Now that the union is gone the VA leadership team in Colorado just dropped a pile of sh*t on MSAs. The MSAs had ben repeatedly by both HR and the Director that the mandatory overtime would end in October. Yesterday in a meeting the staff were told that even though they were going to be hiring new employees that the mandatory overtime is now permanent. These workers did not sign up for this and the VA leaders are ignoring all of the medical research out there about the negative effects that over time has on workers. For leaders in a health organization they have no understanding of basic health concepts and should be fired for this lack of knowledge let alone their bad business decisions.
This isn't all that happened in the meeting. The leaders in the VA are also wasting money on new software. Here's the kicker, they are not giving any formal training to employees on how to use the technology. They said a email will be sent out, but an email does not replace active learning/teaching. This means that employees are just going to have to wing it with the new technology. Not only does this not support employees in doing their duties, but this lack of formal training is going to negatively impact the veterans. Without training the employees are going to be slower then they would have been with training or if they would have been allowed to just keep the systems they already know how to use. Time issues have long been plaguing the VA with veterans having to suffer in the slow downs. I personal know about how slowly the VA is with experience from what my family members have dealt with. New technology that employees are not trained on will also lead to mistakes. Mistakes in the medical field can cost lives, but the current leaders do not care about this.
Some more info on lack of training:
Jones, M. (2023, August 16). The consequences of a lack of training in the workplace. Connecteam. https://connecteam.com/e-lack-of-training/#:~:text=The%20consequences%20of%20a%20lack%20of%20training%20include%20high%20employee,engaging%2C%20accessible%2C%20and%20impactful.
-The first paragraph alone shows the issues with no proper training.
NASA. (n.d.). Evidence report: Risk of performance errors due to training deficiencies - NASA technical reports server (NTRS). NASA. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20160003868
-Even though this article focuses on trainings more related to working at NASA, its comments about general training still hold true.
Pearson, C. (2024, June 14). What if your employees can’t use Tech?: The hidden costs of neglecting training and change management. Your IT Department. https://www.your-itdepartment.co.uk/employees-cant-use-tech/
-This website shows how issues about rolling out new technology without employee training are well known.
Weinstein, M. (2021, September 27). Should you force technology change on employees?. Training. https://trainingmag.com/should-you-force-technology-change-on-employees/
-I like that this article focused on the "if it's not broke, don't fix it." If it is broke you should work with the subject matter experts (the workers) about what needs to be changed to fix things. Time and again in my career in education I say leaders become victims of tech companies selling them on the idea that their technology will solve all of their current problems and have bells and whistles that will distract leaders from issues with the new technology. An example of this is when the Colorado Community College System decided to waste millions on the new technology Navigate when the Banner/DegreeWorks systems they already had could have done much of the same things if they were just willing to turn on certain features. Leaders are taken in to just by new and roll out new technology without getting feed back from the workers that will be dealing with the technology. These leaders are also mostly cut off from the actual work and do not understand what the real issues are that cause problems. Now with the VA not doing the employee survey they will be even more cut off. This creates blind leaders that waste money and make bad decisions.
Kennedy, E. (2025, January 9). How the Lack of Training Affects Your Organization. The Training Associates. https://thetrainingassociates.com/lack-training-affects-organization/#:~:text=Training%20is%20essential%20for%20upskilling,minimizing%20legal%20and%20financial%20risks.
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