Civil Servant Uniforms?

Friday 24th of February 2012 08:14:24 PM

There’s a lot of satire being written right now about government employees or civil servants. They are under verbal attack from the private sector because in many countries they hold the most secure jobs and have the best benefits compared to the non-government employees. Recently one satiric essay said that the civil servants my need to start wearing uniforms made of sackcloth so they could easily be spotted. Once spotted, the masses of unemployed and underpaid private workers who are victims of the recession could jeer at them and let them know exactly how good they have it.

Of course, the essay was satiric as mentioned. But it does bring up a good point. Employee uniforms certainly do make employees stand out in a crowd. Wearing clothing that identifies a person as working for a particular company or government agency is good advertisement for the business (or government agency) and also promotes a sense of unity. That is not what the satirist had in mind but that doesn’t change the fact that promotional clothing provides a number of benefits.

With governments everywhere digging out from the recession, civil service workers are having to make a number of pay concessions. Being under fire from the private sector has made many civil workers feel as if they are not appreciated for the good work they do. Perhaps governments will find a way to balance the need to cut spending without forcing government employees to take deep cuts in pay and benefits. In the meantime, maybe we should implement one of the suggestions of the satirist. We could make anyone elected to office wear a toga with a purple sash as their uniform. That would certainly make them easy to spot…maybe too easy!