Throughout high school, I’ve worked part time in small businesses to cover the expenses of tuition and school fees. My first job was at a beach-side restaurant. I worked at the Galley Patio and Grill for 3 years as a barista, cashier and line cook. The managers were constantly looking for ways to minimize costs and maximize efficiency. Every day something changed to make processes more efficient and employees more productive.

Some of my coworkers in the kitchen

Although I enjoyed the fast pace of restaurant work, the hours were inconsistent and I started working at a retail bakery franchise, Cupcakes, instead this September. Although there was still an emphasis on maximizing productivity, the work environment was much more relaxed.

This fall, I also worked for Elections Canada in a temporary position to carry out the federal elections. During my brief time as a Special Ballot Coordinator and Poll Clerk, I was appalled at the leadership and lack of organization from the company. For example, my coworkers would take half hour breaks, come back for 10 minutes and idly chitchat and then take another break. Vancouver Quadra and areas throughout Canada were extremely understaffed yet supervisors and management made very little effort to use resources efficiently. I heard that at some polling stations, 5 workers were assigned to check IDs when one would have been sufficient while they lacked employees to carry out other tasks that were more important.

I was surprised to learn that Elections Canada is a private company that holds a monopoly in this particular area but it explains this inefficiency. This company’s only ‘client’ is the federal government which funds the elections with taxpayer money. Unlike the other small businesses where I have been employed where the emphasis was on maximizing revenue, Elections Canada has a fixed budget with no pressure to minimize costs and maximize productivity. This resulted in supervisors allocating resources inefficiently and callously wasting taxpayer dollars.

References:

“Advance Poll Workers Decry ‘Absolutely Terrible’ Work Conditions.” Web. 19 Oct. 2015. <http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-advance-polls-1.3270865>.

“The Role and Structure of Elections Canada.” Elections Canada On-line. Web. 19 Oct. 2015. <http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=abo&dir=role&document=index&lang=e>.