Civil servants need a morale boost

IN years when the economy was booming, very few people chose the civil service as their career of first choice.

When times are hard, it is open season to bash civil servants generally. Under the terms of their employment, they have to be faceless. They cannot answer their critics.

Many of the leaders of the anti-civil service brigade are themselves members of boards in the private sector. They collect enormous sums just to nod through the annual report. The boards of most companies meet only once a year.

Politicians are quick to defend themselves whenever people dare to ask them how many days in a year does the Dáil sit. A Dáil recess — several times a year — gives a whole new meaning to the word “recession”.

The privilege days in the civil service occur at Easter and Christmas. It is not in keeping with the seasons of goodwill to begrudge workers a free day. They get very little in the way of perks, compared to the private sector. Higher civil servants get no pay for overtime. That is patriotism.

Most civil servants are not well paid. They have already taken two savage pay cuts in the last two years.

Wealthy people will always seek to shift the focus of the spotlight onto softer targets. Their usual strategy is to stir up a public frenzy to divide worker against worker. They always kick the most defenceless underdogs when they are down.

Allowing for national holidays and weekends, there are roughly 250 working days in a year. Two privilege days account for less than 1% of that number. Abolishing those two days would increase productivity by less than 1%. That will not solve our country’s financial annihilation.

A better way to increase productivity is to work smarter, not harder. We need to reward the quality of work more than the quantity of work.

One small and effective way to do that is to continue the practice of privilege days. Our leaders should encourage measures that boost morale in the civil service.

Michael Mernagh

Carrigaline

Co Cork