The Corporate Merry-Go-Round

There is today a significant amount (tens of thousands) of mostly male people on this Merry-Go-Round. They move from organisation to organisation with an alarming frequency, all the time receiving large amounts of public money and giving very little back for it.

The job titles vary; they could be Directors, Trustees, Administrators and Chief Executives. The organisations are invariably public-funded and include the like of the: - BBC, NHS, Charities, Government Agencies and of course, Local and National Government.

It would appear that the only qualification they need to get one of these appointments is a previous history of similar employment, why bother with experience and expertise?

The salaries range from £50,000 up to an eye-watering £700,000 for the BBC. Even when they perform badly, the only punishment is that they are politely asked to leave and giving a whacking great pay-off to keep them quiet about the badly-run organisation they are leaving.

The public deserve better than this, there has to be more accountability, transparency and openness. We need the right people with the right knowledge in the right job.

Here is an example of how it works now: - person A is working in Local Government at Director level, the department they run is performing badly and they are invited to resign with a large pay-off to avoid a scandal. They then speak to an old friend and get a job at the BBC Trust, where they have no knowledge of the role or any relevant experience. After a couple of years they get bored because there is little to do and after a conversation with a colleague they find themselves employed by the NHS as an administrator - god help us!

The old boy network is very much alive and well, and the most disturbing aspect is that these people are making - quite literally - life and death decisions. The fact that we allow this appalling state of affairs to continue beggar's belief.

Not only are they paid huge salaries, they get golden hellos and goodbyes and their pension pots increase at a dramatic rate. So, when these people retire from a meaningless and wasteful corporate existence, they are still a burden on the tax payer for god knows how many years.

You only have to look at the BBC to see what a disaster these people are, vast amounts of license payers money given out willy-nilly to senior staff while the programme quality goes down the pan. The BBC and the other organisations I have
mentioned are secretive and unwilling to be open to public scrutiny.
The time has come when this is no longer acceptable.