I was chatting last week with Bob Stark, the former CEO and deputy minister of Service Ontario, about his work as chair of a partnership council that is championing the hiring of people with disabilities.

He was also reflecting on his experience in the Ontario Public Service (OPS), which followed a successful senior management career in the banking and telecommunications sectors. One thing that stands out for Stark was the opportunity to improve services for people in the province. He said few people outside of government have any idea of the huge complexity, challenging architecture and impact of increasingly partisan politics in the public sector.

Many public servants across the country would agree. We don’t talk enough about the skills and commitment that public servants bring to work every day and how much they accomplish in the face of significant challenges.

The vast majority of citizens go to sleep at night not worrying about the availability of hospital care, whether schools will be open in the morning or the quality of their drinking water. If asked, they would tell us that this is someone else’s job. Public servants are that “someone else” and if they drop the ball, there is no backstop. Every day, Canada’s public servants do thousands of things right. And yet they are mostly in the spotlight when things go wrong.

Canada’s public servants keep grinding it out with huge commitment, modesty and, a mostly inner, sense of pride. I asked a few public servants to comment on this.

Whether talking to public servants at Queen’s Park or in austerity-gripped Alberta, to recent recruits or seasoned veterans, everyone talks in some way about the ability to contribute to the greater good – to make a difference.

A seasoned OPS director with experience in line ministries and central agencies who now works in the provincial Cabinet Office, talks passionately about public service meeting a desire to help others. As a social worker for several years, she had supported people on an individual basis, but a move to the OPS opened the door to making an impact at a macro level. She says, “I have never looked back and feel very privileged to be in a position to influence the policy and decision-making process and to even have implemented programs to assist some of the most vulnerable in our society. I have been in the position of designing, developing and implementing provincewide programs on several occasions during my career. I am humbled by the trust that was placed in me.”

Jodie Bakker works for the public service in Alberta and also has some experience at Queen’s Park. She says she takes pride in making a difference or when tackling tough policy problems. “I feel committed when I see that my advice is listened to … when I get positive feedback from my peers and supervisor … or when I help an individual Albertan with a problem.” Bakker says that she has been fortunate to work for excellent senior managers and has learned that the quality of leadership is a large factor in building commitment to the organization.

A former Ministry of Labour colleague, who has since worked in several ministries, says that commitment “always comes back to this one basic thing – to make a difference for people and society as a whole. I have felt most proud when I have been part of developing a program or policy initiative that I know has made a real difference for people, and that this isn’t just PR but is true! I’m still driven by an ideal of a fair, just and equitable society where people are respected, valued and treated with dignity, and have opportunities to realize their potential.”

Rosalind Robertson is a policy adviser at Ontario’s Ministry of Health. She previously worked as a journalist for both the CBC and private broadcasters, and has also seen the world from the political side as a communications adviser to a minister. Like many other public servants, Robertson could make more money in the private sector but the values don’t work for her. She says public service is becoming an increasingly attractive career. “We have a very professional atmosphere with strict rules of conduct and protocol, and for many that's a relief. The idea of working to improve something bigger than yourself is becoming very appealing to people who are burned out by profit margins, left wondering how many designer bags or BMWs they really need to be happy."

Robertson says, “I've been able to see what I've worked to build, and see that it has had an impact, and that an idea I scribbled at 2 a.m. on a Saturday actually made life a little easier for people I've never met.”

At the same time, she says “we need people to understand that (public service) is an investment in keeping the lights on … the public service plays a critical role in implementing the policies that people vote for.” Robertson also takes on the fallacy of lazy and overpaid public servants. “Do we have deadweight? Sure, every organization does. But we're younger and far more nimble than I think anyone understands. While we have job security, we are lower paid than our private sector counterparts. We are pretty good value for money.”

While all this is great stuff, I hear broad and growing concerns from public servants about the rule-bound and risk-averse culture in public service organizations. A little bit of Google culture – which encourages more creative ways of working and fosters innovation – would be welcomed in government. Public servants at the provincial, federal and municipal levels are probably working on the business case already.

Dean: Public servants under pressure but make major daily commitments

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