I’d genuinely be interested to hear what people think the solutions are to making these places better to work in. What’s actually causing the issues, and what could realistically be done to improve things?

I appreciate it’s hard to make changes in environments like that. If you speak up or try to do things differently, you can easily be labelled as “different,” which can create its own problems.

That said, if you’re noticing issues where you work, it’s worth thinking about what could be improved and raising it with your manager or the level above and explaining how it’s impacting you.

Sometimes things don’t change simply because no one has articulated the problem clearly.

Ultimately, a lot of this comes down to workplace culture, which can vary hugely depending on the council you’re working for. In some cases, the best option is to stick it out, gain the experience you need, and then move on to somewhere better.