My friends always joke that I find the world’s slackest jobs … but this time I’ve outdone myself! I’ve started a new job working for a part of my government and I seem to have walked into an episode of “Yes, Minister” (UK program about the mechanics of government for those who haven’t seen it).
I feel like I’m the little boy standing there pointing out the emperor has no clothes … but this time there is no work!
The area I work for has been set up to rehome bunnies (of course not really … but let’s just go with the theme!). This week we have been advised by the legal department that the legislation does not actually allow us to legally rehome bunnies. Not only are we not allowed to rehome them, we’re not allowed to find them, name them or even talk about them with anyone else.
So there is a decent sized team of multiple managers and staff … and we’re NOT allowed to do what we’ve been employed to do.
The area has been given millions in funding … they have been set up for a couple of years … they have had wonderful documents produced, bunny privacy protocols, bunny governance procedures, consulting with the public about bunnies, not to mention memorandums of understanding and agreements with other potential bunny rehoming groups.
But they don’t DO what the documents say they do!!! Nobody actually thought to check the law to see if it was possible.
How can I sit down each day and pretend to work for something that can’t be done … and wont be done until the law changes (give or take a couple of years for that to happen - and it may never happen)?
These are my country’s taxes at work (or non-work as it seems). I’m accepting payment for rehoming bunnies but I will never facilitate rehoming a bunny. Apart from the ethical considerations - the boredom is going to kill me.
(no real bunnies were hurt in the writing of this email)
Congratulations for having a conscience. Personally, I’d look for new work and then blow the whistle on them by notifying the media of how they are wasting taxpayers’ money.
Anyone with a job in the public vegetable patch has had a Yes Minister moment. One day at work I was involved in a discussion about how to placate some taxpayer whose file we had lost. Only the night before the episode Official Visit had been on TV. It contains the gem:
‘The matter is under consideration’ means we have lost the file. ‘The matter is under active consideration’ means we are trying to find the file.
Convert your function into discretely lobbying sympathetic legislators to introduce the proper bills to enable your nominal function. Explain how the bunny rehousing is being delayed until the law is amended. Three possible possible outcomes:
A: There is outrage over bunny homelessness and there is some legislation passed to allow you to do your jobs;
B: Your department is identified as “waste” and it and all your positions are cut thus helping balance the budget and relieving you of your burden;
C: You’re ignored and Opal continues doing nothing about it
Figuring the likelihood of either scenario left as an exercise to the student.
I’d look for something - no harm in looking. And if you find something better - then off you go. In the meantime, make the best of a bad situation. Is there a way to turn this department into something worthwhile? If you can’t rehome bunnies, maybe the laws would let you spay and neuter bunnies.
From experience, I can say that there is no more of a demoralizing, existential threat to self that to be greatly underemployed. It is just horrible to sit there, being paid well, and doing minimal to no work. It took a long time to wrap my brain around it and come up with coping skills to manage the boredom. In the end, I determined that I should be thankful for *a job *when so many do not have one, and to look around for other challenges or taskforces in the workplace that I can participate in. Good luck, hang in there, keep you ear to the ground, network, and when an opprotunity presents itself, jump on it.
Mistakes are made everywhere. You could have been hired to work on the 2012 version of the Edsel. It wasn’t your mistake, and, from what I gather, it wasn’t really an intentional thing, so there’s no real whistleblowing obligation.
I say, see if there are any vaguely bunny-related things you can do at work, possibly preparing for the time when bunny housing legislation does happen. And take the opportunity to do volunteer work and other personal stuff (especially what you can legally get away with – as a volunteer theoretically on your own time – for NGO bunny-help organizations). Possibly you could keep an eye out for other jobs within the government; that’s often easier than hiring from the outside.
I agree with this. And ethics aside, it means that in the interim, you’re not advancing your career. You’re not acquiring new skills and the ones you already have are being dulled. Plus what are you going to tell an interviewer when they ask what you’ve been doing in your current job?
I can understand the quandary, but if it wasn’t you in that position, it would be someone else, wouldn’t it? Unless they don’t re-hire, and let the department die of attrition. I’d stay and keep on looking for a real job. And who knows? The bunny re-homing legislation might pass sooner than expected, and then you’d be in business! The boredom is a killer, though. I like my jobs busy so that the days pass faster. It does take a long time to surf the Dope properly, though.
My advice, pick any of the following: Use your time to draft model legislation that would allow your department/ministry to assist in rehoming bunnies. Donate part of your salary to charities that are actively and successfully rehoming bunnies. Explore the files and organize them if they need organizing.
Once you have a good understanding of how staff and management deal with time on their hands, you can decide whether going to the press would result in getting the dept/ministry to do what it set up for.
Best of luck and I applaud you for having a conscience and a sense of ethics. Regards,
You were hired to do a job and it is not your fault that you are not allowed to do it. If you have the ability, you can try to find other things to do that might help the greater good. Obviously you should prepare a plan in case the powers that be decide to punish you for their mistakes.
Do not sacrifice yourself on the godless altar of ‘moral correctness’ when it comes to working in government. You will be very much alone, your sacrifice will likely benefit people who do not share your morals or deserve the benefit your professional suicide provides, and if things work out you will miss the opportunity to do the good work you are there to do.
Finally, you have an obligation to yourself. If you are employed you are not straining already strained resources for the unemployed, you pay taxes and you help keep our economy rolling.
If you have the possibility to do something positive please do so, from the safety of your current position.
