The private sector consistently poaches qualified employees from the candidate pool that is the state governments.
As an employee of a quasi-governmental entity, the insurer of last resort for the state, I can honestly say that the private sector is consistently attractive.
With my current family setting of being able to work from home and help take care of our daughter, I am not able to seize those private sector offers.
It is because of this possible pulling away of employees that I am excited about the first raise for state employees in seven years. People constantly complain about the struggle they receive from city and state offices, but is it hard to believe that the person on the other end of the phone is frustrated?
It isn’t much as of now, but luckily state employees are receiving 5%-10%.
The only improvement to the policy would be if the raises were solely merit based, and not automatic. Many state employees have worked incredibly hard to out perform co-workers and this could have been a great opportunity to reward those hard workers.
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Hi William. I totally understand the frustrations of being a government worker. I have been employed with our county government in Memphis for 22 years. %5 – 10% raises are great! We haven’t received a real raise in at least 9 years; I don’t count a 1% increase last year to help offset the 5% increase in health premiums a raise! And not to mention the citizens who automatically think “government employees are lazy and ungrateful!”
I look forward to dialogue about your experience as a state employee. I am enjoying your posts.