How does your company compare?

If you work in a large company, you surely know how hard it can be to get rid of dead weight. You probably know some people who aren't contributing, yet manage to stay in their jobs for years.

Now imagine if

• everyone that worked in your company earned a job for life on their 3-year anniversary, unless fired for cause.
  
• workers whose jobs disappear, because the company got out of certain lines of business or closed departments, continued to get paid indefinitely while they waited for reassignment, even if they refused to take another job within the company.
• all cases for firing, including blatant cases such as being knocked out drunk on the job, required a special investigation and an arbitration hearing, which can take up to 2 and a half years to start, 40 days or more in active testimony, and another year before an actual ruling, during which time the worker continued to draw a full paycheck.
  
• over 2% of your workforce drew a paycheck and showed up everyday in order to do absolutely nothing, because they were waiting for arbitration or reassignment.

Do you think you'd have any incentive or motivation problems? How much dead weight would you expect, not even counting the 2% known non-workers? Imagine trying to get something done.

Sadly, this is a description of the New York City school system. Reading this full article presents an even bleaker picture than what I've summarized. The hundreds of millions of dollars all these non-working teachers and misaligned incentives cost annually is the least of the real cost.

There are a lot of messages and conclusions you could draw from this situation.

One thing that struck me is that many great teachers and principals still take the job, put their hearts into it, and do great work. They deserve an even bigger commendation, and probably more money, than I originally thought, and that's saying something.

And it speaks to the power of a shared vision. Despite being surrounded by wreckage (don't forget the poorly maintained schools and sometimes unsafe working conditions), a strong mission and sense of purpose can really help people who want to do good work stay focused.

If you have any leadership responsibilities in your company, surely the barriers to changing things and creating the better environment aren't as great as the ones facing the school system's superintendent. What's stopping you?