Don’t blame the workforce

As far as I recall Henry V, about to lead his troops over the top before Agincourt against impossible odds, did not tell them first: ‘You’re a useless, indolent shower, overpaid and underworked and a drain on the taxpayer.’
Henry V understood the power of staff motivation, something which so far has eluded this month-old Government. Public sector staff did not cause the recession. They certainly did well from the good years but then so did the private sector.
But now after the feast comes the reckoning, as David Cameron reminded us this week. And in the scale of its challenge, managing huge spending cuts will be an Agincourt for public sector staff. Many of them will not survive the process. They will be required to deal with impossible odds of reduced budgets and high public expectations. Yet without their motivation the task of transformation, of doing much more on less, of sharing services and breaking down silos will be infinitely harder. Having ministers slag them off for daring to be public sector employees is hardly helpful. Indeed it makes sound business sense to ensure staff are motivated when the going gets tough – they are the very people who will help the organisation get through.
CIPFA’s chief executive Steve Freer, hardly a union mouthpiece, has voiced similar concerns. In The MJ this week (p14) he expresses dismay that ‘unhelpful rhetoric’ will demoralise ‘precisely the people who need to be at the top of their game to manage the delivery of cuts as sensitively as possible.’ He asks: ‘Far from beating up public servants, would it not be much smarter for the Government to be pitching for their co-operation?’
Local government and public sector staff and managers are part of the solution, not the problem. Downgrading their value in order to persuade the public that they are merely a drain on the taxpayer is a cynical and ultimately short-sighted tactic. Ministers should re-read up on Henry V and learn that motivating workforces just when the challenges are greatest is much more constructive than demoralising them.