The human toll of the way the job cuts are being managed came under the spotlight this week following revelations that a Justice Canada lawyer committed suicide after he and his wife received “affected letters” putting them on notice that their jobs were in jeopardy. The number of distress calls to the government’s employee assistance program has climbed steadily since the cuts began and insiders say there may have been as many as four suicides.
“I think the union and government have a responsibility to rethink how they are doing this. They have to sit down on this,” said Linda Duxbury, a professor at the Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business who has studied restructuring and stress in the workplace.
“The unions should take this as a wake-up call to have a discussion with the government on how this can be done quicker and fairer. I know the process is about fairness but this isn’t fair to anybody.”
Duxbury is taking aim at the process outlined in the workforce adjustment agreement unions negotiated to manage layoffs, which has resulted in thousands of affected letters being sent to employees who may not lose their jobs but who may have to wait months to find out.
Relations between the government and the 17 unions have always been rocky, but they hit new lows in recent years. Several union leaders say they are open to discussions and others argue the “labour unfriendly” Conservatives would never collaborate.
Andrea Mandel-Campbell, a spokeswoman for Treasury Board President Tony Clement, said the process the government is using is mandated by union contracts and previous efforts to meet with the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the largest of the unions, have failed.
“We have reached out to PSAC leadership on two separate occasions — last year and most recently earlier this month — to see how we can work together. So far we have yet to get a response, but we remain hopeful the union will be willing to sit down with us.”
Bill Wilkerson, co-founder of the Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health, agreed that the parties should have a “no-fault” discussion outside of collective bargaining to come up with a more “humane” approach to downsizing.
“All these affected letters and you may lose your job or may not and then having to compete for your job in six months, it is the crudest managerial tool I have ever heard of and beyond my comprehension,” he said. “I blame the union as much as the government. They have confused benefits and rights with common sense and decency and every rule ties a rope around people’s ability to function in a very real way.”
He also questioned whether the head of the Treasury Board should be a cabinet minister, whose first concern is always the government.
“Cabinet ministers by training and instinct don’t have any appetite to be employers so it’s easy for politicians to treat employees with disdain if it looks like it gives them credit for reducing the cost of government. That is where stress comes from … when your own employer stigmatizes their role.”
Wilkerson is an outspoken advocate for a national suicide strategy and has pressed for the federal government “to lead by example as an employer” and create a mental health strategy for its workers.
He said the Conservatives send conflicting messages as a government and employer. Prime Minister Stephen Harper put mental health on his agenda when he created the Canadian Mental Health Commission and Parliament overwhelmingly backed Conservative MP Harold Albrecht’s private member’s bill for a national suicide strategy.
Wilkerson says downsizing should be done quickly, “not by pulling the bandage off a wound a little at a time,” Duxbury says.
This drawn-out process of sending letters and forcing employees to compete with colleagues for their jobs is disruptive, demoralizing and all but killing productivity.
The workforce adjustment agreement, negotiated years ago, is highly complicated and has never been used for such a large downsizing. Some argue the economy, the nature of work, the way jobs are classified, the move to generic job descriptions, how merit is defined and even the composition of the workforce have changed since the deal was reached.
Duxbury said the mid-1990s, when the Liberals cut 50,000 jobs, were very different times for the public service. The economy was strong, Ottawa had a high-tech boom and the workforce was younger and had other job options. The government offered bigger packages to ensure “labour peace” and employees happily snapped them up. The government cut programs, devolved and privatized operations, but the vision and communications were clear.
“Ask someone today the goal of the cuts and they don’t know,” she said.
Today, workers are older and that, coupled with a wobbly economy, makes many fear they won’t land another job. Like all Canadian workers, many public servants are working longer and harder and have lost their “resiliency” and “can’t take another hit like they used to,” she said.
Managers don’t want to swap workers like in the 1990s so they can hang onto their best employees and don’t want to take on other departments workers in case more cuts are coming.
“So all this uncertainty and lack of control we didn’t see before … This has been going on like Chinese water torture and there could be more … It’s the incremental nature. People don’t know when it is going to end and how many.”
The public service has a reputation as one of the most stressed-out workforces in the country. The government’s disability claims have doubled since 1999 and half are for mental health claims. So far this year, claims are nearly 13 per cent higher and it’s expected mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, are driving the increase.
All departments give employees access to a 24-hour crisis line which screens calls and can refer employees for help. François Legault, the director of Health Canada’s Employee Assistance Program, said EAP gets some 40,000 calls a year and the number is increasing, particularly the “distress” or crisis calls. If the trend continues, he said the service could get 200 “crisis” calls compared to 167 calls last year and 120 the year before.
“So the indicators are more stress out there and public servants and their families are calling for assistance ... at a time when they are at the end of their rope,” he said.
Simon Hatcher, a professor of psychiatry at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Care Group, said employees who already depressed, anxious or suffer underlying mental health conditions are vulnerable to the stresses of a downsizing which can push them over the top. He said the rules of a bureaucracy adds to the problem.
“The public service doesn’t have a lot of flexibility so the way of addressing a problem is rigid and people who harm themselves have difficulty problem-solving and lots of rigid rules reduces their options,” he said.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Kathryn May
No comments:
Post a Comment