JEA Managers Face Difficult Task

Public managers do not have the same luxury their counterparts in private industry have when it comes to dealing with personnel issues. When crisis hits in the public workplace, the matter can become very transparent and public managers have to contend with public outrage and stringent worker protections. When economic times are tough, it becomes easy for the media to tap into negative public sentiment towards government and skewer agencies for palpable errors. Public managers must be cognizant of public sentiment and administer their agency in ways that bolster client opinion while maintaining motivation within their workforce.

The Jacksonville Electric Authority has had to face this challenge after a recent investigative report exposed numerous workers slacking on the job.  Bad media publicity about the quality of their linesmen could not have come at a worse time for JEA officials.  Already plagued by customers unhappy with increased fees and an ongoing criminal investigation into employee thefts; publicity on the laziness of their workers did nothing to improve a poor customer image. JEA managers now have an inordinately difficult task in regaining customer support while trying to discipline and restructure a heavily protected, union workforce.  If JEA managers are to succeed in this task, they will need to show the value their services provide to the community and demonstrate that they will no longer tolerate poor performance or criminal activity within their ranks. Motivating a beleaguered set of workers, who have been openly harassed by an outraged clientele, will not be an easy task.

However, JEA employees can be shown that they do indeed provide a valuable social purpose but managers must be specific in what they hope to achieve and provide ways that employees and customers can measure their success. If done properly, JEA officials can untangle the Gordian knot of problems they face and regain the confidence of a client-base by providing measurable goals that show their employees the value they are to their community.

When taxpayer dollars fund salaries, public scrutiny of job performance is always going to be high. JEA officials must account for the enhanced visibility their workforce is exposed to and instill in them a sense of purpose to serve the public.  If a workforce shows resolve in doing their job for the community, the public will notice and life for JEA managers will not be fraught with hostile customers and poor publicity. Workplace motivation and measurement can be an administrator’s best allies if their workforce is empowered with the belief that what they do has real merit and benefit.

Tags: City of Jacksonville, JEA

This entry was posted on Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 8:14 AM and is filed under Local Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.