Been lurking around “Salary in Civil Service” forums and the numbers there are so far from what I have been getting in a PHI, it’s astounding. Much as I enjoy my work in the healthcare industry, the mediocre compensation package and lack of progression for non-medical staff continually weighs on my mind and the main reason I would NOT choose to join public healthcare again if I had a chance to turn back time. For now, I’m still looking for opportunities to leave though the odds of joining an unrelated industry as an administrator with higher pay is low.

That being said, here are some numbers for administrative roles for reference. This is based on my personal experience and specific to one particular division. While I have heard of examples to the contrary i.e. annual or bi-annual promotions, I would say that those are the exceptions to the norm.

Case study #1
Ex-colleague joined SGH as a associate executive (diploma holder), eventually obtained a university degree and achieved Manager level 15 years after being promoted to Executive upon graduation. This was about 5 years ago and she remains a manager. That’s 5 years for every promotion in the same division from Executive > Snr Executive > Asst Mgr > Mgr. Granted, her responsibilities are relatively simple and OT is extremely rare.

Case studies #2 and #3
Ex-colleagues joined SGH as associate executives while studying part time for a degree. Upon graduation in 3 - 4 years, both were refused a promotion to Executive on account that there was no planned change to their job scope. Both resigned.

Case study #4
Ex-colleague joined SGH as an Executive and remained so for almost 4 years. Joined a different PHI thereafter but no promotion or pay raise due to the lateral scheme as someone mentioned earlier. Continued as Executive for the next 3 years. Subsequently joined another PHI as Snr Executive. In summary, ex colleague took 7 years to go from an entry level Executive to Snr Executive.

Case studies #5 to #7
Ex-Colleagues joined SGH as Executive. Now all Senior Executive after 7 to 10 years in the same division.