asked the Minister for the Public Service if any comprehensive study of job satisfaction and productivity in the public service has ever been carried out; and if any regular monitoring of job satisfaction takes place.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Job Satisfaction and Productivity.
27.
No comprehensive study of job satisfaction and productivity in the public service has been undertaken. However, such studies have been, and will continue to be, carried out from time to time in particular areas of the public service. The regular monitoring of job satisfaction takes place as part of the normal responsibilities of management in the public service. I should mention that the gradual introduction of schemes of staff appraisal and development should make a significant contribution to increasing management awareness of the levels of job satisfaction among staff.
Would the Government be willing to consider introducing some scheme to fill this vacuum in the light of the Minister's admission that no comprehensive study of job satisfaction and productivity in the public service has been undertaken? Does he not consider that a body which employs tens of thousands of people should at least encourage its employees in every way possible to carry out their jobs in a way which would satisfy them and be useful to the public? I should like to ask the Minister if he agrees that there is evidence to indicate that not everybody in the public service is clear about what he is doing, why he is doing it or towards which goal he is working. Some sort of survey should be carried out.
The management services of the Department of the Public Service carry out regular work surveys in the civil service and while these are done for improving efficiency and cost effectiveness there is no doubt that job satisfaction is taken into account.
Would the Minister accept that in the absence of any sort of social goal for various elements of the public service inevitably there will be some sort of dissatisfaction by people in the public service with regard to the grey areas in which they are working?
If there was such dissatisfaction it would show up.
It is there. The Minister must have missed it.
28.
asked the Minister for the Public Service the present position on the implementation of the Aireacht system within the public service; if he is reviewing the validity of the system; and if he intends to extend it to all Departments.
The Government have decided to reorganise all line Departments of State, that is, all Departments with the exception of the four central Departments of the Taoiseach, Finance, Public Service and Economic Planning and Development, on the general lines involving an Aireacht and Executive Units recommended in the Report of the Public Services Organisation Review Group.
In the Departments of Health, Tourism and Transport, Industry, Commerce and Energy, Defence and the Environment, joint task forces from my Department and each of the Departments concerned were asked to recommend on the application of the concept on a trial basis. As a result, the concept is being applied on a trial basis in the Departments of Health and Transport and Power. The report of the task force in the former Department of Industry and Commerce was not accepted by the previous Minister for Industry and Commerce and a new task force is being constituted to update the report having regard to changes that have taken place since it was prepared. The task forces in the Departments of Defence and the Environment are expected to report during the current year.
As regards the other Departments it is intended that plans for reorganisation will be completed and that the new system will also be introduced as soon as possible.
It is, therefore, intended to extend the system to all Departments where it is appropriate. The Government accept the general validity of the concept which has been endorsed by the Public Service Advisory Council. This does not mean, however, that the review group's recommendations will be applied in every detail; any changes which are indicated as necessary in the practical application of the concept will be made. In this connection a study which is under way to review the system's effectiveness in the Department of Health will, I hope, result in the development of criteria for judging the effectiveness of administrative reforms generally.