Perks for Senior Management

[flash]

I work in a Further Education College. All management from a certain level get Private Medical Health Care provided. As the college is a publicly funded organisation is it fair that only certain staff have these perks? I would have thought that this could be deemed to be discriminatory - surely it would be fairer to either give everone this benefit or none at all?Anyone got any knowledge or ideas regarding this matter?

[Weird Al Yankovic]

But those at the higher end scale of paid employment always attract better incentives, this is what happens in a capitalist society.

[shywazz]

The harder you work the better the promotion prospects, which in turn means better pay and conditions, along with better perks, whether it be company car, life insurance/health benefits etc etc......
If you were a warehouseman/women would you expect a company car just because the senior managment got one ?
Perks are earned in time you will/might get the rewards.. work hard and reap the benefits...

[flash]

Hi, that may be acceptable in the private sector, but I feel that in a publicly funded college this is discrimination. The fact is that if the teaching or support staff are ill it has a serious and immediate effect on the student. Senior Management are almost invisible in the day-to-day running of the organisation - it is more-or-less self perpetuating. After all, we are not a for-profit company, but a public service. Furthermore, Senior Management who are earning between £60K to £100K are in a much better position to fund their own private health care than the low paid staff. Research carried out by the Civil Service has shown that the lower down the earnings scale you are, the more likely you are to suffer from illness.

[barracad]

The health care 'perk' is effectively part of their overall pay package. Saying that it's discriminatory for the staff at the bottom not to get those perks is the same as saying it's discriminatory for them not to get paid £60k, have a company car etc - the more senior the position, the bigger the rewards.

[flash]

Hi and thanks for the reply. I think that the message that is being sent to the non-management level staff is that they are less important. It is also reflected by the fact that they, management get a productivity bonus of around 10% (this year). The success that is being rewarded is being generated by the teaching staff. There is no bonus for the staff who actually work at the sharp end. Furthermore, the man at the top only spends 50% of his time actually working for the college! I think that all of these factors negate motivation and cause a lot of negative feelings. This is especially the case in what is a publicly funded establishment.

[poppynurse]

This is common in public service industries. The NHS is just the same. Management at my trust are on serious money, expense accounts etc but the nurses and other frontline staff see no personal benefits from increased productivity and efficiency. Capitalism rules, the argument supporting these salaries/benefits is that good packages are necessary to get high calibre management staff who would otherwise not look at working in the public sector.

Shywazz - if only it were that simple, I've been working extremely hard for many years, am committed and loyal, go above and beyond the call of duty, have taken numerous qualifications and passed them well, have won awards for my work, but I'm still not up that ladder! I reckon management see me as a threat and are determined to keep me down!

[flash]

I don't see why we need to have such thick layers of management in the public sector anyway. Surely, the best way to run things is to devolve power to the people who actually do the work at the front line? If people want to be managers that's their choice, but why should they expect to be rewarded disproportionately to the rest of the work force? After all, they are merely supporting (?) the people who have to do the real work i.e. doctors, nurses, teachers etc. If we all became managers where would we be? I think it would be interesting to "shadow" these managers over a reasonable period of time and see exactly what it is that they do for their money.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Flash, are you under 25?

[flash]

Hi. No I am much older than that: X2!