According to a survey of 240 CEOs or managing directors of SME employers (ie with less than 500 staff) by utility price comparison website uSwitch, 22% intend to hire new staff - but just 2% of them would actively seek to recruit public sector workers.
Following a flurry of angry comments on the HR magazine forum, we ran our own snap poll on the HR website and found the 40 HR professionals surveyed to be much more favourable towards the public sector - with 54% saying they would hire an ex-public sector worker. Given that the prime minister is depending on the private sector to take in workers from the public sector when the cuts slash jobs, the fact almost half of SME HR staff have no intention of recruiting them is disturbing.
Almost a quarter of small businesses would only hire a public sector worker if there was no-one else available for the job, the survey shows and one in 10 would not hire a public sector worker ever.
Martin Rayson (pictured), head of HR and organisational development at the London borough of Barking and Dagenham and lead officer for HR transformation at the Public Sector People Managers' Association, defended employees in the public sector. He told HR magazine: "I am concerned there is growing prejudice against public sector workers. I think this is fed by commentary in the press and I wonder if the respondents to this survey are genuinely basing their views on their own experiences."
Rayson admitted public sector workers may have to lower their expectation of benefits if they were to move into the private sector, but he added: "Public sector workers offer a lot of commitment. It is unfair to blanket them as unproductive and not innovative - they are being tarnished with particular labels when I can give examples of the drive of staff in my organisation going the extra mile for their employer and this could be applied to small businesses."
The uSwitch survey reveals a widespread perception that public sector industry has developed 'over-indulged staff with unrealistic expectations of the workplace'.
Nick Palin, director of finance and administration at the Forum of Private Business, told HR magazine: "It's true to say there is often a negative perception of public sector workers among small businesses - there's the feeling that they have unrealistic expectations in terms of pay and perks, take too many 'sickies' and have a bureaucratic, 'tick box' mentality.
"However, I don't think this is the fault of the workers themselves - people are products of their working environment and public sector employees are often forced to work in a very robotic, 'politically correct' way, due to layers of government-imposed legislation and guidelines. Also, if the public body where a person works is perceived as being inefficient and incompetent, the employee can get tarnished with the same brush through no fault of their own."
SME owners also perceive public sector workers to be incompatible with their businesses - just 6% think that a public sector worker would fit in well with their company, a worrying indicator of the level of hostility public sector workers may find when they are looking for employment. Despite this, almost three-quarters (72%) of SME owners expect their business to grow or at least retain its size.
But Michael Rendell, a partner at PwC's global and UK HR services practice, argues respondents to the survey are missing the trick, going by the results of the survey. He added: "This research highlights a missed opportunity. The public sector does well at training staff and if the private sector ignores this, it is missing a trick and I have lost a bit of respect for those CEOs.
"It is the public sector that really understands the talent management pipeline, and HR directors in the sector should think about doing some work on changing perceptions of their staff."
Figure it out
10%
of SME employers would never hire ex-public sector workers
6%
think public sector workers would actively fit into their company culture
55%
say public sector workers have unrealistic expectations about pay, holidays and employment terms
11%
believe public sector workers are as productive as their private sector counterparts
