Civil Servants Shopping vs. Empty SEPE: Absenteeism on Display in Television
A television program shows civil servants browsing a mall while SEPE is unresponsive. Appointments must be purchased through kiosks.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Civil Servants in the Mall: The Apex of Absenteeism at SEPE
While SEPE offices accumulate complaints from citizens unable to secure appointments, a television program, 4 TV, has shown civil servants spending three hours in a shopping mall. The image is uncomfortable: the unresponsive administration versus the public service employee doing personal shopping.
Is this problem individual or structural?
SEPE and Prior Appointments: A Bottleneck with a Black Market
The prior appointment system has become a scarce commodity. Those who do not wake up early or manage the applications properly end up paying in kiosks for an appointment that should be free. The result is an administration emptying out internally while the citizen queues and pays for what they already fund with their taxes.
Picaresca as a System
The complaint is not exclusive to the public sector. In banking, employees arriving at the office with shopping bags at 13:00 has been described. Some view this as a national tradition of 'picaresca' (resourcefulness/scampers) that has deep roots, while others point to a problem of incentives: presence is rewarded, not performance.
In parallel, a viral video of Ursula von der Leyen in an empty room has been used as a mirror for power disconnected from reality.
If absenteeism is an individual problem, the solution is disciplinary. If it is a design flaw, the solution is measuring results. Television has brought focus to this issue, but the answer remains elusive: how many civil servants are truly at their posts?
While SEPE offices accumulate complaints from citizens unable to secure appointments, a television program, 4 TV, has shown civil servants spending three hours in a shopping mall. The image is uncomfortable: the unresponsive administration versus the public service employee doing personal shopping.
Is this problem individual or structural?
SEPE and Prior Appointments: A Bottleneck with a Black Market
The prior appointment system has become a scarce commodity. Those who do not wake up early or manage the applications properly end up paying in kiosks for an appointment that should be free. The result is an administration emptying out internally while the citizen queues and pays for what they already fund with their taxes.
Picaresca as a System
The complaint is not exclusive to the public sector. In banking, employees arriving at the office with shopping bags at 13:00 has been described. Some view this as a national tradition of 'picaresca' (resourcefulness/scampers) that has deep roots, while others point to a problem of incentives: presence is rewarded, not performance.
In parallel, a viral video of Ursula von der Leyen in an empty room has been used as a mirror for power disconnected from reality.
If absenteeism is an individual problem, the solution is disciplinary. If it is a design flaw, the solution is measuring results. Television has brought focus to this issue, but the answer remains elusive: how many civil servants are truly at their posts?
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (26 replies).
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