By 30 March, all public sector bodies in Great Britain that employ more than 250 staff will have reported on how much they pay men and women. But gender is not the only area public bodies need to address. After the civil service fast stream recruitment programme came under fire earlier this month for disproportionately attracting and favouring applicants from fee-paying schools, we asked readers to describe what it was like to work in the civil service when you’re from a working class background.
It was expected I’d have a financial safety net to fall back on
I joined the fast stream last September and have had a very negative experience coming from a working class background. I was expected to move to London but could not afford this because of the debt I had built up at university. Eventually, I was given another location but did still have to relocate and incurred more debt until it was reimbursed many months later. There were delays paying my salary too because of administrative problems that were only solved because of my persistence.
I had to work from home for weeks because I could not afford to get the bus into work, and was left worrying about paying the rent because I did not have someone I could borrow money from (which was expected). It was humiliating and crippling for someone like myself who does not have a financial safety net to fall back on. Sarah* has been on the fast stream graduate programme for seven months.
My working class values are an asset
My father was a miner and I, as so many others in my class, left school with very low expectations. I was well into my thirties when I completed my degree and didn’t join the civil service until I was in my late forties. I’ve worked in a range of roles and I feel that my working class background experience has, in many respects, equipped me with a completely different level of knowledge, empathy and understanding that many of my middle class colleagues simply do not have have.
In my current role at the Department for Work and Pensions, for example, where I deal with some of the most vulnerable people in society, my working class values are an asset. But my middle class colleagues typically appear to have more promotion prospects – the most senior management are rarely from working class backgrounds. Dawn works in the Department of Work and Pensions.
I tried to discuss my imposter syndrome with a manager
I transferred onto the fast stream as an internal candidate and quickly felt very insecure because there aren’t many people from a working class background. It is as if everyone else is part of a an elite club that you are not privy to. Lots of people know each other from private schools or from universities they attended together.
I tried to discuss my imposter syndrome with a manager and was told that I needed to increase my resilience. The discussion left me feeling even more isolated. For me, there is a lack of recognition that there are different challenges facing people on the fast stream from working class backgrounds. The civil service works hard to attract diverse people, then ignores you once you are there. Lisa has worked in the civil service for five years.
The senior civil service is dominated by white, ex-Oxbridge males
I don’t feel that either my class or ethnic background have been a hindrance to my recruitment or promotion in the civil service, but only up to grade six or seven. Further progress feels virtually impossible. The senior civil service is dominated by white, ex-Oxbridge males.
Schemes to prepare under-representative groups feel like nothing more than lip service, that allow leaders to claim they are doing something to increase representation. Arjun has worked in the civil service for 20 years.
I was once yelled at for using the wrong colour pen
I graduated in 2009 after going to university as a mature student. I was the first person from my family to ever go to university and although my mother worked for local government, I considered myself working class.
I’ve worked for three government departments, and had a variety of experiences. I was once dragged into an office and yelled at for using the wrong colour pen to sign off files with. But I have also been inspired and engaged by people with a similar vision to provide an excellent public service. I had a great leader who invested the time to train me and develop my skills, which have enabled me to progress.
The application process for the civil service, whether fast stream or not, favours people from an academic background who understand the system or structure. If you do not provide examples in the format the civil service expects – the situation, task, action, result format – you will not be selected for interview. Peter has worked in the civil service for almost 10 years.
You learn early on to mould yourself to be taken seriously
It’s really difficult to pass a competency-based interview and even get into the civil service if you don’t know anyone who works in it and weren’t introduced to it in your school. I had no idea what I was doing and, frankly, it’s amazing I got the job I did. The fast stream has got rid of numerical and verbal reasoning tests but internal talent schemes (such as the future leaders scheme) haven’t. This year they also introduced an excruciating logical reasoning test. Colleagues told me that they thought it was intended to put people off of applying because it was so hard.
When you’ve got a lower class background, you learn early on that you need to mould yourself a certain way to be taken seriously. I think it’s especially difficult for women too. However, I would recommend the civil service. I believe that I do important work and the service needs to be representative of the country it serves. But at times it does feel like the odds are stacked against you. Jenny has worked in the civil service for three years.
*All names have been changed.
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