Saturday, September 15, 2007

lets all work for the public service

I feel that i shouldn't even talk about this, so forgive my vagueness.

I'm currently working on a project for a large government department. This is a multi-million dollar software upgrade and is impacting the business across the country.

Every user of this system has to be re-trained, as there hasn't been an upgrade in nearly 8 years.

This all sounds reasonable so far, right?

As a trainer, and having worked for commercial organisations in the past, I have never come across the idea of "course jockeys" before. That is, people who come to training a. for a day off normal duties, b. to see what all the fuss is about, c. just in case there is a job available in future involving the skills taught in the course, or c. to push for a pay increase.

In most organisations training is provided to those who require it and is based on how much value the organisation can gain from the time put into the training by each individual attending.

Individuals can NOMINATE THEMSELVES for training here, and furthermore, they can even turn up on the day and cause overcrowding and disruption in the training room, and we are NOT ALLOWED TO TURN THEM AWAY.

I'm pissed off as a trainer who wants to provide the best service to those who require the skills being taught, and I'm pissed off as a taxpayer who now sees where the funding disappears to.

Some people don't even have the vaguest idea of what the course is about, nor do they have the prerequisite skills and courses that enable them to complete the course and utilise the concepts and technology.

Combine this with decent benefits, short hours, flexi time, accrued sick leave, and all of the other public service perks - I think I am going to consider a change next year.

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