Disability: Tragic Trend...?
Soaring disability claims in the federal public service. Now that's something. Public servants, with secure jobs, union backing, good pay scales, benefits that private sector employees can only dream of, are suffering inordinately from loss of confidence, the misery of holding down a position that most feel does not equate entirely with their level of competence, and anguish over their aspirations to become more upwardly mobile.
Those who become entitled to a certain level of perquisites become accustomed to them very easily. Generous annual sick days, equally generous holiday time, gold-plated pensions, medical, dental, drug insurance, and a pay scale that's superior to the insecure jobs available in the private sector. A dream come true, you'd think, and you'd think wrong.
The evidence is in, the Public Service Alliance of Canada has posted a report on 2010 disability trends and it tells quite the story. That the disability claims incidence per thousand union members (all federal public servants are ipso facto union members; membership is obligatory) zoomed to over 15 from its previous 13.78 for 2009.
Since the year 2000 the incidence rate of disability claims has risen by a whopping 35%, so that currently over eleven thousand public servants now collect disability benefits. Obviously many are genuine, and many more leave the question to the imagination of the doubting. Particularly when it's noted that depression and anxiety represent over 47% of all approved disability claims for 2010.
Cancer and spinal/musculoskeletal disorders are next in line. This is people getting on with their lives, living with mental and physical conditions that are somehow construed to be related to their jobs, leaving them incapable of working for a living, but with that work/health-failure condition entitling them to a disability wage.
A PSAC disability insurance and pensions officer warns that "The stress levels in the federal public service are escalating, and they're probably going to continue to do so." Why should that be so? Possible reasons range from workplace harassment and bullying, burnout and management turnover leading to insecurity with regard to priorities and restructuring.
Which leads one to wonder how it is that mature people in a responsible workplace serving the public interest as well as their own are not flexible enough to adjust to changing work environments. And one must assume that the prevalence of workplace harassment and bullying, noting the attention these situations are now given, have been much reduced.
Perhaps some of the psychological effects leading off from expectations for advancement not being matched by opportunities or personal investment in time, expertise and effort lead to disgruntlement and loss of self-confidence, leading to a grudge against the workplace environment and an unwillingness to deliver the goods. Demoralized by lack of mobility; understandable.
Surprisingly, given that the federal government has focused on the advancement of women in the workforce, female public servants file a disproportionate number of claims. In the last year for which statistics were gathered women filed fully 70.5% of the 3,088 approved claims, though they represent less than 55% of public service employees.
The federal public service is known as a soft touch. For generous benefits, buy-outs, and general coddling of its workforce under pressure from its powerful unions. While there are ample public servants who diligently put in a full-day's work for a full-day's salary, many more, reflecting society at large to a degree, have little pride in the obligations of professionalism.
It's all very well to blame a stifling atmosphere in the workplace, but application and initiative always reward those who practise those virtues. When people are brought into the public service it is assumed that they are emotionally stable as mature adults, resilient and capable of meeting the demands of the positions they agree to fulfill for the compensation they agree they appreciate.
Life happens. Both at the workplace and at home. People learn to cope with stress. And they know that if they are being pushed beyond endurance there are mechanisms whereby they are able to register complaints that will be considered. No one holds anyone hostage to a job. If the situation is truly untenable, transfers can take place, cross-stream assignments, whatever works.
Government does its best to ensure that its workforce is well invested with benefits commensurate with the effort expended and the professionalism realized. It is a huge, unwieldy enterprise, and there are lapses and there are successes. The growing numbers of workers claiming disability due to mental stress may owe more to how some view this may advantage them than actual need.
Perhaps a closer, more intimate look at parameters for acceptance and obliging doctors' reports on individual conditions might be in line. Those who have themselves worked in the realm of the public service can attest to their own experience among their peers, their observations and frustrations at witnessing the sloth and ill regard for their responsibilities evidenced all too often by too many in the workforce.
Those who become entitled to a certain level of perquisites become accustomed to them very easily. Generous annual sick days, equally generous holiday time, gold-plated pensions, medical, dental, drug insurance, and a pay scale that's superior to the insecure jobs available in the private sector. A dream come true, you'd think, and you'd think wrong.
The evidence is in, the Public Service Alliance of Canada has posted a report on 2010 disability trends and it tells quite the story. That the disability claims incidence per thousand union members (all federal public servants are ipso facto union members; membership is obligatory) zoomed to over 15 from its previous 13.78 for 2009.
Since the year 2000 the incidence rate of disability claims has risen by a whopping 35%, so that currently over eleven thousand public servants now collect disability benefits. Obviously many are genuine, and many more leave the question to the imagination of the doubting. Particularly when it's noted that depression and anxiety represent over 47% of all approved disability claims for 2010.
Cancer and spinal/musculoskeletal disorders are next in line. This is people getting on with their lives, living with mental and physical conditions that are somehow construed to be related to their jobs, leaving them incapable of working for a living, but with that work/health-failure condition entitling them to a disability wage.
A PSAC disability insurance and pensions officer warns that "The stress levels in the federal public service are escalating, and they're probably going to continue to do so." Why should that be so? Possible reasons range from workplace harassment and bullying, burnout and management turnover leading to insecurity with regard to priorities and restructuring.
Which leads one to wonder how it is that mature people in a responsible workplace serving the public interest as well as their own are not flexible enough to adjust to changing work environments. And one must assume that the prevalence of workplace harassment and bullying, noting the attention these situations are now given, have been much reduced.
Perhaps some of the psychological effects leading off from expectations for advancement not being matched by opportunities or personal investment in time, expertise and effort lead to disgruntlement and loss of self-confidence, leading to a grudge against the workplace environment and an unwillingness to deliver the goods. Demoralized by lack of mobility; understandable.
Surprisingly, given that the federal government has focused on the advancement of women in the workforce, female public servants file a disproportionate number of claims. In the last year for which statistics were gathered women filed fully 70.5% of the 3,088 approved claims, though they represent less than 55% of public service employees.
The federal public service is known as a soft touch. For generous benefits, buy-outs, and general coddling of its workforce under pressure from its powerful unions. While there are ample public servants who diligently put in a full-day's work for a full-day's salary, many more, reflecting society at large to a degree, have little pride in the obligations of professionalism.
It's all very well to blame a stifling atmosphere in the workplace, but application and initiative always reward those who practise those virtues. When people are brought into the public service it is assumed that they are emotionally stable as mature adults, resilient and capable of meeting the demands of the positions they agree to fulfill for the compensation they agree they appreciate.
Life happens. Both at the workplace and at home. People learn to cope with stress. And they know that if they are being pushed beyond endurance there are mechanisms whereby they are able to register complaints that will be considered. No one holds anyone hostage to a job. If the situation is truly untenable, transfers can take place, cross-stream assignments, whatever works.
Government does its best to ensure that its workforce is well invested with benefits commensurate with the effort expended and the professionalism realized. It is a huge, unwieldy enterprise, and there are lapses and there are successes. The growing numbers of workers claiming disability due to mental stress may owe more to how some view this may advantage them than actual need.
Perhaps a closer, more intimate look at parameters for acceptance and obliging doctors' reports on individual conditions might be in line. Those who have themselves worked in the realm of the public service can attest to their own experience among their peers, their observations and frustrations at witnessing the sloth and ill regard for their responsibilities evidenced all too often by too many in the workforce.
Labels: Government of Canada, Health, Human Fallibility
posted by Pieface | 9:23 AM
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