People have commented here and in other forums that a country is not a company and should be run very differently. I’m reading Henry Ford’s “Today & Tomorrow” at the moment and while my interest is predominantly manufacturing (as was his), Ford applied his principles of factory management to schools, hospitals, railways and farming. His take was that everything should be in private ownership as only then will real efficiencies become apparent.

His employees were the highest paid in the industry. His opinion was that his employees should also be his customers and that the more that people were paid, the more cars they would buy from Ford as well as being able to provide for their families quite comfortably. He did all this while DRAMATICALLY REDUCING the cost of producing a car.

He didn’t believe in a bonus culture or piece rate. All staff were paid a basic wage for working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week with no overtime. Some staff were members of trade unions but the unions never had a dispute because the staff were paid well above average.

Henry Ford was the most logical thinker of his time. He broke everything down to the bare facts and figures and saw everything as a process. He had TWO layers of management – Office (Administration) & Shop (Production). The supervisors in each area were also regular workers and only became supervisors if problems arose, which they rarely did.

My point is this. In the private sector, companies manage processes and find the most efficient way of doing each one. The best way today is not necessarily the best way tomorrow and people are encouraged the find new and better ways of doing it. In most cases, they are not given, nor do they seek, a bonus/pay rise/extra days holiday for doing this as it’s part of a very transparent agreement between the company and its employees.

The public sector is also made up of a number of processes. Different processes, perhaps, but no less complex than those in the private sector. Processing a passport application is a process. Teaching a child is a process. Open heart surgery is a process. You find the best way today, do it, improve it and get paid a fixed wage for doing so.

It is my belief that nurses, teachers, guards & other front line public sector staff should be paid €100,000 net per year. While members of the civil service are also public servants, they are the administrators of the state and as administrators, they should be paid accordingly (LESS, basically). In return they should be made to work harder, work longer hours with more defined targets, performance measurements and a simple, transparent pay scale with no bonus culture and no ridiculously archaic annual leave or privilege days attached.

Identify the process. Find the best way of doing it. Do it. Improve it. Repeat.

A country is not a company. But it should be run like one.

Sorry Susan, but you seem to have a type-O in the last para which changes its meaning completely. I think it should be ‘now’ instead of ‘not’. Forgive me if I have that wrong but it would seem to be more likely given the context of the article.