Workers Paying for the Crisis Professor Phil Taylor University of Strathclyde 23 May 2012 Legal Services Agency Seminar Glasgow Crisis of Economics and Politics Catastrophic failure of the deregulated neoliberal economic philosophy that has dominated for decades ID: 745766
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "‘Performance Management, Lean and Sick..." is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
‘Performance Management, Lean and Sickness Absence Management – Workers Paying for the Crisis’
Professor Phil Taylor
University of Strathclyde
23 May 2012
Legal Services Agency Seminar
Glasgow
Slide2
Crisis of Economics and Politics
Catastrophic
failure of the de-regulated neo-liberal economic philosophy that has dominated for decades
Pain
inflicted on people from
years of corporate
greed
Been replaced by a form of
über
neo-liberalism
Austerity for the foreseeable future
– officially now a new recession –
Economist
makes grim reading
‘End of the World’
– Eurozone
–
several
elements to
crisis
Failure of austerity policies – in truth -
‘They Don’t Know What They’re Doing’
– except to make workers pay for a crisis not of their own makingSlide3
Illegitimate ConDem govt
– 36% voted for
Tories
on a 65% turnout means only 1 in 4 of eligible votes
Compare this with majorities
for action over pensions by
unions, or the British Airways cabin crew majorities
Therefore 64% of the electorate did
NOT
vote for….
...billions of cuts...NHS privatisation...attacks on the poorest…on H&S
de-regulation…for
the destruction of the public university...assault on pensions…’reform of employment relations’
O
ffensive on employment law and rights of workers
Based on the fallacy of getting rid of red tape making it easier to hire workers – no evidenceSlide4
unfair dismissal weakened – qualifying period to 1 year, affecting 2.7 m. workers
d
isproportionately affecting the most vulnerable – women and part-time e.g. 1.4 m.
p
-t women < 2 years
‘no fault dismissals’ –
Beecroft
– employers would not have to show that an employer was guilty of misconduct
n
o disciplinary procedure – no right to appeal at ET (except on discrimination) – wholly arbitrary
‘Grown Up’ or ‘Protected Conversations’ – govt. consulting – permit employers to have ‘frank and open’ conversations’ about performance or conduct
e
mployees can’t raise in future tribunal case – will reinforce bad practice and bullyingSlide5
fees for employment tribunal users – deter workers from making claims & undermine workplace rights
u
pfront fees in discrimination cases up to £1750
r
ole of lay members
redcuced
r
emoval of witness expenses
reduction on collective redundancies consultation period from 90 days to 60, 45 or 30 days
r
eview of TUPE rights
Equality Act (2010) consultation on whether to repeal specific protection from third-party harassment
a
ttack on health and safety legislation - Young
In sum – removal of many individual rightsSlide6
Employers’ Cost Reduction Strategies
STAR Slide7
Lean, PM, SAP - Work IntensificationMost important from the perspective of unions, their members - the ‘survivors’ of the job cull
An integrated and conscious managerial offensive that is squeezing every drop of effort out of workers
Workers paying for the crisis is translating into an unprecedented
intensification of work
Restructuring, re-engineering ,‘lean’, creative synergies
Equivalent or larger volumes of work being done with the same or more likely smaller workforces
Sheer intensity of labour during the working shiftSlide8
What is ‘Lean’?
A raft of management practices from the motor industry
Core thesis – orgs. which strip out wasteful (or non-value added) gain significant quality and efficiency advantages
Toyota Lean Production Model
Team became lean’s organisational form – so-called multi-skilling, task enlargement, worker participation in
kaizen
Lean
-
counterposed
to
Taylorism
- would
remove mind-numbing stress with ‘creative stress’, participation
etc.
Hence ‘work smarter, not harder’
mantra
Yet workers
’ experiences in autos and HMRC
- tighter
supervisory surveillance and control - narrow tasking
-
greater job strain and stress - managerial bullying - lack of voice
-
delayering
and ‘management by stress
’
Consultants and academics now applying
efficiency
savings to public sector, financial services, NHS
etc.Slide9
A brutalised form of Taylorism in HMRC
After Lean
95% say work ‘very’/‘quite’ pressurised
Volume, pace, intensity of work – hugely increased
‘After 27 years in the Inland Revenue following the introduction of lean, I am now deskilled, de-motivated [and] stressed-out most days, afraid to be sick, feel unappreciated, provide a poor service for customers, am not allowed to voice my opinion, looking forward to the day I can leave for good’.
(HMRC Worker, Cardiff)
Statistical
relationship between work intensity, time at work station, coming to work ill and frequency of symptoms Slide10
Daily/several times a week
Pre
Lean/PM
Post
Lean/PM
Admin
%
Supervisors
%
Admin
%
Supervisors
%
Mental fatigue3.84.05529Physical tiredness5.01.35129Stiff shoulders5.34.94117Stiff neck5.21.34018Stress2.41.33821Backache6.72.73212Headaches4.40.02818Pain/numbness arms/wrists4.71.32612Eyesight problems5.53.92311Blocked nose3.81.4168.2Sinus problems5.22.6156.8Sore throat0.40.09.25.5
Frequency of Symptoms/Complaints Pre- and
Post-Lean/PMSlide11
Ill-health Symptoms and Time at Work Station
Time at work station
<85% 85-95% >95%
Daily/several times a week
Mental fatigue*** 47 42 62
Physical tiredness*** 45 43 62
Stiff shoulders 28 38 45
Stiff neck** 29 38 47
Stress** 31 33 42
Backache 25 32 44
Headaches 21 26 33
Pain/numbness in arms/wrists* 17 24 31Eyesight problems* 15 19 29Blocked nose** 5.0 15 22 Slide12
What is Performance Management?
M
easurement of performance central to management
Aligning individual with organisational objectives
HRM literature – gives a positively Orwellian account
‘
Agreed
’, ‘
shared
’, ‘
mutual expectations
’, ‘
dialogue
’, ‘support’, ‘guidance’ Performance Appraisal previously an ‘annual ritual’Questionable link between effort and rewardPAs annual, 6-monthly – always subjectivity problem PM not periodic and retrospective but continuous forward looking and shifts to disciplinary purposePerformance Improvement, PIPs, Managing Performance, PIMs, IIPs – the real bite in PMPre-dated the crisis but then accelerated by itSlide13
Micro-measurement and micro-management of individual performance – facilitated by technologiesQuantitative
outputs and targets
KPIs
, SLAs – determined at the top, ‘
cascade down
’ through tiers of managers, to
TLs
and then
workers
Remove the discretion of the FLM – tight links in the chain of command –
‘nothing to do with me’
Managers given targets for the numbers of ‘managed exits’, underperformers, SAP actions etc.
Even the so-called
measurables are ‘pseudo-science’ - parameters and definitions set by managementSubjectivity of so-called objective criteria Slide14
The 6 Stages of Performance Management
First Day at Work
You Listen to Stevie Wonder
Everything is WonderfulSlide15Slide16
The 6 Stages of Performance Management
2. After 3 Months- Targets Get Hiked Up
You Listen to
Motorhead
You Have No idea If You Are Coming or
GoingSlide17Slide18
The 6 Stages of Performance Management
After 9 Months – You Are An Underperformer
You Listen to Napalm Death
Your Day Starts at 8:00 and Ends at 20.00
You Go Mental
Slide19Slide20
The 6 Stages of Performance Management
4
. After 12 Months – You Are Put on a PIP
You Listen to Hip Hop
Your Are Passive/Aggressive Most of the Time
You Put on Weight – You Are StressedSlide21Slide22
The 6 Stages of Performance Management
5. After 15 Months – You Are Given a Warning
You Listen to Gangsta Rap
Your Have Seriously Considered Gunning Down Your Team Leaders
You Fall From Bed Every Day
You Live on Chips and CaffeineSlide23Slide24
The 6 Stages of Performance Management
After 18 Months – You Listen to Glee
You Have Totally Lost ItSlide25Slide26
Qualitative behaviours and attitudes
NAG e.g. 13 different behaviours ‘delight the customer’, ‘speaks up’, ‘shares ideas’
‘Do what is right for the customer, community and organisation, putting aside own agenda’
‘Act like the owners of the business…’
Mmmmm
The ‘new model worker’, subservient, smiling, superhuman,
selfless and
stressed
Can’t just come to work and do your job well and be supported
The
organisation wants
your labour, the value you create and your very being and soulSlide27
The Performance Management Bell Curve
10%
10%
15%
15%
50%
Serious under
performance
Below
expectations
Meets
expectations
Above
expectationsExcellentperformanceSlide28
Companies reluctant to admit they use Bell curve or say it is only for indicative purposes‘It was being used absolutely and to the letter’
(Bank C)
Changed criteria -1s and 2s both underperformers
‘Round table process’ or ‘
G
randparenting
’ – to prevent FLMs from inflating scores – fixed pot of money
Bank branch of five – 1 placed in each category
Speed of managing people out - 12 weeks, 6 weeks
Scale of intimidation – in one bank 10% on actions
E
xcellent in all categories but one and then
PIP’ed
Sinister practices such as the ‘car park conversation’ Compromise agreements – most common reason ‘to remove an employee…without the risk of legal challenge’Slide29
Sickness Absence Management
Worsened by Sickness
Absence
Management
‘
Sicknote
Britain’
and duvet days - a
myth
N
ew
procedures and harsh implementation of existing policies - all absence illegitimate
Presenteeism rather absenteeism is the problem People attend work unwell or return prematurelySackings on grounds of ‘capability’ and breach of triggers – Bradford factorAppalling instances of brutal managerialismWelfarism a distant memoryNew Welfare Reform Bill – Cameron’s crusadeSlide30
Sickness and Ill-health
A
ppalling insecurity, vulnerability and indignity
Bullying is systemic not the individual manager
‘The organisation always seems to know who are the most fragile people to be picked on’
Protections being systematically stripped away
2009: MSD– 538,000 cases SDA– 415,000 cases
‘We had an incident in one of our centres last year where a woman locked herself in a room and said she was going to commit suicide. She was under a PM procedure and she had not told her husband. The company was clearly trying to exit her. It was a really, really sad case’.
(Unite National Officer)
Manager hanged himself in a telephone exchange
Prospect and other unions have Samaritans on webpageSlide31
The Vicious Circle Slide32
What Can Be Done?
U
nions indispensable for protecting health of members
Evidence of successful defence of individuals e.g. DDA
Unions conducting H&S and stress audits at work
Employees should not be punished for a crisis they did not cause but encouraged to perform effectively
Employer strategies using punitive PM and SAPs are short-
termist
and counter-productive
Enormous commitment of managerial time and resource
The Bell curve should be rejected as inapplicable to employee performance – in principle and practice
Public exposure of the worst cases of ‘new tyranny in the contemporary workplace’
Opportunities to organise, recruit, represent and resist
From individual representation to collective organisation