pantouflage

English translation: public-to-private sector crossover

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	pantouflage
English translation:	public-to-private sector crossover
Entered by:	Jane Lamb-Ruiz (X)

21:31 Jan 5, 2004

French to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial

French term or phrase: pantouflage

A high-ranking French civil servant referring to his period of "pantouflage" chez Axa. I understand it is used when a public servant works in private industry but I need an equivalent term in English and some more info its use.

Susan Bellier

public-to-private sector crossover

Explanation:
Put in a note:
please see the glossaries for note material...

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Note added at 2004-01-06 02:00:22 (GMT)
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OR

Or leave pantouflage in italics and ADD (a scheme used by senior civil servants who graduate from France top schools at no cost to themselves and move to top-paying jobs in the private sector)

there are good explanations in the glossaries....

Selected response from:

Jane Lamb-Ruiz (X)

Grading comment

Thank you, very helpful.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

5 +4

public-to-private sector crossover

Jane Lamb-Ruiz (X)

4 +1

taking it easy

sarahl (X)

3 +2

"pantouflage" (going into non-governmental employment)

Francis MARC

3 +1

period of working in the private sector

Adam Thomson

3 +1

period of working in the private sector

Adam Thomson

private-sector sinecure

William Stein

his easy time (years) in the private sector at AXA

Abdellatif Bouhid

I would say referring to a time when he worked in the private sector for Axa

Jean-Luc Dumont

revolving door

Antonina Zaitseva

Answers

5 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

taking it easy

Explanation:
I suppose his job there was not very challenging.

sarahl (X)
Local time: 18:41
Native speaker of:

French
PRO pts in pair: 1306

7 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

"pantouflage" (going into non-governmental employment)

Explanation:
débuter ses études dans les grandes écoles administratives et passer dans le privé (pour un poste bien payé)

Termium:
Domaine(s)
– Public Administration
Domaine(s)
– Administration publique

going into non-governmental
employment Source

pantouflage Source CORRECT, MASC

OBS – Harrap, cf. "pantoufler" Source

DEF – Action de pantoufler. Source

OBS – pantoufler : Pour un fonctionnaire,
[...] quitter le service de l'État pour celui
d'une entreprise privée. Source

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Note added at 2004-01-05 21:43:24 (GMT)
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Pantouflage USA
French word (I think the idea is that you move between the administration and the contractor so comfortably they have your slippers waiting for you, or something),
http://www.leaderpascal.co.uk/MT/archives/2003/11/25/pantouf...

For instance, is it necessary to view the problem-area of unfair competition differently whether the contract is public or concluded between private entities or is it necessary to have special rules for certain situations? Should for instance public officials involved in public procurement be forbidden to take up jobs in companies which have bid in public procurement (a form of prohibition of \"pantouflage\" or \"feathering one\'s nest\")?
http://www.greco.coe.int/docs/other/pace3c.htm

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Note added at 2004-01-05 21:46:52 (GMT)
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French Political Culture and African Policy: From Consensus to ... - [ Traduire cette page ]
... year term of President Giscard d’Estaing, osmosis had taken place between the public
and private sectors, giving place to the phenomenon of pantouflage.1 The ...
www.iss.co.za/Pubs/Monographs/No50/Chap5.html - 32k - En cache - Pages similaires

[PDF] Bridging the Finance Gap for Small Firms
Format de fichier: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
... Through the typically French system of pantouflage, these people are parachuted
at or near the helm of France’s large companies or banks. ...
skylla.wz-berlin.de/pdf/1996/i96-311.pdf

Francis MARC
Lithuania
Local time: 04:41
Native speaker of:

French
PRO pts in pair: 6500

13 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

public-to-private sector crossover

Jane Lamb-Ruiz (X)
Native speaker of:

English,

Portuguese
PRO pts in pair: 8576

Grading comment

Thank you, very helpful.

35 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

period of working in the private sector

Explanation:
In terms of getting the best equivalent term, maybe the rather prosaic "period of working in the private sector" or "work in the private sector" are good, without colouring it too much

Adam Thomson
Local time: 02:41
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 98

35 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

Adam Thomson
Local time: 02:41
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 98

39 mins confidence:

revolving door

Explanation:

Just as this commonly occurs in the defense, utility and health careindustries, the “revolving door"syndrome is alive and well in the foodirradiation industry. Thinking they’ve paid their dues long enough on thepublic payroll, bureaucrats and professors are now cashing in by goingto work for the companies that, in the case of government officials, theyonce regulated or, in the case of professors, they once studied.

www.citizen.org/documents/Revolving_Door_(PDF).PDF par exemle

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Note added at 2004-01-05 22:53:49 (GMT)
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Twenty-seven states have passed revolving door laws that require a \"cooling-off period\" before a legislator can work as a lobbyist.

http://www.oregonfollowthemoney.org/Press/2002/April502.html

This page highlights the revolving door between U.S. government agencies, the U.S. Congress, and the pharmaceutical industry
http://www.cptech.org/ip/health/politics/revolvingdoor.html

I found also

revolving door legislation
revolving door professions
revolving door restrictions

The meaning of \"revolving door period\" is explained on this page:

http://www.state.ri.us/ethics/Advisory Opinions/1997/97-117....

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Note added at 2004-01-05 23:09:59 (GMT)
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The idea of \"pantouflage\" is to migrate from the public to the private sector, to find a more lucrative job, not an easy one.

J\'ai trouve beaucoup d\'articles dans la presse francaise. Il parait qu\'il y a un vrai probleme et que \"ce « pantouflage » [la fuite vers le privé] coûte une fortune au contribuable\" http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~ifranc3/B3.01-03/B3HUM.01.03....

Antonina Zaitseva
Ireland
Local time: 02:41
Native speaker of:

Bulgarian,

Russian
PRO pts in pair: 3

46 mins confidence:

his easy time (years) in the private sector at AXA

Explanation:
I don't think there is an equivalent in the English language. Moving to the public sector would be considered 'pantouflage' not the opposite.

Abdellatif Bouhid
Local time: 21:41
Native speaker of:

Arabic,

French
PRO pts in pair: 390

1 hr confidence:

private-sector sinecure

Explanation:
For example, Dick Cheney (the latest Tricky Dicky):

Vice President for Life
(a short all too familiar portrait)

currently inhabiting to the Office of Vice President of the U.S. and the unpaid agent of Halliburton Corp with plenipotentiary powers to scare up new government contracts.
He told some vile rag down in Texas that he was on the ticket come 2004 which mean undetained future historians will be able to graph over eight years the billions of public dollars Cheney will be diverting to Halliburton.
Granted Dick isn't paid to do any of this, but assuming his heart holds out he can expect to be seamlessly reinserted into the Halliburton politburo once Bush's term ends...if indeed it ever does.
No doubt he will receive a huge bonus for special services and go on working his considerably fattened rolodex.
The funny thing about it all is, you just know Dick didn't score that cushy ***private sector sinecure*** on the basis of his business acumen. Nope, it was the long list of fatcat contacts he'd rolled up as a Congressman and Secretary of Defense...left to his own devices Dick Cheney couldn't run a child's lemonade stand without off book pay offs from lobbyists and U.S. Navy valets...who is he kidding?

William Stein
Costa Rica
Local time: 19:41
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in pair: 1737

2 hrs confidence:

I would say referring to a time when he worked in the private sector for Axa

Explanation:
pantouflage is the technical term for the outward movement of civil servants / politicians to private industry and finance

Because look . . . the technocratic civil servant Mandarins in charge of France --- supplying most of the Ministers in every government, and the last four Presidents, running not just Ministries but the entire telecommunications systems, the post office and the postal banks, the TV and radio networks, the buses, trains, subways, electricity and gas systems, numerous nationalized industries, most of the airplane service, a huge internal security system, all the schools and universities (save for a small Catholic school system), almost all the banks (public or private), and most of the big private corporations in their retirement (pantouflage is the technical term for their outward movement to private industry and finance) --- don’t like it when people and systems they like to see themselves directing and controlling don’t run smoothly

plus ça change plus c'est la même chose :

http://www.proz.com/?sp=h&id=439892

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Note added at 2 hrs 32 mins (2004-01-06 00:04:11 GMT)
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pantouflage does not mean easier here -- can be if it is a fictitious job :-) which happens - but maybe the only time when they really work :-)

Jean-Luc Dumont
France
Local time: 03:41
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in pair: 1108

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English translation: public-to-private sector crossover

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