Will public sector performance survive the cuts? by Angela Baron

As the axe fell on the public sector in the guise of the comprehensive spending review, the world changed for public sector workers.  The traditional reward for a life of public service was a secure job and income which if not in the fat cat stakes of private industry was at least linked to a well defined career structure and grading scale, with an attractive pension at the end of the rainbow. 

But will the cuts make such a vast difference?  We have seen significant erosion of the traditional public sector employment contract with outsourcing transferring everything from bin collectors  to school support to private companies.  Some lucky private sector workers – see the recent press on vice chancellor’s pay – have seen their reward escalate to rival that of their private sector counterparts. Management initiatives to create better business understanding and efficiency have made the public sector a much less cosy place to spend a career and the harsh reality of targets has increased pressure to perform in line with private sector counterparts and beyond.

Without doubt many public sector workers had already begun to feel the cold winds of change blowing through their terms and conditions.  Many were finding themselves in a more highly pressurized environment of short term targets and accountability and later entrants struck much less attractive bargains with employers.

But despite change the public sector has still been able to rely on people’s willingness and desire to offer a good service.  Most teachers want to do the best for their pupils, social workers put the needs of their clients first and carers have a genuine capacity to help others.  What these cuts risk is cutting into that sense of public service that permeate the public sector and impacting on the “psychological contracts” individuals are willing to make where monetary reward becomes relatively less important that job satisfaction or personal achievement.

If good service – as all the indicators implies – depends on good people willingly giving their best efforts to the job, who are engaged with their work, what are the implications beyond the jobs that will be lost, for the people left behind?

The lessons of so called “survivor syndrome’’ have been learned the hard way in many private sector organizations.  A 10 per cent reduction in the workforce is likely to result in a much high reduction in output as loss of morale, increased feeling of stress and insecurity and people hunkering down behind the barricades unwilling to take risks and sacrificing team work in favour of self promotion, affects their  performance.  What then for public service and the “Big Society”?  How are unemployed public sector workers going to feel about volunteering to provide the services they used to be paid for?  What message does that give about their worth to society?

Without a doubt managers in the public sector have a hard task ahead.  Even those who don’t find themselves in the unenviable position of deciding who goes and who stays are going to have to wrestle with the inevitable fact that everyone will be re-assessing why they are there and what they feel they are owed.   

However necessary it may be, society has just told large numbers of public sector workers that they are expendable and that the services they provide is a luxury we can no longer afford.  How managers are going to maintain performance and attract good talent in their future when its needed is a question many will be pondering in the months to come.