Move to private sector?

inkie

looking for some advice really. DH has worked for NHS continously for 24 years. Now working in procurement, but with a 90 mile commute each day :-(
Loves what he's doing, but it's a long day and a hefty fuel bill.
Job is permenant, and fulltime and as secure as anything can be these days.
Keeps looking for something in NHS closer to home, but nothing coming up.
However, there are quite a few jobs in procurement (admitted not in health, but same principles apply), in our area, and the salaries are quite a bit higher than when he's on now - some some cases up to 20K higher!
This is not about the money however, but about a shorter working day, better work-life balance, and he would be prepared to have these at the same money he is on now and bieng closer to home if push came to shove.
The thing that he wonders about is the security and benefits in the private sector. Always worked in NHS and so not known any difference.
Could anyone offer any advice as to whether you would think it would be a good move to move, and things that we need to consider etc...

Thanks in advance Inkie

magenta22

You need to take into consideration what benefits you could lose by moving from public sector.

The commute would be easier and cheaper which would be a plus and if you can get that much extra in salary.

personally I would say it would be worth applying, he doesn't have to take a job if offered it.

milliemonster

I've worked in both, but in a different capacity, in my experience I would say don't just go on the salary alone, pension and annual leave entitlement are much higher in the NHS, as are sickness benefits. I found private sector to be much more performance related aswell the NHS on the whole tend to be very flexible, very accommodating and very lax if I'm honest, you would have to do something extremely serious to lose you job whereas the private sector I have experienced expect 150% all the time and they will get rid of you very easily if they want to and your face doesn't quite fit and for that reason I felt much less secure.

I'm not saying the NHS is right or better, they are just very different so you have to weigh everything up.

inkie

Yes, thanks Guys, those are the type of things that we have been considering. I suppose the 'security' is with the NHS

hoyteam

milliemonster wrote: »

I've worked in both, but in a different capacity, in my experience I would say don't just go on the salary alone, pension and annual leave entitlement are much higher in the NHS, as are sickness benefits. I found private sector to be much more performance related aswell the NHS on the whole tend to be very flexible, very accommodating and very lax if I'm honest, you would have to do something extremely serious to lose you job whereas the private sector I have experienced expect 150% all the time and they will get rid of you very easily if they want to and your face doesn't quite fit and for that reason I felt much less secure.

I'm not saying the NHS is right or better, they are just very different so you have to weigh everything up.

I`ll second that. I`ve worked in the procurement department of the NHS and, it has to be said, it was far easier than any private sector job I`ve had. If your performance driven and money motivated the private sector is best, otherwise...

heretolearn_2

no job is 100% secure these days, even long-term public sector ones.

The culture is very different though as others have pointed out - it's not necessarily as cut throat as some have made it sound, but whereas right now your OH has to meet a budget and then that's ok (and I used to work for a company that supplied the NHS, and there were some def. dodgy things going on and getting best possible value was not apparantly a priority at all) , in the private sector his job will be to get the best value full stop to help make the company more profitable. Suppliers and contracts are regularly reviewed. Also, there's just more pressure to work hard, basically. In the NHS it's no skin off anyone's nose if people coast along,whereas in a company someone is sitting there knowing that they directly pay your salary so they want their money's worth.

On the plus side - it might do him good to get out of his rut; he may have more responsibility and can feel that he can personally get things done as decisions won't have to go through umpteen levels of responsibility/committees/managers; it's a lot more money; he'll gain more experience in other areas that will help to protect him if things turn rough and he has to look for another job (there's nothing to say the NHS won't make him redundant).

It's swings and roundabouts. I went from private to public sector and while I loved the ethos of respect and doing everything by the rules, great conditions etc, I found it frustrating in other ways as everything took forever to happen, there was no leeway for personal initiative, and a committee that didn't even understand what it was looking at could kill a great idea dead.

**Juice**

I work in the NHS and have done for the last 4 1/2 years - it was never a long term plan for me and isn't something I want to do for life, I'm currently looking at moving away from the NHS as I much prefer the culture and ways of working. I sometimes find the NHS really really frustrating. I'd also disagree that a public sector job is much more secure than one in the private sector, at least at the moment, there's a lot of restructuring, rebanding and voluntary redundancy going on, at least where I work.

But it's important to take his pension and holiday entitlement into account, particularly when he's got so many years service under his belt. I find NHS discounts to be a bit of a perk as well, but not enough to make me want to stay! Only he can make the decision but his commute sounds like it would make me a bit disheartened too.

inkie

Yep 32 days holiday + BH's takes some beating I would have thought. Little chance of redundancy as there is only 2 of them doing this particular job over the whole of the region.