Ulrich Silberbach: Dare to do more for public services!

Without investment and innovation in public services, Germany will not be able to meet the existential challenges of the future, the dbb warns.*

“Digitalisation, climate protection (including the ecological transformation of the economy) education, social changes, social cohesion, immigration; we will not be able to tackle these future challenges without an efficient and motivated civil service that is properly equipped in terms of staffing and technology”, said dbb Federal Chairman Ulrich Silberbach at the opening of the dbb Annual Conference in Berlin on 10 January 2022.

With staffing stretched to an absolute limit and often antiquated technology, the civil service has practically been undergoing “a permanent stress test” for years. Employees have been waiting in vain for any display of appreciation and for employers and public authorities to realise “that it is high time to make long-term investments in their staff and to motivate them to stay by offering attractive working conditions”, criticised the head of the dbb. He also stressed that it was not the employees’ fault if the State was no longer functioning in ways that citizens had every right to expect. “If, as a result of political dithering and an obsession with the bottom line, we fail to futureproof our authorities and administrations over a period of years, we cannot feign surprise when disaster strikes”, said Silberbach. He went on to warn, “We cannot go on like this. A State that fewer and fewer people trust and that is failing to live up to their expectations is a State that can expect less and less from its people in return. If the cement holding our society together begins to crumble along with the civil service, if the system slowly but surely disintegrates into a number of component parts, we stand to lose social cohesion, respect for law and order, solidarity and respect.” There is also widespread frustration among employees about “staff shortages, increasing workloads, out-of-date technology and a web of bureaucracy which is stifling innovation and agility”.

The dbb chief outlined a clear roadmap for the sustainable modernisation of public services and stressed that time was of the essence, “We simply have to act now”, Silberbach urged. In addition to adequate staffing levels and attractive working conditions, public administration must finally enter the digital age. “Currently, we have a shortage of over 330,000 employees in the public sector. And that’s not all: almost 1.3 million colleagues are over the age of 55 and will therefore be retiring in the next few years. 1.3 million. How the federal, state and local governments are intending to compensate for this loss of know-how and manpower is still a mystery”, Silberbach emphasised. The already sluggish pace of digitalisation will not be enough to solve the problem alone, he said. Without people, there can be no State, and politicians should finally stop “constantly viewing employees as merely walking cost factors. Investments in public services are investments in stability, economic activity, education, security and prosperity.”

The dbb chief also called for greater respect and appreciation for the civil service in general. “Colleagues in the civil service must not be viewed as lightning rods for any policies attracting criticism. Those who bear political responsibility must make that clear time and time again and in no uncertain terms. Anyone attacking those who seek to represent and defend our State and the values it stands for is waging an attack on us all. That is why we expect more protection, more respect and more support from politics and society”, said Silberbach, also addressing the new Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, who is attending the dbb Annual Conference in person.

Livestream of the dbb Annual Conference 2022: https://www.dbb.de/veranstaltungen/dbb-jahrestagung/dbb-jahrestagung-2022/livestream.html

*Translation of the dbb Newsletter 04/22