When you read that statement did you think, yes, the more I do the more they give me to do? As a manager it is very tempting to pile on the work to someone you know will do a good job as opposed to someone who won’t. This is how ambitious people have proved themselves in the past and you might think that in the current climate with reorganisations, outsourcing and redundancies people might feel they can’t say no. But I have noticed a new phenomena, managers who don’t take work home at the weekend and evenings, managers who take all their annual leave, who switch off their Blackberry at 5 pm on a Friday and don’t switch it on again until 9am on Monday, managers who just do their allocated hours and no more.
These managers recognise the reality of the modern Public Sector, they have experienced reorganisation and redundancy, they accept that there is no job security, no value in loyalty and the only reward for hard work is more work. These managers are not de motivated or cynical they are conscientious and good at their job but they feel no loyalty to an organisation that has no loyalty to them. If the work can’t be completed in the hours allocated well so be it.
If such individuals are not motivated by fear, driven by ambition or sustained by a strong senesce of loyalty what implications does this have? On the positive side they will not oppose changes, will not resist their service being outsourced or view working for a private sector organisation as a betrayal of principle. On the negative side they are not going to be inspired by a vision, they are not going to volunteer for extra responsibility and they are going to expect to go home at five o clock.
The Public Sector has always relied on “good will” people being prepared to do over and above what they are contracted to do and like most organisations there has always been an assumption that there will be managers keen to impress their boss happy to take on more as a way of enhancing their reputation and promotion prospects. It will become harder to hide the cracks and fill the gaps as people are less willing to cover for absent colleagues and increasingly ask difficult questions like what do you want me to stop doing in order to do this?
Blair McPherson author of People management in a harsh financial climate and UnLearning management both published by Russell House. Follow Blair on Twitter @blairmcpherson1
