Vacant posts cause overwork, stress
Jun 09, 2009
IN the world of football, luck rules. Even with some of the stars missing, you can still bank on your team to excel, as long as it is organised, disciplined and motivated. But can the same tactic work in the office?
By Mathias Safari
IN the world of football, luck rules. Even with some of the stars missing, you can still bank on your team to excel, as long as it is organised, disciplined and motivated. But can the same tactic work in the office?
The credit crunch has forced many organisations to lay off workers without substitution. And it may be tempting for any cash strapped manager to maintain the small number even when the credit crunch has receded. But can a manager keep his organisation at excess capacity, and benefit from lower operational costs?
Prof. John Munene, an organisational psychologist at Makerere University Business School (MUBS), says employees will not only be overloaded, but also mix up different tasks. And this, he observes, has bigger consequences, such as stress, inefficiency and missed deadlines.
Above all, there is no morale among employees, says Adoniah Nuwagira, a local human resource researcher and personnel officer at the defence ministry. “The worst case scenario is when the workers decide to slacken, saying ‘boss we are breaking our back so fill in the missing post’, yet they may be dodging the very work they should be doing.â€
While vacant posts could make the surviving staff respect a manager for not laying them off, the respect is short-lived. “Employees may pronounce you (the manager) unfit,†observes Charles Omagor, a lecturer of business ethics at MUBS. He argues that the vacant posts may be kept when the organisation is only hard pressed to do so, but this should be communicated to the staff members.
Some people have traumatic experiences about working amid unfilled posts. Tom, 38, a graduate teacher, was too greedy to resist the handsome profits offered by this situation.
“I thought I had outsmarted everybody by ‘eating’ a salary for three vacant posts for about a year, but the school went down and my career fell flat,†regrets the former promising head teacher whose career has now stagnated.
Nuwagira says an effective manager should always try to get the vacancies filled to avoid the loss of organisational culture. He emphasises that while there is a type of worker who will shoulder any extra load, leaders should be prepared to:
Explain the cause of the vacant posts and how long it may take to find suitable candidates. This minimises uncertainty.
Negotiate with the workers about the input. Don’t give empty promises.
Set interim targets, but let the members reach the way forward as a team. Extra work is always stressful, so aim at getting everyone’s goodwill.
Those who shoulder the overload deserve extra motivation in form of rewards and bonuses to make them not “feel usedâ€.
In case the vacant posts are a result of a bigger issue like lack of funds or shortage of qualified candidates, let them know.
There is a breed of workers who will spread lies and rumours with the aim of deepening the crisis, or even creating one where it never existed. The burden of filling a vacant post should never be used to bargain for more privileges.
IN the world of football, luck rules. Even with some of the stars missing, you can still bank on your team to excel, as long as it is organised, disciplined and motivated. But can the same tactic work in the office?
The credit crunch has forced many organisations to lay off workers without substitution. And it may be tempting for any cash strapped manager to maintain the small number even when the credit crunch has receded. But can a manager keep his organisation at excess capacity, and benefit from lower operational costs?
Prof. John Munene, an organisational psychologist at Makerere University Business School (MUBS), says employees will not only be overloaded, but also mix up different tasks. And this, he observes, has bigger consequences, such as stress, inefficiency and missed deadlines.
Above all, there is no morale among employees, says Adoniah Nuwagira, a local human resource researcher and personnel officer at the defence ministry. “The worst case scenario is when the workers decide to slacken, saying ‘boss we are breaking our back so fill in the missing post’, yet they may be dodging the very work they should be doing.â€
While vacant posts could make the surviving staff respect a manager for not laying them off, the respect is short-lived. “Employees may pronounce you (the manager) unfit,†observes Charles Omagor, a lecturer of business ethics at MUBS. He argues that the vacant posts may be kept when the organisation is only hard pressed to do so, but this should be communicated to the staff members.
Some people have traumatic experiences about working amid unfilled posts. Tom, 38, a graduate teacher, was too greedy to resist the handsome profits offered by this situation.
“I thought I had outsmarted everybody by ‘eating’ a salary for three vacant posts for about a year, but the school went down and my career fell flat,†regrets the former promising head teacher whose career has now stagnated.
Nuwagira says an effective manager should always try to get the vacancies filled to avoid the loss of organisational culture. He emphasises that while there is a type of worker who will shoulder any extra load, leaders should be prepared to: