I AM frustrated with promises made by our politicians which they have no chance of implementing because of the structure of the civil service.
I worked as a civil servant for seven years and was appalled by the bureaucracy and dishonesty, together with some staff’s contempt for the private sector and public purse.
From this, and from education and private-sector experience, I know that to get our economy growing it is essential to cut taxation and get the public sector delivering necessary services cost-effectively. This is not easy, and I don’t trust politicians’ promises that aren’t backed up with a reasonable explanation of how this can be done.
My experience suggests at least three key steps that must be taken, and I’d like to see would-be future Governments get some brilliant legal minds working out how to do the first two:
Step 1: In the public sector the pay and grade of senior staff largely depends on the number of people in their department and the size of their budget. Until this is changed so that year after year pay and grade depends on effective delivery, cost reduction and continuous improvement there is no incentive to remove bureaucracy and red tape. At present the public sector have incentives to increase staff, costs and bureaucracy.
Step 2: The complexity of public sector HR rules and beneficial staff contracts make it hugely time-consuming and costly to remove those who are performing badly, and the process can completely overwhelm anyone trying to turn round or sack under-performers. It also means that those who work out how to deliver a process better and with fewer staff can’t implement it due to the enormous costs of consultations, redeployments and redundancies. Contracts and processes must be reviewed and revised to enable improvement and efficiency, make it harder to game the system and make it easier to sack those who don’t do their jobs.
Step 3: Culturally public sector employees range from able, engaged, committed and passionate about their roles to bored, angry, frustrated or whose motivation is undermining their boss or the government of the day. They need leadership which inspires people with purpose and appreciation, and changes or removes the disaffected. The leaders must also engage constructively with the private sector to help them deliver or grow their businesses.
Finally it may be worth noting or explaining that in entrepreneurial private-sector businesses, the pay of those in senior roles is based on their ability to make a profit. This can be done by increasing sales of new and existing products and services and by reducing costs. Businesses which don’t do this go bust pretty quickly. Those businesses which depend on the public purse for large amounts of their income tend to be more aligned with the public sector model and organisationally they are too cosy with officials – this also needs to be addressed, especially in the large consultancies.
Until these issues are addressed I will have a lot of trouble believing any politicians’ promises.
