When it comes to perceptions of pay and financial reward, 47% of public sector workers think they are worse off than private sector staff, but 35% of private sector staff think the public sector is ahead on remuneration.
This is according to the Attitudes to Work study conducted by IFF Research, in which it outlines the reasons why many public and private sector workers think the grass is greener on the other side.
Jan Shury, joint managing director at IFF Research, said: “This is a substantial shift in attitudes in the course of a year.
“The formation of the coalition government, and cuts to the public sector announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review, could have played their part. It may also be the private sector has seen the worst of cutbacks to recruitment and staff now have a more positive outlook.
“However, it remains the case that more private sector workers find the idea of the public sector attractive, rather than the other way round.”
IFF Research interviewed 460 employees, of which 208 work in the public sector or for a charity, and 252 in the private sector. The study covers full-time, part-time and self-employed workers, across a range of salary bands and a range of employer types by organisation size.
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