THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9406290110
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Tuesday the suspense ended.
The city manager announced that 39 city jobs would be eliminated. Some were a surprise. Others were expected.
But, at least, the city now can settle back down to work until something else comes along to create consternation within the ranks.
The announcement several months ago that the city would cut some 50 jobs from the city payroll pretty much was accepted as a sign of the times.
Nobody liked to think his job would disappear, but a majority of city employees seemed resigned to taking the medicine of the 1990s.
Weeks ago consultants came to town and talked to people in all departments. From many sources, I've heard they did an excellent job of interviewing around City Hall. Those who participated appeared to respect the consultants.
Everybody then waited to hear the recommendations from the Raleigh, N.C., firm.
Then, the city manager appeared to change the game plan. City employees heard that he would pass the recommendations to a management team for their comments and then he would make the final decision.
Immediately, many employees began to believe the proposed layoff no longer would be a level-headed, impersonal elimination of jobs. Instead, they believed, the involvement of anyone in City Hall in the final recommendations would allow personalities to enter into the decision making.
Over the past 10 to 15 days, morale at City Hall has been in a downward spiral. Everybody who had ever expressed an idea that might have differed from top management began to feel uneasy.
``Everybody's jittery,'' a worker - whose job was not on the line - told me recently.
At Monday's last-minute attempt to assemble employees to push for employee involvement in discussions of how to economize, only about 40 people showed up at the City Hall plaza. Many, many others peered out from the windows on every floor of the building and from the police department, but apparently felt too threatened to participate directly.
Some reported that they were ``advised'' by their bosses against participation.
Although it came too late, the proposal submitted by those who did gather is the very essence of Total Quality Initiatives (TQI), which was adopted by the city several years ago. The proposal suggested that a group of non-management employees could find many ways to make city government more efficient; however, nobody wanted to hear the employees any more than they really wanted to hear the consultants.
In fact, the TQI director was one of those positions that was eliminated in Tuesday's staff cut. That's no surprise because the TQI process never has become part of the city's big picture. So far, TQI seems more lip service than reality because it never seems to get past the wall that surrounds top management. But that's another story for another day.
Basically, the whole situation surrounding the work force reduction has been clumsily handled. The very fact that city employees believed the manager was changing direction in the middle of the process was the real turning point. Zig-zagging on any issue destroys any faith the average city workers might have in the system.
There's no doubt that taxpayers want a leaner city bureaucracy. But it's highly questionable that they want city workers who don't trust the management and don't believe in the future. Taxpayers know they aren't getting their money's worth when people are more concerned about keeping their jobs than about getting the job done.
People work better when they feel good about their jobs. Everybody who has ever worked knows the importance of feeling vital to the operation.
We also like to believe that our opinions and ideas are valued. If we happen to disagree with the boss on occasion, we like to believe that the boss will listen without getting in a huff. Even if nobody listens, we like to be secure that we can say what we think without endangering our jobs.
Some of the best employees of the city or any other business that needs creative thinking and solutions are those who do have differing opinions. The way things are at City Hall right now makes life hard for straight-forward people with good minds.
The lay-off now is settled. Friday, July 1, marks the beginning of a new year for the city.
A good resolution for the coming year would be a concerted effort to eliminate fear and distrust among city employees by directly involving all 1,800 of them in an effort to make Portsmouth a better place.
That's what the ``City of the Future'' is all about. by CNB