The Dysfunctional Public Service

In ancient China to achieve a position in the public service was to have arrived. This is still the case in many countries of the world; India, for example. To be employed in the public service was to have a calling, to be socially respected, to attain a good salary, and to be assured continued employment.

Not much has changed in that regard, and irrespective where in the world one lives, working for any level of government has been an aspirational target for a good lifestyle. One that also, alas, is all too often accompanied by corruption, and by below-par ethical work standards; that too is a universal human phenomenon.

In Canada where governments at all three levels recognize the formal utility and relationship of unions in representing the interests of workers, it is virtually impossible to fire a worker.

Government employees earn a good living wage, are assured excellent benefits, inclusive of sick days, vacation time, health care coverage and comfortable pensions upon retirement. Something happening in the workplace that is vexing to them? Call on the union to intervene. Workers' rights prevail.

Irrespective of which, the public is now advised that within the federal government its very large and diverse employee base is basically dissatisfied, frustrated, depressed. All this expressed in inordinately high incidences of time off, taken as sick leave, much of it due to 'mental distress'. And larger numbers of federal employees are filing for disability benefits.

There are huge numbers of people who would dearly love to qualify for, or be recognized as potential government workers. Working in the public service, for these people looking in from the outside, would gain them entre to a life of assured employment with all manner of perquisites. Yet public servants are languishing in despair. Why might this be?

There is something that should be obvious about human nature; the more accustomed we become to special treatment, the more entitled we feel about it, and dissatisfied with the current level, arguing for more and greater benefits. Which, when achieved, appear to breed a kind of ennui, a boredom, that one no longer need strive to achieve results, for the rewards will appear regardless.

And the ultimate reward? To be freed from any kind of labour and still anticipate adequate monetary compensation. So a disability pension looks like the ultimate attainment, and many within the public service strive to achieve that warped kind of reward.

Just someone else knocking hard-working public servants? Cheap shots come easy from those outside the public service don't they?

Fact is, there are enough public servants who are intelligent, hard-working, honestly dedicated to earning their living who are appalled by the understanding that among their co-workers are too many who would prefer to do as little as possible and still take home that reliable pay-cheque.

It's past time the former's efforts were recognized as what the norm should be, and the latter's recognized as dispensable. Except that there is that about unions; they make it extremely difficult through the kind of bargaining they have achieved on behalf of their members, to remove slackers and useless dolts who clog up the system.