Passport workers paid double for their time off?

So the Indo is continuing it's strategy of 'divide and conquer', now trying to create division between Cork and Dublin workers, no surprise there then.
 
What a wonderful conjunction in a single thread of all that is great about life on our little island :

  • the public service
  • public service unions
  • The Sindo
  • and that greatest of all our Public Service super-heroes, DefendThemToTheLast-Man.
Thanks haminka1, post appreciated.
 
We are talking about 90 minutes here (per person). This type of incentive is not unusual even in the Private Sector.

When I worked in England in the late 60s this type of sweetner was used all the time. It had benefits for the employer and the employee.

I would call this type of payment (if true) to be thinking outside the box.

I would have thought most of you would have thought of similar incentives, win/win situations etc. But, then again this is knock, knock, knock Ireland.
 
When I saw the title, I thought this would be another topic to make me exasperated at work practices in the public but in fairness (gulp), I actually don't have big problem with this. Yes, the backlog was largely of their making but:

(a) we saw from posts on here that the Cork staff WERE a lot more flexible with the public (I would prefer if this was rewarded with their being docked less pay than their Dublin colleagues but that's not happening...),

(b) if you look on the work as being 'per piece delivered' rather than per hour, they actually delivered more than they were expected to in their shift - 30 instead of 25

and

(c) it would be great if these incentivised efficiencies could be used to establish new 'pieces delivered per shift' targets. Allowing an hour for lunch/breaks in the 6.5 hour scheduled work shift, 30 passports in 4 hours (to let them go home 1.5 hours early) is 60% more productive than 25 passports in 5.5 hours. If they can do that when incentivised, there surely must be scope for ongoing efficiencies (maybe not at the 60% level because no-one can work flat out all the time) and they have just helped to prove it...
 
Good on ya Orka! At last somebody from the private sector seeing the positive side in the pubic service. But, wait for the backlash of the I-dont-believe-there-is-anything-positive-to-be-said-about-the-public-service brigade.
 
Can I ask....

In the private sector, if a manager took it upon himself to give staff 90 minutes off in return for a 20% productivity increase, would it be regarded as a good thing?

If so, why is it not okay for the public sector? Is it not the absence of this sort of flexible approach in the public sector that the private sector is forever lamenting?

This, for me, goes to heart of the public sector "reform" debate. If the media and other commentators insist in evaluating every initiative against its immediate cost rather than its longer-term value, it will be very hard to make any progress.
 
I think the Sindo is out on a limb here!

I read the rationale and was quite impressed that productivity and efficiency were being rewarded in the public service.
 


Honestly, and without any intention whatsoever to engage in public sector bashing, in the real world, if a manager achieved a 20% productivity increase the manager would probably recieve a bonus for that year, none of the 'factory floor' workers would though. And the next year the company would expect the 120% productivity as baseline and look for an increase on that.
 
I agree with all of that. I think it was a great idea.

same there; agree completely.


Not if it was well run.
 
Ssshhhh! Don't tell the teachers or they will look for double payment for their 4 months+ holidays per year and any hours in excess of their weekly 22 hours contact with pupils!
 
Carpedeum. If you think your post is witty you are well off the mark. Also, it makes no sense.
 

It's probably true, but its a sadder reflection on the 'real world' than anything else
 
When it comes to the SIndo the PS really can't win. What is wrong with rewarding those who work hard?
Devine should be applauded for doing what he did. The people who did nothing got nothing. The staff in the Cork office worked harder and got rewarded with double time and a few hours off. IMO that's the way it should be. Reward only those who deserve it.
 

So the Public Sector treats its workers fairer than the Private Sector? This is surely a good thing.
I think this article is the usual Sindo - trying to stir up outrage over nothing - rubbish.
 
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