When you read that statement did you think, yes, the moreI do the more they give me to do? As a manager it is very tempting to pile onthe work to someone you know will do a good job as opposed to someone whowon’t. This is how ambitious people have proved themselves in the past and youmight think that in the current climate with reorganisations, outsourcing andredundancies people might feel they can’t say no. But I have noticed a newphenomena, managers who don’t take work home at the weekend and evenings, managerswho take all their annual leave, who switch off their Blackberry at 5 pm on a Fridayand don’t switch it on again until 9am on Monday, managers who just do theirallocated hours and no more.These managers recognise the reality of the modern PublicSector, they have experienced reorganisation and redundancy, they accept thatthere is no job security, no value in loyalty and the only reward for hard workis more work. These managers are not de motivated or cynical they areconscientious and good at their job but they feel no loyalty to an organisationthat has no loyalty to them. If the work can’t be completed in the hoursallocated well so be it. If such individuals are not motivated by fear, driven byambition or sustained by a strong senesce of loyalty what implications doesthis have? On the positive side they will not oppose changes, will not resisttheir service being outsourced or view working for a private sectororganisation as a betrayal of principle. On the negative side they are notgoing to be inspired by a vision, they are not going to volunteer for extraresponsibility and they are going to expect to go home at five o clock.The Public Sector has always relied on “good will” peoplebeing prepared to do over and above what they are contracted to do and likemost organisations there has always been an assumption that there will bemanagers keen to impress their boss happy to take on more as a way of enhancingtheir reputation and promotion prospects. It will become harder to hide thecracks and fill the gaps as people are less willing to cover for absentcolleagues and increasingly ask difficult questions like what do you want me tostop doing in order to do this?Blair McPherson author of People management in a harshfinancial climate and UnLearning management both published by Russell House.Follow Blair on Twitter @blairmcpherson1
