When you were a youngster in school, didn’t you hate it when one kid would misbehave and the whole class would be punished? Because of little Johnny’s antics, everyone in class had to sit with their heads on the desk instead of being able to go out and play at recess.
I have always felt that everyone should be evaluated on their own individual merits, not as a group. Yet, I note that many apply kindergarten justice to almost every situation in their experience. For example, someone might say they do not like brie, therefore they claim they do not like any type of cheese even though they might not have sampled others. Or if someone had a bad experience with a waitress at the local restaurant, then the whole dining experience is a disaster, even though the food and ambiance was outstanding.
We like to group things together into one tidy package. Unfortunately, this sort of packaging leads to prejudice. And sadly, the information used to compartmentalize these opinions are often not based on first hand fact, but hearsay, in addition to using singular experiences to judge the whole.
This brings me to a post by a blogger I greatly respect who posted a question as to whether or not government employees’ salaries should be capped. This question then led to some discussion as to the existence of work ethics and value of these employees.
Granted, the topic is a sensitive issue for me, as I am a government employee, and in my state, due to the yearly budget battles we have endured more than our fair share of being kicked around. Over many years of furloughs, pay reductions, no cost of living raises for more than 5 years and lack of support and equipment, we have limped along doing the best we can with what we have.
Even with putting my personal sensitivities to take a back seat, I did find many of the attitudes pushing my buttons. Many of the responses had to do with politicians, namely the pay, abuse and some of the absurd policies that some elected officials take part in. But judging from some of the comments, all government workers are guilty by association.
People who get on the bandwagon of government employee bashing merely parrot what they heard others say. What gets me is that these opinions are more often than not based on reports made by the press that are at times exaggerated or taken out of context, if not down right fabricated (I can tell first hand stories about this that would destroy your faith in news journalism). Or if they do hold some truth, the bad press one government employee gets is suddenly applied to all government employees.
Rarely is there any fact checking by the general public when the government worker bashing frenzy occurs. Even if a contrary viewpoint is presented with first hand evidence, so ingrained is the thought that all government employees are lazy worthless louses as are the programs they work for. Mother Teresa working as a social worker would likely be demonized by these people.
Yes, there are bad employees in government. Some are lazy. Some get away with doing very little work, some live up to the stereotype. But then…isn’t the same true for private sector employees? How many of you work with people who don’t carry their share and let others make up for them? How many have you worked with, or had experience with a private sector employee who is deathly slow or doesn’t have a clue in what they are doing?
The bottom line is that we are all human. We all have good days and bad in our job performance. I don’t think there are many of us who set out to do a bad job. Bad workers are everywhere. And being in the line of business I am with my day job, I see plenty of them in the private sector. If there was no incompetence in the public sector in my line of work, I would not have a job.
Here are some of the statements that got under my skin:
In response to the fact that many government employees are paid as much as 25% less than private industry counterparts, I found this particularly offensive:
“Let them go to private industry if they don’t like it”
Unfortunately, this happens too much. Some departments have a trouble retaining skilled, experienced, and talented employees. They work for about 3 years, get the training that is given and then they go off to private industry. This type of turn over costs money. Many jobs can take at least a year, if not more to learn the ropes and truly be productive. For example, a safety engineer coming in from private industry to work with OSHA, may understand a specific discipline (ie construction) but may not have experience in machine guarding, electrical safety, chemical safety, or the legal aspects of the job. Money invested in training this employee is quickly lost if the employee leaves after a short while. If government pay parity would be closer to that of the private industry, then the employee would likely stay providing a return for the investment.
“I would take their job in a heart beat” What’s keeping someone like this from taking the civil service exam for the job he wants other than lack of ambition? Go take the exam, score high since highest scores get offered the job first. He too could have a government job if he really wanted one.
“ I had a bad experience with a government employee who was incompetent and lazy” If a negative experience was had through even 3 such employees, should then ALL government employees be judged by that? I had bad experiences by incompetent plumbers who came to my house to fix my plumbing. Does this make all plumbers bad? Several nurses had trouble drawing blood from me at the clinic. Does this mean that all nurses are lousy at drawing blood? Kindergarten justice is alive here. One bad apple must mean all the rest are bad too.
“A scientist or physician should not consider government work as a career, but as “service”. What is wrong with choosing government work as a career? We need scientists and physicians to do the research and development that they do, without the bias and money making focus that their private counterparts are driven by.
Do we really want organizations like the CDC or NIOSH to have a conflict of interest when it comes to protecting our health and safety because they are pleasing drug making companies? Don’t we want good talent and skill to work at protecting the health of the public? Then that employee should be paid his/her worth.
Any position paying an inferior wage will not attract those with talent and competency. Those people will go for the higher wages. Wages that are reasonably in line with the private sector will help attract good talent and employees to better serve the public.
“Politicians should work for free or nothing. Why can’t they just work for the good of God and Country like Abe Lincoln.” Who can afford to work for nothing? Don’t we all have bills to pay? Gone are the days when we could put our stake in a plot of land and homestead. Few of us are able to live off the land by growing our own vegetables and raising our own animals for meat. Do we really want someone who governs us to be so wealthy that he/she can afford to buy their way into office and be able to afford to work for free for a full term?
Do we want the wealthy to govern the other classes? It sounds like the feudal system of medieval Europe to me. We all know that didn’t work.
Perhaps putting a cap on individual wealth rather than salary to be a politician would be a better idea. Put people in office who are “regular” people who know what it is like to work for a living. Not someone who is so far removed from a working person’s experience that he doesn’t understand hunger.
“The government wastes too much money, like spending $800 on toilet seats.” We all heard stories like this of overspending. It seems like most of these stories are about military spending. All I can attest to is that in California, before we can buy anything, or receive any service from an outside vendor, it has to go to bid. With the lowest bidder getting the project or sale.
My department is quite frugal. My government car is an 11 year old Chevy Cavalier that has seen better days (but fits my “Colombo” image well). I work on a 9 year old computer with programs that have long been antiquated. We have gone through more than a few months when we were even dangerously low on essentials such as paper and toner.
While I don’t deny that some spending could be trimmed in any governmental department, whose spending couldn’t use a bit of trimming? The so called $800 toilet seat if I recall correctly, was not just the toilet seat cost itself, but factored in other costs associated with it. I am sure there is much more to the story than the apparent price tag. If the item was truly $800, I would wonder what the REAL story is, before I would make accusations that all government spending is out of control.
There is plenty of room for improvement in our government. Not just how money is spent, but also in the programs that are administered. To continually put the yoke of blame for failing budgets on the very employees who provide services to the public, and as in some programs, fund themselves is not warranted or even justly deserved.
Whether you are a government employe, or private sector, I really think most of us try to do our best to do a good job, while trying to earn a fair a decent living. None of us deserve unfair, unfounded biased criticism. Let us all be judged for our individual merits, not by prejudice.
