Originally Posted by
arf23
surely we're missing the point in what people deserve to get paid, how they compare to others, what prices are doing etc etc.
As somebody who has only ever worked in the private sector, companies pay the least they can to get people in the door. If they're suffering recruitment problems they put wages up. Have lots of people applying, decrease or keep the wages the same.
I don't see any shortage of people wanting to join the assorted (bloated!) public service branches...
Well maybe you can show us how private sector compares to the ‘bloated’ Armed Forces then?
- A far more demanding selection procedure for what is probably a globally recognised leadership and management programme (I say that across all Services);
- 24/7/365 duty liability with limited choice in employment or duty, no ability to protest or resign at short notice;
- Life & death responsibility - both for those under your command or indeed the enemy or non-combatant civilians;
- Failure measured beyond a bottom line on a spreadsheet or a share price - loss of life, strategic national failure, loss of multi million pound assets;
- For those in staff appointments - management of national defence policy, provision of military advice to government ministers and policy, management of global operations;
- All done set against an ever reduced manning level and constrained resource base.
So what in civilian life compares to those factors? I’m struggling to think of anything - including all the civilian employees in finance and industry I interviewed for at the same time as the RAF.
When you boil down what the Forces actually does, and when people in the Forces realise what skills they have, it’s then we realise most private companies can’t afford or aren’t willing to pay for that level of skills and experience. It’s why a friend who has just retired as a Flt Lt is about to walk into a 150K role having successfully articulated what exactly the average Forces person brings to the table. But if you think it’s an easy life, feel free to apply.