Peter Ryder, president
of local government IT managers group the Society of IT Management
(Socitm) and head of e-innovations at Preston Borough Council.
"It has meant cutting-edge IT, delivering services in new ways
instead of just ploughing through day-to-day back-office systems
and PC support. It has unleashed a lot of enthusiasm to deliver,
and given a feel-good factor."
IT work is now moving to a new phase under the government's
transformational government agenda, says Ryder. "We are now working
on how to fully exploit what has been implemented so far.
"Let's work with service managers to see if our customer
relationship management systems are delivering everything they can.
Let's look at whether our front and back-office systems are fully
joined up. There is a lot of very good innovative stuff going on in
the public sector."
Spending increases reflect this. For example, the latest Socitm
annual survey shows a 23% increase in local government spending on
IT systems, services and staff to £3.3bn in 2005-2006. However, old
attitudes towards IT among non-IT people are tending to linger in
local government.
"A lot of IT is still under the treasurer rather than the
corporate side," says Ryder.
"Even if IT has moved from the finance department it is not
necessarily sitting round the table with the policy and strategy
makers, so it is difficult for IT to influence what goes on. It is
only by having that early engagement that IT can be an integral
part of service delivery."
A Socitm study earlier this year highlighted this issue, and one
of Ryder's aims in his Socitm presidential year is to get IT
managers involved in corporate planning.
Whatever the frustrations of IT managers, the public sector jobs
market as a whole is "very buoyant", says Sarah Greensmith, head of
the public sector team at recruitment firm Hudson. She reports
growing demand for both permanent and contract staff. She also says
pay is not a top priority for staff.
"Public bodies are investing more to get top people to deliver
projects, but even so, while an IT director in the public sector
might be on £65,000-£80,000, the equivalent job in the private
sector might start at £75,000 and rise to more than £100,000," says
Greensmith.
"The percentage differences are similar lower down, too. The gap
has decreased over time, but a lot of the problem is that public
bodies have grades and they cannot go above them."
A survey for Socitm by research company Computer Economics
confirms that public sector salaries are very slowly catching up.
Average increases for 2005-2006 were 5%, compared with 4.8% in the
private sector. The previous year, public sector IT staff received
average increases of 4.8%, compared with 3.5% in the commercial
world.
Other statistics support the view that pay is not everything.
The study highlights a resignation rate of 2.2% in the public
sector against 6.2% in the private sector.
Although the number of local authorities with problems
recruiting IT staff rose from 31% to 51% in 2005-2006, in the
private sector this figure grew from 58% to almost 75% of
companies. Although big and innovative projects are helping to make
up for lower pay, other benefits are also playing a part.
"Fringe benefits and more flexible ways of working are still
seen as very important for authorities unable to compete with the
private sector on salaries alone," says Andy Roberts, chairman of
Socitm's member services group and IS director at Leicestershire
County Council.
"The Computer Economics survey shows, for example, that
virtually all local authorities now offer flexible working hours
76% allow selected staff to work from home, up from 66% last year
92% offer job sharing, up from 87% and 86% have a structured
training and development plan for all staff, compared with 71% last
year. It is also probable that continued availability of final
salary pensions is a key benefit," says Roberts.
Any views of the public sector as less pressured and a place
where you can work away quietly and untroubled in a corner are
quickly dispelled by Greensmith.
"There might have been some truth in that even up to two or
three years ago, but life is certainly no easier now than in parts
of the private sector, although it might be more flexible," she
says.
"For example, senior staff might have more opportunities for
further education or the chance to get an MBA with support from the
employer."
Etherington agrees. "People outside might believe there is less
pressure, but the complexity means hard work. Just think about the
pensions system and the number of people who depend on it: you
cannot afford to have that going down."
The new emphasis on modern IT has led to added attention to the
training and development of IT staff. The government's
Transformational Government Implementation Plan document homes in
on this area. "Government's ambition for technology-enabled change
is challenging but achievable, provided it is accompanied by a step
change in the professionalism with which it is delivered."
The document goes on to list "development of IT professionalism
and skills" as one of five key factors to be considered. The
government has appointed a director of IT professionalism, Katie
Davis, whose aims include creating a clear culture and identity for
IT staff and a career structure that compares favourably with the
private sector.
Some high-level activities in this area have started and some
targets have been set for next year. The Cabinet Office has set up
a CIO Council, which among other things is setting priorities for
the development of professionalism. The Cabinet Office is also
consulting professional bodies and national training body E-Skills
UK, and the CIO Council has agreed a "competency and skill
framework" based on E-Skills UK's Skills Framework for the
Information Age, which defines different IT jobs. An IT academy is
being set up for staff training.
Ryder believes the government is serious about all this, which
is good news for the estimated 50,000 IT people across central and
local government. He says, "It is early doors yet, but some good
people are getting together and discussing a commonality of
approach. It is certainly something you feel is real, something
that is going to take off."
Such endorsement will be welcomed by Davis as she leads the
professionalism initiative, for her ultimate aim is to see "the
public sector regarded as the place to be for IT
professionals".
Outsourcing: is it good for your career?
In the case of an outsourcing deal, public sector staff need not
fear the prospect of being transferred to a private sector
supplier, because they get the best of both worlds, according to IT
services firm Computacenter.
"When a public body outsources, it has typically been through a
very well-considered decision process, with a lot of debate by
people representing the public, such as councillors," says Neil
Basterfield, staff integration manager at Computacenter.
"In addition, in public sector outsourcing staff issues and
concerns are addressed right from the outset, and unions are
involved, so transfers are much more harmonious than in the private
sector, because employees feel they have been thought about.
"In the early days outsourcing was constantly fought against,
but now there is a raft of experience that shows it is not
necessarily a bad thing.
"All this makes for successful outsourcing, because everyone
approaches it knowing that the decision has had the best attention
possible."
Employment terms and conditions, including the attractive
pensions that many public sector staff enjoy, are protected under
the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations
(Tupe), Basterfield says.
He also raises the traditional argument that people moving to an
IT services company are joining an organisation focused solely on
IT, not on running public services with IT in a supporting
role.
"When we go back to people who were concerned about moving we
find almost exclusively that they think their new world is better,"
he says.
"They see all of their benefits protected and that they are now
part of a new world of like-minded people."
Unions warn that services companies tend to make their profit
later in a contract, which can mean redundancies.
Basterfield says there is no risk here. "We are growing and we
already have more temporary contract staff than we would like, so
the risk of redundancy is no greater than anywhere else. If a
client requests a reduction in the contract cost we manage it not
through redundancy, but through redeployment."
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