By the Work, One Knows The Worker

The picture above is of school children playing in the snow at a school in Canada. Janet Daley happens to be from Canada. I always find her Telegraph columns stimulating reading. It is fair to say she hardly pulls her punches on most issues. I do not always agree with her ‘take’ on things, however, today’s piece got me thinking.

Last Thursday, I went to work as usual. It had been snowing overnight, however, I had a surgery to attend in Slough and a long list of patients to see. The thought of me not going to work never crossed my mind. Not only would I have thought it unjustified and unprofessional of me to cancel my surgery, I also, because I am self-employed, would not have been paid. And quite rightly so. To be honest, the roads in my area were completely fine. So I was surprised to hear that evening that my niece, who lives a few miles away from me, had not been to primary school . Reason? – according to the Bucks County Council site, teachers from her school (which I had actually driven by) were unable to make it into work! As a consequence of the closure, members of my family had to take time off from their work to look after my niece. How many other people had to do the same across the country? What was the cost to economic productivity of that single school closure? I have since read that absenteeism from work across the country on Thursday was up 300%.

Over the weekend, I found myself speaking to my grandfather about his attitude to missing work because of the weather. He told me a story from his working days, a period in British history when ‘good’ jobs were more scare. Apparently, he had agreed to perform a particular duty at work on a Sunday morning (no extra pay). Despite there being deep snow (much deeper than the few inches we all enjoyed last week), he trudged for six miles to fulfil his duties. “That’s what you did back then”, he said.

I guess my point is that getting to work on Thursday was about attitude. As far as I am concerned there was no reason not to attend my surgery. The ‘health and safety’ defence often referred to by schools and teachers’ unions clearly did not apply to GP practices or hospitals. It would appear to be about work culture. I have a friend who was undertaking her teacher-training attachment not too far from where I live. She left it part way through, citing one reason as being the ‘work-shy’ attitude in the staff room, where some were running a “sick leave rota”. Now, I accept that this may have be an isolated example, however, with the spate of seemingly unnecessary school closures last week, I am now not so sure.

I suspect the majority of self-employed people made it to work on Thursday. Small businesses cannot afford to take unnecessary time off. That got me to thinking about how schools are funded. Maybe schools should be run like small businesses? – independent status, teacher contract negotiation at a local level, share-options for successful teachers? Or would that be unfeasible? Pity if it was, because when it matters to your pocket, it is amazing what you will endure to get to work.