I worked both "agency" and "bank" (an in hospital agency/pool) and what nobody ever says/admits is:
- "family friendly" policies forced on employers, where part-time posts, limited hours and self-selected hours 'jobs' have all but replaced full-time posts (you'll be lucky in the vaunted NHS now to find anything more than 0.25 hrs contracts - good enough for 'mom' getting a bit extra, but no-one can survive on just that, witness so many young nurses now working 3+ jobs) . As such almost nobody is ever available, out of hours, weekends or holidays (or any time outside of school time), so the vanishingly few (usually young or male) staff on full-time contracts get to do ... all of the 'unattractive' shifts (and since it is 'unfair', they now don't even get paid extra to work them).
- at least 60% (when I did a stint in the bank office) of the cost of agency/bank staff is ... administrative (paying for the paperwork and HR and management 'benefits packages) and profit (what, you think they do it for free, out of the goodness of their hearts?).
- even with all of that, agency costs pale into insignificance as compared to the amount of money wasted on woke-boondoggle scams such as equality, diversity, etc., and disappear completely compared to the management 'new Mercedes', parking and junkets.
A simple solution would be to, Oh I don't know, hire people for full-time positions to cover the need. You wouldn't 'need' an agency, massive HR dept. or ... as many managers. But what do I know, I just did the job.
Cue: "Fall in number of people diagnosed with Dementia. A triumph for British healthcare."
ReplyDeleteI worked both "agency" and "bank" (an in hospital agency/pool) and what nobody ever says/admits is:
ReplyDelete- "family friendly" policies forced on employers, where part-time posts, limited hours and self-selected hours 'jobs' have all but replaced full-time posts (you'll be lucky in the vaunted NHS now to find anything more than 0.25 hrs contracts - good enough for 'mom' getting a bit extra, but no-one can survive on just that, witness so many young nurses now working 3+ jobs) . As such almost nobody is ever available, out of hours, weekends or holidays (or any time outside of school time), so the vanishingly few (usually young or male) staff on full-time contracts get to do ... all of the 'unattractive' shifts (and since it is 'unfair', they now don't even get paid extra to work them).
- at least 60% (when I did a stint in the bank office) of the cost of agency/bank staff is ... administrative (paying for the paperwork and HR and management 'benefits packages) and profit (what, you think they do it for free, out of the goodness of their hearts?).
- even with all of that, agency costs pale into insignificance as compared to the amount of money wasted on woke-boondoggle scams such as equality, diversity, etc., and disappear completely compared to the management 'new Mercedes', parking and junkets.
A simple solution would be to, Oh I don't know, hire people for full-time positions to cover the need. You wouldn't 'need' an agency, massive HR dept. or ... as many managers. But what do I know, I just did the job.
"Cue: "Fall in number of people diagnosed with Dementia. A triumph for British healthcare.""
ReplyDeleteThere must be an entire Whitehall department kept busy dreaming these up!
"A simple solution would be to, Oh I don't know, hire people for full-time positions to cover the need."
Nah, that'll never catch on!