The hidden costs of cutting costs.

I was listening to a former policeman talking about the workplace cutting costs, overtime and the effect this was having on morale.
Some overtime is happy overtime – willingly taken to pay for the holiday or the new car.

But much of the overtime he described was unhappy overtime and the result of poor morale – a climate of stress, workload and powerlessness among police officers, in a work setting where they do not feel valued.

‘People used to be willing to do a little extra if necessary,’ said the officer, who now works in the civilian branch of the force.

‘Sometimes it happens at the end of a shift, especially if you’ve just taken someone into custody.’
But these days, he says, people aren’t willing to offer that discretionary effort because their workload is too much.

What they might have done once, quite happily, they no longer do…and so it becomes paid overtime, which is expensive.

There clearly needs to be a balance as the BUPA Workplace Wellbeing Census of 2019 reports that just over a third of all employees (36%) said their workload has a negative impact on their wellbeing.

It’s expensive for the police force – and also expensive for business, where good will is so crucial.

As Investors in People say, ‘The most important asset your company has is its people. The biggest asset they have is their health and well-being. It therefore makes good sense to look after it.’

If cutting costs in the workplace means cutting morale, it’s an expensive cut.

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