They’re a popular target among the tabloid press and often touted as a reason why public sector spending – especially in the NHS – is very high, but cutting administrative and ‘woke’ jobs will not only do nothing to help fix the NHS and would actually make things even worse.
In fact, we actually need more admin staff and woke jobs.
Let’s start with admin staff. If you ask most people on the street or politicians how we can save money on healthcare spending they’ll likely say through getting rid of the pen pushers. In many ways this is understandable, they hardly seem like a priority when compared to surgeons and nurses. What is more, people are likely to point to the high number of people already in these roles.
While it is true that the NHS does spend a lot of money on admin and it does hire a lot of people in these roles, the proportion is much lower when compared to many other health systems. The simple truth is that things such as admin and HR needs to be done and it has to be done by somebody if things are going to run efficiently. Do we really want highly skilled brain surgeons also managing HR or nurses booking appointments? Of course not. We want them to focus on using their specialist skills to treat patients.
We can probably find ways to reduce costs through automation when it comes to admin through automation. However, if we want to improve efficiency in the NHS then we will probably need to hire even more administrative staff, at least in the short term.
Let’s move on to ‘woke’ jobs. Roles such as Director of Equality and Inclusion are often subject to ridicule with people arguing that they’re a waste of money which could be spent elsewhere. Again, this is wrong and in reality we probably need more people in these roles.
Dealing with costs first. Yes, they obviously cost money and certain pressure groups and tabloids can rip the money spent on them out of context in order to generate headlines. In reality, the money spent is negligible in terms of the public sector budget, especially the NHS. You might as well suggest abolishing the paper clip budget if you’re concerned about public sector expenditure.
There is also an argument that these roles actually save the public sector money. Ensuring that workplaces are inclusive of everyone and that staff receive training about what constitutes discrimination or unacceptable behaviour massively reduces the likelihood of a worker suing their employer. The public sector already spends a great deal of money paying compensation to workers who have been wronged in some way, ensuring that people are not discriminated against should start to improve things.
There are other positive aspects as well. We know that there is a strong case for diversity, including in healthcare. What is more, if people feel comfortable at work then they are going to be more productive. Good management is about hiring the best people and getting the best out of them. As such, if we want our public services to be run effectively then we need far more people working in ‘woke’ jobs.
Roles such as Equality Director are particularly important in public services such as the police. This is also true of painting police cars rainbow colours and police officers attending Pride events. Again, it’s easy to decry this as virtue signalling or a waste of money but it is actually incredibly important.
This is because the police has a shameful track record of racism, homophobia, and misogyny which unfortunately still persists. Given the vital role of the police in society, it is right that they do not use their immense power in a disproportionate way against minorities. What is more, there is a lot of distrust towards the police from people from ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities due to the way they have been treated by the police. As such, it is important that they rebuild the trust of these communities. Hiring more EDI roles and attending Pride can help with this.
This is a quick blog post because, you know, it’s Christmas/New Year. We need more pen pushers and woke workers. Thanks for reading. Now back to the Baileys!