Government must fire lazy workers, says Dempsey

THE Government needs to start firing lazy or incompetent workers in State jobs, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey advocated at the weekend.

Mr Dempsey said the civil service does not deal well with underperformers.

“That has to change. In this regard, we need to become as demanding as the private sector, where expectations are clearly articulated.

“Where failure to deliver earns a verbal warning, then a written warning, then a second written warning before the person heads for the exit door,” he told a gathering of the country’s leading economists at the Dublin Economic Conference in Kenmare.

Mr Dempsey said one of the factors that rots an organisation from the ground up is the failure to require and reward good performance.

“The civil and public service are compassionate employers — and rightly so.

“People who are ill or for some other reason cease to be as be as able as they were when recruited, must be protected by the system. That’s right. That’s important.

“What is deeply de-motivating for high performers is the sense that nobody notices the difference between what they do and what is done — or not done — by lazy or incompetent colleagues,” he said.

The minister said even when there’s real cause for firing an underperformer, the public service does not match standards set in the private sector.

“There’s a wariness, based on fear that the person will take them to court for compensation and the taxpayers will be furious.

“In the private sector, companies face the same challenge. But they tend to make the decision based on the knowledge that the short-term cost of removing a non-performer will be speedily rectified by the replacement with a good worker,” he said.

Mr Dempsey said one of the benefits of sacking bad workers is, in the private sector, they know that morale improves when action is taken against dead weights and good, contributory staff are valued.

Being “valued” doesn’t necessarily mean “financially rewarded” the minister stressed.

“We’ve taken a crude view of rewards and incentives in recent times.

“There’s more to both than money,” he added.

He said attention and appreciation can come in many ways.

He gave some examples, including asking someone to do a job based on their talents and abilities rather than the grade they hold; organising workplaces as teams rather than hierarchical pyramids and ensuring objective assessments of performance at interview so promotions are clearly seen to be merit based.

“William James, the father of psychology, said arguably the most fundamental human need was to be appreciated,” he said.