A very good post over on the Guardian blog shows some of the employment problems of the public sector. "Is it too difficult to discipline staff in the public sector, as a BBC investigation claimed earlier this week?
A former NHS chief executive interviewed on Radio 4's Sack 'Em programme reinforced a widely-held view that public servants are rarely fired: Gary Walker, a former hospital chief executive, told us that moving people sideways instead of sacking them is incredibly common. He claims it is easier not to go into a disciplinary procedure and instead find alternative ways to do things.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) published a report earlier this year which shows that the public sector managers are, indeed, more reluctant to discipline and sack poor performers. Public sector organisations average one formal disciplinary case per 364 employees each year, compared with one disciplinary case per 119 employees among private services employers and one disciplinary case per 72 employees among manufacturing and production organisations.
Not only that, even when they do discipline staff, they make a meal of it: Public services employers also spend far longer than their private services counterparts dealing with formal disciplinary and grievance cases, averaging 21 days of management time on every formal disciplinary case (11.5 days for private services organisations) and 12 days on every grievance case (6.7 days for private services employers).
Disciplinary processes tend to be more formal and legalistic in public sector organisations. This is not a legal requirement; it is more a reflection of their history and culture. But complex and long-winded procedures put the braver managers off tackling performance problems and give the cowardly ones the ideal excuse to avoid doing so."
What are the solutions?
1 New disciplinary and grievance policies which streamline the process.
2 Greater training of staff to help develop confidence in dealing with conflict.
3 Use of external and internal mediators.
4 Determination to tackle poor performance and refusal to be intimidated by staff, trade union reps and lawyers.
Justin Patten, Mediator