The Cost Of Treating Troops As Free Labor Providers

[Jarnhamar]

Having been a victim of this more times than i care for I thought it was a pretty good article to throw out here. 

http://taskandpurpose.com/the-cost-of-treating-troops-as-free-labor-providers/

Far too many leaders come at any problem with the assumption that labor is free.

It’s become almost a trope that government is less efficient and more wasteful than the private sector. Sometimes that’s true and sometimes it’s not. What is true is that most government organizations lack, at least relative to private firms, economic incentives in daily management decisions, particularly in regards to how managers use labor.

Not to descend into a dissertation on labor law and policy, but generally speaking, in the private sector, the people doing the grunt work are usually on some type of hourly wage. The more skill and expertise a job requires, the more that hourly wage usually is. The fact that these people are getting paid for every second they’re at work also means that business try to minimize how much time they spend sitting around. Businesses also try to avoid keeping them at work too long unless it’s essential, because extra time may require extra pay, e.g., time and a half. Even when it comes to salaried managerial employees, it’s usually considered wasteful to use them to do jobs that could be done by non-supervisors.

If a manager in the private sector used an electrician, earning $24 an hour, to answer the phone, he probably wouldn’t last long. More to the point, if he told his electricians to get to a job an hour before it started, just to stand outside in the cold waiting for the building to open, he wouldn’t just be fired, he’d be ridiculed first for spending his company’s money to get nothing done.

The military can’t, nor should it, pay its workers by the hour. And clearly a military organization can’t have such narrowly defined jobs that a service member can tell his noncommissioned officer, “Sorry, I don’t do windows.”

At the same time, pretending that we do pay by the hour can be a useful tool for the military. Far too many leaders come at any problem with the assumption that labor is free. We regularly use highly specialized and trained people to do menial tasks. We keep people at work, often doing nothing at all, just to make others who actually have things to do feel as though everyone’s suffering equally. We keep absurd numbers of people at unit “duties,” even though technology has greatly reduced the need to do so. Keeping people around doesn’t cost a unit anything, so why not do it?

Everything has a cost, whether it’s immediately visible or not. If the military treats labor as if it’s free, the bill eventually manifests itself as poor retention rates, mistakes at work due to fatigue, or negative effects on service members’ lives that eventually carry over to work.

For example, the Marine Corps started putting “firewatches” on every floor of every barracks as part of former Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos’ “Reawakening.” There may be an infinite number of universes, but in none of them does it make sense to have extra people aimlessly wandering barracks hallways in the middle of the night. Reserve units even started putting firewatches in hotels, even though the Holiday Inn already had it covered. In the eyes of the commandant, this created the illusion of greater order and discipline at zero cost. In reality, he was getting jets fixed by mechanics who didn’t sleep the night before. “But what if we ‘comp time’ them the next day?” you ask? Then his work just goes to his buddies who are then either staying late to finish the job or not getting it done at all.

Similarly, everyone in the military has endured the phenomenon wherein if something actually starts at 0600, each level of supervision pads the time by 10 or 20 minutes. Eventually everyone is standing around doing nothing at 0430. While being on time is important, the idea that labor is free means that the balancing act of cost versus benefit never occurs. The leader balances not getting yelled at for having his people late against no downside to him whatsoever, and tells everyone to come in ridiculously early. If his department had to write checks for that extra 20 minutes, he likely would’ve cut it down to five.

Not everything in the military can or should come down to direct dollars-and-cents analysis. Good order and discipline is hard to put a pricetag on. But, just because the military doesn’t pay by the hour doesn’t mean that time is free. The costs aren’t reflected in a balance sheet, but they are real, borne by the military and its people.

The military has a nation to defend, and things need to get done, but leaders at every level need to enforce the idea that everything has a tradeoff. Sometimes it’s essential that everyone stays late, but many other times it’s not. In either case, leaders need to balance the mission against the cost to personnel. When making a decision, leaders always need to ask themselves, Is the cost worth it?

 

[SupersonicMax]

I always tell my guys to manage their own time and as long as their job gets done on time, I will not get into their schedule unnecessarily.  It means if they have nothing more to do at 1330, they can go home.  But I also tell them that if I need them to pull a 12+ hour day someday that they better not moan and complain.

For the most part, they are on top (in terms of time), but I believe the organization benefits from people that are generally happier.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

My work unit is flexible because we treat it as a two way street, we are flexible on staff time as long as they don't abuse it and generally the staff will remind someone themselves not to.

 

[medicineman]

I always tell my guys to manage their own time and as long as their job gets done on time, I will not get into their schedule unnecessarily.  It means if they have nothing more to do at 1330, they can go home.  But I also tell them that if I need them to pull a 12+ hour day someday that they better not moan and complain.

I've seen that happen on more than one occasion where people are so used to getting off early that when it comes time to have to do work past when they THINK they're supposed to, that all Hell breaks loose.  I'm a firm believer of "If you've got nothing to do, don't do it here", but I'm also a firm believer in the "Work hard" part of "Work hard, play hard", so if there is something to do, you're there until it's done.  I'd also been party to people freaking out when they got called back in to work after hours for something that was decreed from well above anybody's pay grade that it would happen...many impolite words had to be said at those people who forgot we don't have an 8-4 job.

MM

 

[c_canuk]

How about all these bloody parades in NCR?

Is providing 200+ person days per year for activities such as, GoH for the assistant to the chauffuer of the MND of Pakistan, while the unit is at less than 80% of manning with a greatly expanding AOR, a wise use of our resources.

Another question I have, is the TB policy of billing for services provided to other departments being followed? I'll bet if the departments requesting these parades of over 100 persons for 2-3 days had to pay (~130pers x $150 x 2days = ~40K + transport, admin, facility bookings etc) out of their own budget they wouldn't be asking for them every other week.

 

[Kirkhill]

No sympathy here on Ceremonial Duties.

Ceremonial Duties are the first and most important of Influence Activities.  A Guard demonstrates "Presence".  It flaunts (or should flaunt) "Capability".  It shows "Respect".  It provides a visual demonstration of who is in charge.

 

[Pusser]

How about all these bloody parades in NCR?

Is providing 200+ person days per year for activities such as, GoH for the assistant to the chauffuer of the MND of Pakistan, while the unit is at less than 80% of manning with a greatly expanding AOR, a wise use of our resources.

Another question I have, is the TB policy of billing for services provided to other departments being followed? I'll bet if the departments requesting these parades of over 100 persons for 2-3 days had to pay (~130pers x $150 x 2days = ~40K + transport, admin, facility bookings etc) out of their own budget they wouldn't be asking for them every other week.

TB policy for charging other government departments for services rendered does not apply to labour.  In fact, it only covers incremental costs.  For example, if vehicles were required for a task, DND can charge an OGD for fuel, but not a rental fee for the vehicle (the government already owns it) nor wages for the people driving it or riding in it (they're already being paid by the government).

 

[daftandbarmy]

No sympathy here on Ceremonial Duties.

Ceremonial Duties are the first and most important of Influence Activities.  A Guard demonstrates "Presence".  It flaunts (or should flaunt) "Capability".  It shows "Respect".  It provides a visual demonstration of who is in charge.

It can also be done (more economically) by part timers, as is most ably demonstrated by the CGG et al in Ottawa.

 

[dapaterson]

It can also be done (more economically) by part timers, as is most ably demonstrated by the CGG et al in Ottawa.

1.  The Canadian Grenadier Guards (CGG)  are in Montreal.

2.  The Governor General's Footguards (GGFG) are in Ottawa.

3.  The Ceremonial Guard (CG) is a tasking, not a unit, located in Ottawa that does the changing of the guard on Parliament Hill, and mounts the guard at Rideau Hall during the public duties season (late June through late August).

4.  The majority of honour guards in Ottawa are not performed by the GGFG, CG or CGG, but rather by tasking NDHQ organizations to provide personnel who are pulled together on an ad hoc basis.

 

[daftandbarmy]

1.  The Canadian Grenadier Guards (CGG)  are in Montreal.

2.  The Governor General's Footguards (GGFG) are in Ottawa.

3.  The Ceremonial Guard (CG) is a tasking, not a unit, located in Ottawa that does the changing of the guard on Parliament Hill, and mounts the guard at Rideau Hall during the public duties season (late June through late August).

4.  The majority of honour guards in Ottawa are not performed by the GGFG, CG or CGG, but rather by tasking NDHQ organizations to provide personnel who are pulled together on an ad hoc basis.

Why?

Unless the Queen's in town, or something, that sounds like a huge waste of $.

 

[medicineman]

Why?

Unless the Queen's in town, or something, that sounds like a huge waste of $.

Because that would make sense...therefore the opposite must be done  8).

MM

 

[dapaterson]

Why?

Unless the Queen's in town, or something, that sounds like a huge waste of $.

Fixed vs incremental costs.  Full time pers are already paid; bring in class A reservists and the ingrates want to be paid for doing drill.

Plus, if you need a 100 man guard, how many class A reservists do you need to generate it - because Bob has school, Jane has work, Fred is on a T-cat, Alex isn't answering phone calls, so only George is available...

Remember, requests for guards do not come on a regular schedule, and do not occur only on Wednesday nights (or whatever the local parade night is).  They arise in the middle of the week, in the middle of the day, sometimes on short notice - the Chief of Defence of Fantasia is coming for a last minute visit, so the call goes out the day before.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Why?

Unless the Queen's in town, or something, that sounds like a huge waste of $.

Answer: Because it's a summer tourist staple in Ottawa.

A smaller version also goes on , again during the summer, at the Citadel in Quebec City, for the same touristic reasons

 

[Old Sweat]

Guards of honour in NDHQ have been provided by the "hey you" principle since about 1973 when the then-DCDS, Stan Waters, refused to task Petawawa for a guard as he noted, there were literally thousands of troops in Ottawa. I also suspect this was cooked up by him, the Comd FMC and, last but not least, General Dextraze, the CDS.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Guards of honour in NDHQ have been provided by the "hey you" principle since about 1973 when the then-DCDS, Stan Waters, refused to task Petawawa for a guard as he noted, there were literally thousands of troops in Ottawa. I also suspect this was cooked up by him, the Comd FMC and, last but not least, General Dextraze, the CDS.

Of course, because:

"Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it."

John Naisbitt

[lol:

 

[brihard]

1.  The Canadian Grenadier Guards (CGG)  are in Montreal.

2.  The Governor General's Footguards (GGFG) are in Ottawa.

3.  The Ceremonial Guard (CG) is a tasking, not a unit, located in Ottawa that does the changing of the guard on Parliament Hill, and mounts the guard at Rideau Hall during the public duties season (late June through late August).

4.  The majority of honour guards in Ottawa are not performed by the GGFG, CG or CGG, but rather by tasking NDHQ organizations to provide personnel who are pulled together on an ad hoc basis.

Since when is CG not a unit? A weird one, to be sure, and one that shrinks to a handful of pers for about half the year, but they have a UIC, an HQ, a chain of command with appointments including CO and RSM... I know it's semantics, really, but my understanding (including in my three summers there) was always that it was a legitimate 'unit' in any way the CAF reckoned the term... Not unlike the schools / training centres that will swell and contract seasonally.

 

[dapaterson]

Nope.  A UIC is an identifier of an organization - parts of NDHQ, which are not units, have UICs (which is not the correct term any more - they are DeptIDs).

Per the National Defence Act,

Units and Other Elements

Marginal note:Organization

17. (1) The Canadian Forces shall consist of those of the following elements that are from time to time organized by or under the authority of the Minister:
(a) commands, including the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force;
(b) formations;
(c) units; and
(d) other elements.
Marginal note:Components

(2) A unit or other element organized under subsection (1), other than a command or a formation, shall from time to time be embodied in a component of the Canadian Forces as directed by or under the authority of the Minister.
R.S., 1985, c. N-5, s. 17; 2014, c. 20, s. 168.

For the Minister to organize a unit, it requires what is called a Ministerial Organizational Order (or MOO for short).  No MOO, no unit.  The CG has no MOO.  Therefore, it is not a unit.

However, oddly enough, while the CG is not a unit, it does have a Commanding Officer.  Per QR&O volume 1, chapter 1, article 1.02,

"commanding officer" (commandant)
means
a. except when the Chief of the Defence Staff otherwise directs, an officer in command of a base, unit or element, or
b. any other officer designated as a commanding officer by or under the authority of the Chief of the Defence Staff;

The individual appointed CO of the CG is done so IAW sub-para b of the above.

Don't worry - most people are unaware of the "neither fish nor fowl" status of the CG - including people posted to it...

 

[Kirkhill]

It can also be done (more economically) by part timers, as is most ably demonstrated by the CGG et al in Ottawa.

No problem with that at all.

Even the Brits in Bearskins (woodentops all) only do ceremonials on a part time basis.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

TB policy for charging other government departments for services rendered does not apply to labour.  In fact, it only covers incremental costs.  For example, if vehicles were required for a task, DND can charge an OGD for fuel, but not a rental fee for the vehicle (the government already owns it) nor wages for the people driving it or riding in it (they're already being paid by the government).

I have seen this done inside the CAF though...no fin code?  No soup for you!

 

[c_canuk]

No sympathy here on Ceremonial Duties.

Ceremonial Duties are the first and most important of Influence Activities.  A Guard demonstrates "Presence".  It flaunts (or should flaunt) "Capability".  It shows "Respect".  It provides a visual demonstration of who is in charge.

I would submit that if we provide a GoH for persons less than a top tier dignitary, the person in charge is certainly not those providing it for the foreign national. I highly doubt that any visiting dignitary's agenda gets altered because of a GoH. Those are nice sentiments but they don't hold up to reality.

There are plenty of people around that they should not be pulling already undermanned people off of supporting the infrastructure missions are relying on, so we can have a bunch of human manikins standing pretty for what ever foreign national VIP comes to town. This crap is high on the top ten list of why NDHQ is seen as dysfunctional.

Based on the bottom of the barrel we end up scraping to get people on those GoHs, I highly doubt the effect is as you imply as well.

If it's that bloody important that we have to overwork our limited staff, then I suggest they have justification to beef up the ceremonial units in the area until they can handle the load. Sending techs to do drill when there are real missions ongoing is a blatant waste of resources. If the powers that be argue about not having funding for the cost, we're already paying it in lost capability. Find a way to bill for it.