July 1999 Volume 80 Number 7 "serving the protectors"
Straight to the Point
By Trevor Haskell  - PASA Executive Committee Member

What Value A Committed Workforce?

It was with interest that I read Downside of corporate cost cutting (The Advertiser, 24.5.99) by David Eccles. It appeared below a larger lead on business confidence and cited a report from Drake International that had identified how “cost cutting and downsizing”, and the focus of companies on business restructuring has created an “uncommitted” workforce.

Drake consultant, Helen Ormond, indicated that such changes had created a mobile but not necessarily loyal staff. She said: “Employers had to urgently reinforce company values from the top down, as well as recognise and reward employee effort.” SA Employers Chamber policy manager, Adrian Dangerfield, offered interesting commentary: “If an organisation focused too much on its hard side, on structures and budgets, cost-cutting and efficiencies, to the exclusion of its soft side, the people side, it is obviously going to get things out of balance.”

What a pity that the item didn’t take it further; or that The Advertiser didn’t choose to flesh it out a bit. Here again is reinforcement that organisations are most often about people. Clients and workers. Ignore either at your peril.

The downsizing of SAPOL is part of a government strategy. It enforces its strategy by providing a budget to departmental CEOs that, in effect, forces workplace changes while claiming to be at arm’s length.

One of the achievements of the Hunt/Hurley era was to hold the line against such cuts, although less successfully in the latter period. Commissioner Hyde came in as CEO at a time when the Government decided it was timely to do a slash of SAPOL. He certainly accepted a tainted chalice but does not create the budget philosophy.

Anger about the hard-edge focus of SAPOL should be directed to where it deservedly sits - the Olsen-led Liberal Government supported by a National Party member and south-east Liberal independents. The challenge for government CEOs is how to implement “hard-side” government demands while maintaining a committed and loyal workforce.

Similarly, it is easy to focus on local managers as they look at the “hard side” or task-focused management. They are not the cause of the nature of the downsize nor of the reorganisation - that goes to the SEG, Focus 21 and the individual assistant commissioners and directors. Yes, it is right to hold each manager responsible for his or her behaviour and the style of his or her management. Yes, we can be saddened by lack of support or a lack of speaking out by management, and perhaps angered by “party-line” responses, but this is little more than personal survival for some of the managers.

Perhaps an opportunity sits before us. We, working managers and workers, all know that times are tough. It is hard work in all workplaces within SAPOL. Here is a time when both sides need to work together to ensure survival. Hopefully the workplace consultative committees can become an active, balanced venue for discussion and consultation. An opportunity to take the coffee/lunch room complaints into a forum that provides a positive venue for workplace problem solving that acknowledges the rights and needs of both sides. Good managers are, of course, already doing it.

The Quotes Say It All - Or Nothing

I could not find words that said it better about the Vin Conley issue than those attributed to “The acting deputy police commissioner, Mr John White” (The Advertiser, 22.5.99). The usual Focus 21 assistant commissioner is quoted as saying:

• “Sergeant Conley’s move from the fire unit did not match the way Focus 21 changes had been implemented generally.”
• “Sergeant Conley has a very deep experience base and in cases such as his, efforts are made to ensure that his knowledge and experience is used in future postings.”
• “However, I can assure the public, that SAPOL’s ability to investigate fires has not been diminished by reorganisation of our Fire Investigation Unit.”

Funny how non-SAPOL people think it’s a dumb move. Given that AC White is in charge of working smarter in SAPOL, I feel quite relieved and reassured that this is one of Focus 21’s best decisions yet. The arguments quoted above couldn’t be clearer nor more logical. It just about says it all.

Changes Planned For HR

The May 19 Gazette’s News in Focus section carried a recommendation that has worried a few. Item 9 states that a cross-agency working party is to examine options re flexible working opportunities for work injured and non-operational police...and the provision of a 20/25-year retirement scheme.

The redeployment option to the wider public service has been explored two or three times in my years at Welfare. I understand that at present no talks between SAPOL and PASA have occurred at a formal level. The options to be explored will be long debated given at this time the public sector is generally downsizing faster than SAPOL. They have many more hundreds of redeployees than SAPOL.

The 20/25-year retirement scheme is scheduled for discussion with a raft of superannuation fine-tuning issues. The PASA discussions are with Treasury and Finance and not formally with SAPOL at this time. It is an area of some appeal but it is early days yet.

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