When over efficiency means less productivity

I was, at first, speechless when I heard about an NHS friend who spend part of her work days perched on the edge of another colleague's desk because there wasn't enough space for her to work. I hadn't heard about the Government Policy, introduced in 2011 that for administrative areas, there should be only 8 desks provided for 10 people - this is called Agility working. Huh?

You can read about this cost saving exercise here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-property-strategy-cuts-millions-in-costs If you want to see the NHS business case document on how it is built into cases then you can find this here (item 23): www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/.../11/five-cse-bus-mod-chck-lst.docx 

Now I am all for cost saving and inefficiencies but there's something not working if someone is trying to do their job balancing their laptop on the corner of a desk, wires trailing, knees wrapped round edges etc. Apart from anything it's not respectful.  I'd not put up with it, but then, even in the administrative areas of the NHS, there's fear and concern for jobs.

[sigh]

I've not blogged for a while. I was waiting until I had something I really wanted to say.  I think it's time to speak out and to speak up. So I'm going to start doing just that.