Voluntary Redundancies in the APS...

What I dont get is why Departments dont accept offer/s from Employee/s of time off without pay (say up to 1 year). Last year DEEWR were offering VR’s, and despite my 17 years PS experience, it was easier for them to pay me out then to wait a year without paying me and see how things were going there-after. Seems like a waste of experience and money to me!

Sounds like you work for DEEWR JessP? Did you put your hand up?

54-11 said :

Abbott the Rabbit has said: “There will be no redundancies,but for two years, 6,000 bureaucrats who retire or resign each year will not be replaced.” This represents a total loss of 12,000, around half of whom will be in Canberra.

So, there will be no VRs, but such a policy is likely to end in failure. This is unsustainable policy, as AFP, Defence, Centrelink and a few others won’t be touched, so other agencies will need to take a much bigger hit. Where will the vacancies occur? Who knows, as there is no rhyme or reason as to where people will be leaving.

These are likely to be high turnover areas like IT, agencies where there is an older age profile, and places where there are more women who move in and out of the workforce.

This is just typical Abbott policy on the run, without any thought of the unintended consequences. Almost as bad as Julia’s Silly Dili Solution…

yeah but it’s only policy for the Mad Monk if it was written down 😛 Be that as it may, if the Mad Monk has targetted 12000 jobs, if the natural attrition doesn’t happen quick enough I’d bet on some gentle persuasion.

Abbott the Rabbit has said: “There will be no redundancies,but for two years, 6,000 bureaucrats who retire or resign each year will not be replaced.” This represents a total loss of 12,000, around half of whom will be in Canberra.

So, there will be no VRs, but such a policy is likely to end in failure. This is unsustainable policy, as AFP, Defence, Centrelink and a few others won’t be touched, so other agencies will need to take a much bigger hit. Where will the vacancies occur? Who knows, as there is no rhyme or reason as to where people will be leaving.

These are likely to be high turnover areas like IT, agencies where there is an older age profile, and places where there are more women who move in and out of the workforce.

This is just typical Abbott policy on the run, without any thought of the unintended consequences. Almost as bad as Julia’s Silly Dili Solution…

They started a few weeks back. And then anyone who didn’t directly map to a new smaller structure was thrown into a quaintly named “mobility pool”.

Dear Ms Cheeky…..actually I am not young, well by this definition anyway – I am at the 50+ stage myself.

If you read my original post you will see I am not having a go about the more mature people taking packages in fact I said …”I guess you cant blame them”. I am not suggesting anyone in this bracket is deadwood…lord knows. Maybe in a few years I will feel the same way – but right now I do not have enough years in for it to be attractive to me, I am happy and enjoying what I am doing and I dont work for DEEWR anyway!

The problem I see in all this is that the good people take the packages and go – off to new careers or back again as contractor (thats good people of ANY age Ms Cheeky, so chill).

Our less talented or employable co-workers (and that is only a small proportion of them and NOT YOU Ms Cheeky) hang in regardless, and as Lazy I pointed out, why would you trade a years salary for a fortnightly paycheck? I think it is wrong but there you are.

So Ms Cheeky you are not being labelled as deadwood, or old or unreliable or bad because you choose to stay….nor am I!

MsCheeky said :

How old are you, JessP? I’m guessing young.

Doe this mean you have to be young to think that there is some dead wood in the Public Service? Hmm, interesting theory . . . .

And as always it seems to be a number of people almost ready to retire (the almost 54/11 or almost 60-ish crew) who seem to quickly put their hands up.

What a very arrogant post. As Lazy I said, it’s a very sensible decision for people close to retirement to take advantage of the extra money from a VR. As one of those who has not put their hand up for a VR, I don’t enjoy being labelled ‘dead wood’ and I suggest that the several thousand other people in DEEWR who didn’t put their hand up might feel the same.

How old are you, JessP? I’m guessing young.

If the Budgee Smuggler gets in, there’ll be plenty more offered.

+1 fear mongering

Heard the same thing from the Libs side before Labor got in.

Cream on top of the jam on top of the scone. Anyone approaching 54/11 would be mad not to put their hand up, and then go back contracting/consulting.

It might take a while and a lot of (possibly devious) strategising to get the package but for many, the result is a worthwhile effort.