Some_further Analyses

Analysis of the replies given by schoolchildren in the School Certificate and in the post-School Certificate forms showed that in general higher proportions of those in the School Certificate form than of those in the more advanced forms answered “don’t know”.

With regard to the interest of the work and to prospects and promotion however markedly higher proportions of those in the post-School certificate forms answered “not satisfactory”. 39% of children at the higher level thought the interest of the work not satisfactory compared with 25% of those in the lower form. 30% of those in the higher forms considered the prospects not satisfactory as compared with 22% in the lower forms.

It might be expected that children in the post-School Certificate forms would have higher standards as regards interest and prospects. More of them would be preparing to go to universities and qualifying for jobs in the professions, and perhaps for more responsible jobs than of those in the lower form.

There are no very marked differences in the replies given by children at schools in different regions. The numbers interviewed in each region are small and only large differences would be detected by a sample of this size. There are however some interesting and statistically significant differences in the answers of parents in different regions. Parents in the South of England (including London) are more critical about the pay, the interest of the work, and the prospect of promotion than are parents elsewhere.

There are no marked differences between regions in respect of the other factors studied.

Analysis of parents’ answers by economic group and by education revealed some differences.

The higher economic groups and those with higher education are more critical about the pay, the interest of the work and the prospects than are others. It will be remembered however that the lower economic groups attached more importance to [Text Missing] than did the higher, and that there was no difference between the groups in respect of the importance attached to the interest of the work. Rather more of the higher than of the lower groups thought prospects very important.

The lower economic group is thus less critical of the pay not because less importance is attached to it but probably because standards are lower. The difference between the replies about interest may perhaps be explained in a similar way. The sorts of jobs that those in the lower economic groups and those with elementary education most often do are likely to be less interesting than the jobs done by those in the higher economic groups and those with higher education. The standards by which the Civil Service is judged in respect of these factors are thus likely to be different in the different groups.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Civil Service as a Career

Informants in all groups were asked “What do you consider to be the main advantages and disadvantages of the Civil Service as a career?” The question was put to them before they were asked to assess the importance of different factors and to say whether or not they thought the Civil Service was satisfactory in respect of them. In naming the advantages and disadvantages they were not therefore influenced by consideration of the particular factors selected for study.

The advantages and disadvantages likely to be mentioned were classified on the basis of information obtained in the pilot inquiry, and a space was left for the interviewer to write in any other answers that might be given.

Informants could give any number of answers and all the advantages and disadvantages that they mentioned in answer to the question were recorded.

The advantage mentioned by the highest proportion in all groups is security, and next in order of frequency is the Pension Scheme. Fathers show particularly high proportions mentioning these two advantages and fewer of the fathers than of the mothers and other groups were unable to think of any advantages.

Good holidays are mentioned by from 10% to 20% in all groups, and working hours are mentioned by almost as many.

There are some interesting differences in the proportions of different groups mentioning good pay as an advantage. This proportion is lower amongst workers than amongst school children, and rather more of the parents than of the workers mentioned pay. It will be remembered that when asked the direct question as to whether the Civil Service was satisfactory in respect of pay the school children were less critical than other groups, and also less importance is attached by them to pay.

Prospects are mentioned less frequently by the technical and professional workers and by male clerical workers by other groups and these two groups was the most critical of prospects in the Civil Service when asked a direct question about them.

An advantage which has been called “social standing” was mentioned more frequently by parents than by others.

Some informants gave only very general answers to this question, such as “good working conditions”, and “good jobs available”. These and others have been classified as “other advantages.

The answers to this question bear out the conclusions given previously that the security which the Civil Service gives its workers is well known, and that the holidays and working hours are considered to be good. The high proportions mentioning the Pension Scheme show that this advantage is appreciated.

Slow promotion and uninteresting work are the disadvantages mentioned most frequently by nearly all groups. This is in agreement with the information give in the diagram on page 18.

It will be noted that higher proportions of school children mention dull and too much routine work than mention slow promotion as a disadvantage. Rather lower proportions of school children than of other groups graded prospects

and promotion as very important. It is clear that both these points, the interest the work and the prospects, are of importance in considering recruitment to the Service of children brought straight from School, but emphasis on the former is likely to make a greater appeal in publicity than emphasis on the latter.

The reverse is true of male clerical workers. More of these consider slow promotion to be a disadvantage than mention lack of interest in the work. A probable explanation of this is that clerical workers are accustomed to doing routine work and perhaps tend to take it for granted as a necessary part of any job they might consider for themselves. As might be expected slow promotion is mentioned less frequently by the women workers as they are less likely to be affected by it if they give up their jobs on getting married.

Technical and professional workers and fathers show high proportions mentioning both these disadvantages.

Lack of scope for individual initiative is mentioned rather more frequently by the technical and professional workers than by other groups, and a higher proportion of the men than of the women clerical workers mentioned it.

Higher proportions of women than of men clerical workers, and of mothers than of fathers, could not think of any disadvantages. The proportion of schoolgirls answering “don’t know” is however about the same as the proportion of schoolboys giving this answer.

The disadvantages mentioned, like the advantages, show agreement with the results of the more detailed questions that were asked and that have been dealt with.

The ideas that the work is not interesting and that promotion is slow or not on merit are the chief resistances towards the Civil Service as a career.

Other Analyses

There were no differences between the proportions of children at foundation schools and at council schools mentioning different advantages and disadvantages. There were however differences in the proportions of children in School Certificate and in post-School Certificate forms giving different answers. Most of the advantages and disadvantages are mentioned by higher proportions of children in the higher forms than in the lower, those in the lower form more frequently answering “don’t know”. About the same proportion of children in both forms mentioned “good pay” as an advantage and good prospects are also mentioned by the same proportions of children at the two levels. Otherwise there are no results of particular interest coming from this analysis.

More of the children in London and in Scotland mentioned advantages and disadvantages, higher proportions in other regions answering “don’t know”. The percentage mentioning slow promotion as a disadvantage is particularly high in London, being 30% as compared with 16% of the whole sample. In Scotland, on the other hand, 34% mentioned good prospects as an advantage compared with 18% of the whole sample doing so. London shows a relatively high proportion saying that people “got in a rut” in the Civil Service, or that it is “too safe”. 21% of children in London as compared with 9% of the whole sample gave this answer. Somewhat higher proportions of children in London and Scotland than elsewhere mentioned “red tape” and inefficiency.

25% of children in Scotland, as compared with 10% of the whole sample, mentioned good working hours as an advantage of the Civil Service, and more of the children in London and Scotland than of those elsewhere mentioned the Pension Scheme, security, and good holidays.

Although some of the differences mentioned between regions seem to be large it should be remembered that the number interviewed in each region was small, and the figures given above are subject to a fairly wide margin of error. The differences pointed out are however statistically significant.

There are no very marked regional differences in the proportions of parents mentioning different disadvantages. Smaller proportions of parents in London and the South than elsewhere mentioned good pay and working hours as advantages, and security was mentioned by higher proportions in the South and the Midlands than in the North.

Analysis of the advantages and disadvantages mentioned by parents in different economic and education groups are of some interest.

More of those in the lower economic and education groups did not mention advantages but the proportions in these groups mentioning particular advantages is not in general lower than the corresponding proportions in the higher groups. Considerably more of those in the higher groups mentioned security however.

Holidays, pay and working hours are mentioned by about equal proportions in groups. Prospects are mentioned by considerably higher proportions in the lower and middle than in the higher economic group.

The proportions mentioning disadvantages are in general somewhat higher in the higher economic and education groups, more of those in the the lower groups answering “don’t know”.

The answers “too regimented” or that there is no scope for the individual, and “you get into a rut” or “too safe” are given very much more frequently by those with higher than by those with only elementary education. It is worth noting that these aspects of work in the Civil Service appear particularly disagreeable to more highly educated parents, and it will be remembered that a relatively high proportion of the technical and professional workers interviewed mentioned the first of them as a disadvantage.

There is more difference in the proportions saying that promotion is slow or not on merit, in the case of the economic groups than with the education groups. 9% of the lower economic group did so. Similarly dull or routine work is mentioned more by parents in the middle and higher groups than by those in the lower group.

The answer “hard to get in”, or “have to take an exam.” is given as frequently by the lower economic and education groups as by the higher.

The answers given by parents of sons and daughters do not differ except in two respects. More of the boys’ than of the girls’ parents mentioned slow promotion as a disadvantage, 21% as compared with 14% (standard error of difference = 2.8%), and somewhat more of the boys’ than of the girls’ parents mentioned the Pension Scheme, 44% as compared with 36%(standard error of difference 3.7%). These are differences which might be expected since boys generally stay in their careers until they retire, whereas girls frequently leave to get married.

There are no differences in the proportions of parents aged under and over fifty giving different replies.

Conclusions. Section III

(1) It is clear that very little is known about the nature of the work done by the Civil Service, the prospects and the working conditions. Relatively high proportions of the people interviewed were unable to give opinions about these, or to mention any advantages or disadvantages of the Civil Service as a career, because they did not know enough about it.

(2) It appears that information is needed particularly about the nature of the jobs that Civil Servants do, their prospects of promotion and their pay. The security of a job in the Civil Service is well known, and many know about the Pension Scheme and consider it an advantage. There seems to be a fairly high degree of approval of the holidays allowed to Civil Servants and their working hours, so far as people know about these.

(3) The ideas that seem to influence people against a career in the Civil Service most are that the work is mostly routine work and dull, that promotion is likely to be slow and that the brighter person has no better chance of getting on than the dull person, that Civil Servants are “too regimented” and that there is too little scope for individual initiative. The rates of pay are also criticised.

(4) Amongst those who might be eligible for the Executive Class of the Civil Services the ideas that the work is not interesting and that the individual lacks scope are perhaps of most importance. Amongst those who might be eligible for the Clerical Class the prospects of promotion and the pay are perhaps more important considerations, and these are of more importance to men than to women.