Quote:
Originally Posted by boogerz
I used to work for The City and this myth of public sector compensation being "so much better" than private sector compensation is unwarranted. It not bad, but it's not the pot of gold that make it out to be. Some reality about The City's compensation:
- Public sector employees don't get bonuses or share units, and non-union salaries have been more or less frozen since 2016.
- Employees contribute somewhere around 9-11% of their salary to the pension, which is a mandatory deduction on your paycheque and increases beyond that once your salary reaches a certain level. It's not a free pension, and it's also only worthwhile if you stick around for a long time. For example, 20 years of service earning $105k a year will net you approximately $3750 a month once you retire, +/- 30% for each 10 year interval.
- The benefits package is not bad, but there's a very small flex account and if I recall correctly, there's no 100% coverage options like many private sector offerings.
- Job security... sure. The City has good job security as long as you're not "limited term". Usually in times like this, the city's limited term employees have their terms run out or are ended early similar to what happens to contract staff in the private sector.
- Work-life balance depends on the business unit and team. Many people coast by on 35 hour work weeks, but there are also many City employees that do unpaid overtime and put in a solid effort to get the job done.
- The union mandated vacation allotment is two weeks for the first year or two and then three weeks until year eight. Easily the worst vacation policy that I've encountered in my career.
- City Council are a bunch of imbeciles with big egos, and there is a lot of pandering by city administration to their every whim... that's worse than anything you'll encounter in the private sector.
If you were a white-collar professional with a degree and a designation, such as a senior business analyst or "Business Strategist", any reputable company in Calgary will beat The City's $77-117k salary band and total compensation. |
That's an incredible pension. Contribute for only 20 years at 11% of your salary and get $3750 (presumably inflation adjusted)/month for life? Dude, do the math.
Most places by default have no flex account. No one provides 100% coverage for anything anymore. Sure, if you want to pay $400/month for your benefits...