Discussions about productivity often involve incentivized people vs. hourly employees. I saw good examples of both while on vacation last winter. Three different groups were working within view of my balcony one day. One was a city crew, one a mower company and the other a landscape firm. They arrived simultaneously.
The Mower guys* unloaded their gear and were working within minutes. The same for the landscape people** who were spreading mulch almost before their wheels stopped turning. The city employees*** hadn't got out of their vehicles yet. Their job apparently was to empty trash barrels and tidy up a public area which would fit in a small corner of the private properties being serviced by the obviously incentivized people.
It's probably no surprise that the mower and landscape guys were packed up and gone long before the city employees were through with their little chore. Just from their demeanor I could tell those paid by the hour and those paid by the job. The city people walked like they were in slow motion while the private enterprise folks hustled every step of the way.
Years ago Dr. Herb True, speaking at one of our conventions, said, "If you want to solve monetary problems in government, put 'em on commission." With all the budget double talk going on now, maybe that would be a good suggestion.
* 3 people in 1 truck
** 4 people in 1 truck
*** 5 people in 2 trucks plus a supervisor in a station wagon. No wonder so many government entities are broke.
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