Transport department says public service pension has lost ‘draw’

The traditional “draw” of a good public service pension is no longer sufficient to attract potential employees, the Department of Transport has claimed.

In a submission to the Public Service Pay Commission, the department said it was beginning to experience problems in recruiting and retaining general service staff. A number of its key agencies were also having difficulties in securing specialist personnel given restrictions on the terms and conditions they could offer.

The department urged the pay commission to consider the starting salary for technical and professional personnel, and compare it with those applying for staff in similar roles in a competitive marketplace where their expertise and skills were in demand. It said this had been identified as a factor in the low level of interest by applicants of suitable calibre to fill specific advertised positions.

“Likewise, we ask that the commission consider not just the basic salary but also the wider remuneration package available within the civil and wider public service.

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Marketplace

“We are beginning to experience recruitment, and more often retention, issues with general service staff in an increasingly competitive marketplace, where the traditional attractors to the Civil Service are no longer attracting the numbers of quality staff we need.

“Although the salary has a large part to play in these issues, anecdotal evidence suggests that it is not always competitive with the Irish private sector packages in terms of pay, pension and additional extras, eg healthcare, pension contributions.

“There is a need to consider the total remuneration package available in the public service for general service staff in circumstances where the traditional draw of a ‘good pension’ is no longer either true or, indeed, a draw for staff coming into employment.”

The Air Accident Investigation Unit said the restrictive nature of the terms and conditions it could offer candidates was "seriously hampering our ability to recruit appropriately qualified individuals".

Pay and conditions

It said it was in direct competition with organisations such as the

Irish Aviation Authority

who, it said, had flexibility in the pay and conditions it could offer.

“While pension abatement waiver has been given in the last pilot recruited, the mention of a pension abatement in the information booklet is putting military and ex-military applications off.

“More importantly, the restrictive nature of entry at first point of the scale is not competitive. Individuals will not join the Air Accident Investigation Unit at salary scales below what they are already earning in the commercial world and at senior military level.

“Furthermore, it has been proven that an individual with a choice of either the Air Accident Investigation Unit or the Irish Aviation Authority will go to the Irish Aviation Authority as there is flexibility in the point of scale in which someone can join.”

Initial screening stage

The

Railway Accident Investigation Unit

said: “Experience to date has shown that the starting salary on offer has been too low to attract the calibre of candidates required, and is limiting the pool of candidates for consideration.”

It said that last year candidates who had passed the initial screening stage and were put on the Public Appointment Service Panel withdrew when informed there was no flexibility on starting salary.

The unit proposed that there should be flexibility on starting pay that should at least match industry norms, as well as incentives to keep existing staff in post.

The Marine Survey Office said the reintroduction of a flexible approach to the starting salary on the incremental scale was essential.

Tourism Ireland said starting salaries that it could offer, with limited room for flexibility, were "often too low to attract the calibre of candidates required". It said its experience showed that pay rates at the top of the scales were "often out of kilter".