8000 of Puerto Rico Government Workforce Fired on May 29th, 2009
Friday, May 30th, 2008 is a scary day for 8,000 Puerto Rican government workers. While I am among those calling for cuts and boosted efficiency, I have great empathy for them. I am sure their are 8,000 families feeling very sad, scared, and even desperate right now.a
However, you simply cannot have the government workforce bloated to such a large extend, while it goes bankrupt in the process.
The saddest part is that everything in Puerto Rico is so slow and difficult, you would expect the government workforce to be short-staffed, not overloaded.
Yet, these Puerto Rican workers had jobs. They were not out on the street selling cocaine or gunning others down with AK-47s in the barrio. I would like them to have their jobs back.
Please understand that does not mean, re-hire them on Monday and figure out where to get the money to keep the government afloat later.
The solution lies within those who STILL have their jobs: Get moving. Keep in mind there are still 30,000 left to go. Arriving to work each morning with the intent to do your job better, faster, more efficient, at higher quality. Play your role as a driver in economic growth of Puerto Rico, not a bottleneck. Serve the people. Become renowned for efficiency and speed. Do anything you can to save your job except one thing:
Don’t complain about the cuts and say it’s not fair without pledging what you are going to do to make yourself necessary.
Why should Little Luis Fortuno keep you on his team? Ask yourself a question and be true to yourself. Do you really show up for work with the mindset of how great a job you can do of service on that day? Or do you arrive waiting for lunch, and time to go home? Do you chatter, take personal calls on your cellphone, arrive late, leave early, and stonewall frustrated individuals who are seeking help from your department?
Now imagine how you would feel to wake up tomorrow and discover you have moved forward in time:
Your home is in foreclosure. There’s no milk or bread, and you have to call your Mom to ask for $20 to get some food for the kids. There’s a quarter tank of gas in the SUV (which, by the way, has an over due payment and no insurance). There is stress in your marriage because of it all. You’re depressed and afraid. Your heart raises when you think about it like the pre-cursor to a panic attack. You check the paper, and more jobs are cut. You check the job listings and there is nothing much listed. Your home and your family are at risk.
We are all subject to this, as we live in a capitalist society, where the bottom can really drop out from under us if we get too comfortable or have a run of bad luck or mistaken decisions (expecially financial ones).
For those 8,000 men and women stricken with fear today, the above may not be just a fantasy in a few month’s time. They’ll be advertising the SUV for someone to take over the payments. They’ll be putting their home on the saturated real estate market $40k under market value with no buyers. They’ll be enrolling their kids in public school. They’ll be accelerating the growth of their gray hairs and wrinkles, and fighting against a feeling of helplessness. They’ll be dying inside and showing it on the outside.
If you’re not among those 8,000, you might feel insulated. Humans tend to be so self-assured and arrogant somtimes. Yet, in the coming months it may very well be you.
Imagine if you did wake up tomorrow and that was your situation… and a booming voice errupted from the sky saying:
Give 110% of yourself everyday at work. Commit to that and you’ll awaken tomorrow with this day being remembered only as a bad dream.
Would you do it? Would you take the offer?
I know the answer is “Yes”. Arguably to some, there will be no booming voices in the sky. Your only chance may be right now to give that 110%.
When it comes time for names to start getting listed on the “fire list”, your 110% may be the only thing that will save you.
There are larger effects to consider. When you and your co-workers are all giving 110% every day, you can remove the bottleneck that slows everything down in Puerto Rico. You can help spark growth in the economy, remove the chains that hold people back and create underground economies. In the months and years ahead, those 8,000 brothers and sisters who were sacrificed before you may join you again, or may have built their own market opportunities in the stronger economy you helped power forward!
100% of what you have been giving is not enough. Exceed it by holding yourself accountable to new standards and move forward with the power of an ant, one step at a time.
The Insider
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