On 22 Oct 2012 at 7:30pm Sir Loin wrote:
Lots of staff there only work a few days a week. Means that getting in touch with someone can cause a delay of days or weeks. Eg. I wanted to speak to Mrs X on Thursday. "Sorry she only works Mon-Weds". Sp I rang on Monday and... "Sorry she's on leave this week".
The car park is blatently just for them so why charge? The staff get a VERY reduced rate and no-one else need park there. Visitors can get free passes if they ask in advance. Complete con!
The building itself is typical 1960s - leaking flat roofs, inefficient layout, poor insulation, appalling windows, asbestos riddled etc.
Move them to Polegate please!
On 22 Oct 2012 at 7:33pm gabbler wrote:
Don't get me going on Highways - a complete shower. Quick to enforce those that do wrong, slow to do anything that falls in their remit...
On 22 Oct 2012 at 7:40pm Jack wrote:
Totally agree! Called them too other day to get a response of she away for 3 days can you callback next week! Even the women on main switch desk where Rude too! They waste of space
On 23 Oct 2012 at 1:15am Fairmeadow wrote:
Salaries frozen for 3 years; pensions under threat; staff numbers slashed; jobs not outsourced already to the lowest bidder threatened with outsourcing in the near future. Morale must be sky high.
On 23 Oct 2012 at 4:41am Boiling Blood wrote:
Welcome to the real world FM. These people have been sheltered from the economic climate for far too long. Being self employed my income has actually fallen in the last three years so I'd embrace a pay freeze!!! Rather like the police these people fail to realise they work for us and should stop treating us as an inconvience and pay for their own pensions!!!
On 23 Oct 2012 at 6:50am Just people wrote:
ESCC staff get paid really low rates of pay!! That is prob the reason why so many are part time!
On 23 Oct 2012 at 7:13am Cuban Raft Rider wrote:
I have to deliver on a daily basis, no process or regulation to hide behind. If I do not, someone else will service my client. My pay has decreased year on year, a freeze whilst ot was at a high point would be a dream. To be competitive I provide value by inputting extra hours and rarely take a lunch break. Every call gets answered or called back very quickly as they are important to my business. I do not have a pension or get sick pay.
If ESCC staff think they are so poorly paid and treated as employee's they should try stepping outside and joining in the rest of the human race.
On 23 Oct 2012 at 8:11am Jack wrote:
They moan about pay and conditions ! , simple answer ! Step out in real world and find a real job !
On 23 Oct 2012 at 8:16am Gaynor wrote:
"ESCC staff get paid really low rates of pay!! That is prob the reason why so many are part time!" - not so - they're allowed to do that 'cos they have no concept of the real world. They call it job share but that's rubbish.
They pay consultants to do what they should be doing (I was a Consultant) and the beaurocracy is unbelievable.
Poorly paid - not so for those who aren't 'admin' - competitive salaries are paid. If you're rubbish they cannot get rid of you.
I agree - close down the building and move them to the centre of E Sussex
On 23 Oct 2012 at 8:31am Jack wrote:
They should move the call centre to India ! At least they answer the phone and you speak to someone! . They should bulldoze lewes county hall down !
On 23 Oct 2012 at 8:45am Anon Coward wrote:
Some vintage opinions here i see. 1980 is calling guys and it want's it's rhetoric back.
ESCC and indeed most Public sector workers are currently bearing a large part of the burden in the global financial fall out:-
Falling Wages.
Lower Resources available.
Increased need for services.
Moral at an all time low (Out sourcing and "shared services").
Higher levels of accountability and legislation.
If the Council workers have it so cushy why don't you apply for a job?
Seems a contradiction to say "Hey i want more availability but they are already too well funded"
Oh and to the rocket scientist who moaned about pensions, check your facts. They pay into the pension pool, its not Handed out you know. May have to change from reading the Mail and the Sun dudes. Sure would help the world move forward.
Public sector workers i salute you. Keep up the good work. Ignore some of the Trolls that live under these bridges.
Oh and no i am not working in the public sector but i know many that are.
On 23 Oct 2012 at 9:13am Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
As an ex-ESCC employee, I feel there's a lot of misunderstanding about the pressures they're under.
They are constantly required to try and meet targets that change every 5 minutes. Central government loves giving them new stuff to do without giving them any extra money to do it with. Staff numbers are cut time and time again, increasing the pressure on those that are left. The lowest paid are the ones most likely to have to face the disgruntled public, senior managers are almost impossible to speak to directly.
Senior managers try and make savings by reorganising staff every five minutes, so the poor devils don't know whether they're coming or going. Their pay has been frozen, so in real terms they're worse off. They have the same anxieties about job security and paying their bills as anyone else.
Much of the bureaucracy is enforced by the need to keep extensive records (especially in social services) and the need to ensure that contracts are let in accordance with the most hideously cumbersome procurement laws. Every penny spent has to have an audit trail and a justification, so they can be shown to be spending sensibly. Most of the money is delegated to schools under a central government formula, so ESCC can only spread around what is left.
When you factor some of the idiocy that is dreamed up by councillors, that staff have no choice but to go along with, I wouldn't go back to local government far any money.
And their pension scheme is a contributory one, as the previous poster has pointed out. The average local government pension is £4k a year, hardly a king's ransom.
There is some outstanding work being done in both children's and adults' social services, despite all the problems staff are beset by, including increasing demand and diminishing resources. Of course, no-one is going to shout from the rooftops about the way a staff member managed to keep their kids out of care or managed to sort out respite for a carer at the end of their tether, but it happens a lot.
And anyone who thinks our highways department is rubbish should try driving around north-east Surrey. Even a major trunk road (the A22) has sunk so badly it's like a switchback, and my friend's road is so badly overgrown by roadside planting it's effectively single lane.
On 23 Oct 2012 at 9:14am common sense wrote:
Really - you think that? People who work there that I know are competitively paid, have cushty jobs, no hassle when off sick, finish early often, time off with little questioning, no hassle sick leave, etc etc. Ok, so they're surrounded by muppets waving the PC flag but, compared to the real world, they have it very easy.
I'm still awaiting a call-back from a part-time staff member after 3 weeks. I've rung in almost every other day and even left messages for their boss - nothing from anyone. Typical!
On 23 Oct 2012 at 9:35am Sussex Jim wrote:
Gissa job! I could do that! I am too old to physically work all day, but too young to get a pension and so have to scratch around to earn a living like BB and CRR.
I would love to get a nice little desk job; and I'm even prepared to join a union!
On 23 Oct 2012 at 11:30am Ed Can Do wrote:
My main gripe with ESCC is the complete lack of any joined up thinking. For example, there are currently plans being sneaked in to draw double yellow lines all over Malling. There's been virtually no consultation and no explanation given as to why. At the moment, there are contractors re-doing the pavements on those very streets meaning the roads are closed and the parking is suspended. Anyone with a hint of common sense would take this as an opportunity to asses the impact of stopping people parking in those roads but all there is out there is a guy sitting on a digger while another makes a cup of tea, no sign of any parking impact assessment officials or whatever silly job title they'd end up with.
Possibly this is due to a lack of resources. Possibly it's because nobody thought of it or possibly it's because nobody at ESCC cares what the public thinks or cares about the ramifications for residents of their silly ideas but whatever the reason, you can see why people end up with no confidence in the organisation.
ESCC proves itself on an almost daily basis not fit for purpose at the top level and sadly, all the workers are tarred with that brush. I don't doubt there are some genuinely decent people working there but the public face of the Council are the councillors and nobody round here has much time for them. It's also very hard for anyone working in the private sector to have any sympathy when we hear about pay freezes and job cuts as the very same things are happening everywhere, only private sector workers started from a much worse position in terms of benefits and pensions when the freezes started, or at least that's the general perception. Certainly when I've applied for council jobs in the past the rate of pay offered was significantly higher than you'd get for the same role in the private sector.
Whoever runs the press office at ESCC certainly needs replacing though. Distrust of both ESCC and LDC is at an all time high, primarily because none of the stupid decisions either body makes are ever explained to the public. It seems to most people that there must be soemthing dodgy going on because why else would the various councils keep doing stuff nobody wants and not explaining why. That so much effort seems to go into keeping us plebs in the dark fosters an air of antagonism towards the council as a whole, not just the elected morons who sit as councillors.
On 23 Oct 2012 at 12:19pm Old Cynic wrote:
I work indirectly for ESCC and have to deal with some of you lot on a daily basis the rude, mean spirited, angry, semi-literate British public. There has been a pay freeze for three years and noithing in the pipeline for the next three. Pensions are woirth nothing and we have to work well over 65 to make ends meet. Most of the staff are either agency, part time or about to be made redundant - the ones with the cushy jobs, gold plated pensions, hefty salaries are the ESCC in their million pound houses lording it over the staff like petty princelings - happily cut 15% from my depts budget whislt claiming their expenses - and yes, I would happily find another job - and step into the real world (inhabited by some of you lot) but you may not have noticed we are not exactly flush with jobs in East Sussex - thank you to everyone attempting to defend the hard pressed ESCC staff doing their best in a really crappy system
On 23 Oct 2012 at 12:35pm Self employed moaner wrote:
OC - you must understand that those who moan may be going through the same crap as ESCC employees. I am self employed and must pay my own pension contributions and have had no real pay rise either for the past 3 years. As you well know, perception becomes reality in most peoples minds. If they perceive that they are getting no value from ESCC then that becomes reality. So, all in all, and as I don't use any of their "services" they or the local councils offer - apart from getting my bins emptied, I tend to side with the anti ESCC group. But this forum is anything but representative and so there may in actual fact be a great deal of sympathy for ESCC out there (but I doubt it).
On 23 Oct 2012 at 12:41pm Cuban Raft Rider wrote:
ESCC staff are very well choreographed, a system passed down from one incumbent to the next.
Fend Fend Block
Fend Fend Block
Fend Fend Block
Leave town and drive home whilst telling us all that we need to reduce our carbon footprint
On 23 Oct 2012 at 1:33pm Old Cynic wrote:
Cuban Raft Rider - you know sod all - so as you have nothing constructive to say - go float your raft elsewhere
On 23 Oct 2012 at 2:15pm Perfect wrote:
OC you symbolise the arrogant incompetent oafs of escc quite nicely Shop steward are we???
On 23 Oct 2012 at 2:43pm Careless Talk Costs Lives wrote:
If you want to know what's happening in ESCC. Pop into the Pelham lunchtime or evening. ESCC workers do rather blab a bit. Sometimes it's all very interesting! Gets louder per drink. Some have a rather low opinion of the ratepayers I'm afraid.
On 23 Oct 2012 at 3:50pm Eh?? wrote:
I'd like to have the time and money to be able to go to the pub lunchtimes.
On 23 Oct 2012 at 4:59pm Jeff h wrote:
I agree with above comment ! They do like to talk and we overheard them mentioning rate payers name in pub! No very professional , low of the low!