Navigating the Labyrinth: An Executive Guide to Data Management

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small business owner (who employed less than 25 people such as: corner shop owner, small plumbing company, retail shop owner, single restaurant or cafe owner, taxi owner, garage owner) Language and accent have long been associated with class division in Britain with different working class regional accents traditionally counterposed to the standardised RP of the upper-middle classes (Donnelly, M et al, A sociolinguistic perspective on accent and social mobility in the UK teaching profession, 2019). ↩ how would you describe the culture in your department – any different? [note for CS researchers: this is a key follow-up Q] This emotional or psychological burden is important to register in its own right. It both speaks to a longstanding literature on the ‘hidden costs’ of upward mobility, as well as underlining the way in which these costs are often strongly gendered, particularly in terms of their capacity to generate feelings of shame and embarrassment. [footnote 93]

Others echoed this idea that the skillset was more transparent and demonstrable in operational roles, and that progression was accordingly more ‘meritocratic’ in large operational departments like HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) or the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP):Senior Civil Service (SCS) the highest grades that make up the senior management team. There are four grades within the SCS. Generally, deputy directors (DD) report to directors, who are responsible for the work of their team. Director generals oversee the directors and work closely with the department’s Ministers. Each department also has a permanent secretary as part of the SCS who supports the Minister at the head of the department, acts as the accounting officer and is responsible for the day-to-day running of the department The Commission helpfully capture these rules in ways that those seeking UK Civil Service career progression should pay careful attention to. This, in turn, is closely linked to what type of work civil servants do. Most socio-economically exclusive departments are strongly skewed towards the policy profession whereas more socially open departments tend to have a strong emphasis on operational delivery. For example, while approximately two-thirds of Treasury and half of FCO staff work in policy, at HMRC the figure is only 9% and DWP only 12%. In understanding who gets ahead in the Civil Service, then, it is important to consider the propulsive power of being in London, working in policy and in prestigious ‘central’ departments.

These socio-economic progression effects are strongly connected to socio-economic trends by department, location and profession explored above. For example, there are far more top-grade posts located in London than elsewhere; while 20% of all civil servants work in London, the capital is home to 66% of all SCS and 45% of all G6/G7 staff, the grades just below SCS. In contrast, 12% of civil servants are based in the north-west but it houses only 3% of SCS and 7% of G6/G7 staff. [footnote 48] Similarly, less socio-economically diverse departments such as DCMS and Treasury tend to employ more people at senior grades, whereas those working in departments like DWP and HMRC tend to be mainly in junior roles and outside the capital.These ‘grey areas’ include informal interactions with hiring managers, requests for promotion, threats to leave, and embellishing job applications. While those from higher SEBs tend to exploit the ambiguity of these ‘interpretative moments’ and cultivate opportunities, those from lower SEBs often report confusion or ethical discomfort. 3. Where you work, geographically, can be as important as who you know and how you deal with uncertainty. See Halsey, A. H., Crewe, I. M., Social survey of the Civil Service, The Civil Service 3(1), 1969. Please read the Introduction for a detailed explanation on how Halsey and Crewe’s methodology differed from ours and why this should not be considered as a direct comparison. ↩ And most important of all, our leaders must lead by example and take an active role in breaking down the barriers that exist. We need confident leaders, who inspire staff and empower them to excel in their roles. Leaders who work beyond the typical cliques that can form in offices and embrace people who think differently to them. The Leadership Statement sets out these expected behaviours, and we will be supporting all leaders to meet them and then measuring their performance against them at the end of the year.