Artikel 15: Er der nogen vindere ved de stadigt mere komplekse regler?

For english see below

Stadigt mere komplekse regler trækker et voldsomt spor af konsekvenser med sig. Da man i 1990’erne læste ”Hvad kan jeg blive?” stod der intet om Data Protection Officer (DPO) eller AML (Anti Money Laundering) Specialist eller ekspert i bæredygtighedsrapportering – jobs, som i dagens Danmark beskæftiger tusindvis af fortrinsvis højtuddannede medarbejdere.

En konsekvens af den høje kompleksitet er, at love og regler skrives af fagspecialister til fagspecialister – og det kommer der ofte ikke kun noget godt ud af, for resten af samfundets kobles af og forstår ikke, hvad der foregår. Det kan være slemt nok, at den enkelte borger ikke forstår indholdet af love og regler. Det bliver værre, når de, der lovgiver, heller ikke gør det. Der opstår en reel bekymring for, at politikerne stemmer regler igennem i både Danmark og EU, som de i realiteten ikke forstår – og heller ikke forstår konsekvenserne af.

Samtidig bliver man offer for en fagjargon, som for de fleste af os er fremmed. Arbejdstilsynet arbejder inden for arbejdsmiljø, hvor fagjargonen har domineret i mange år. Af deres hjemmeside fremgår, at man kan ifalde følgende reaktioner: Påbud med frist; strakspåbud (henholdsvis opdelt på ”ved betydelig fare”, ”ved overhængende, betydelig fare” og ”uden betydelig fare”); påtale; påbud med tilbud om dialog og vejledning; undersøgelsespåbud; aftaleforløb; administrative bøder og politianmeldelse.

Der er helt sikkert mange arbejdsmiljøeksperter, der er helt med på forskellene, men hvad med alle os andre? Vi er nødt til at hyre konsulenter udefra til at finde vej gennem junglen eller advokater til at udfordre myndighedernes afgørelser, fordi vi ikke kan gennemskue, om de er rimelige eller ej.

De mange regler har med andre ord skabt nye markeder og flere jobs. Spørgsmålet er bare, om det samlet set skaber værdi for os som samfund, eller om (nogle af) de ressourcer med fordel kunne anvendes på en for samfundet mere værdiskabende måde?

Hos Bridge Consulting lever vi af at skabe værdi for vores kunder. Derfor er det ikke specielt inspirerende at bistå kunder med opgaver, hvor kunden alene ser os som en uundgåelig omkostning påført dem af tåbelige regler. Men det er desværre det, vi risikerer.

Article 15: Are anybody winning from the increasingly complex rules?

Increasingly complex rules have a huge impact. When people read "What can I be when I grow up?" in the 1990s, there was no mention of Data Protection Officers (DPOs), AML (Anti Money Laundering) Specialists or experts in sustainability reporting – jobs that today employ thousands of highly educated people in Denmark.

One consequence of this high level of complexity is that laws and regulations are written by specialists for specialists – and this often does not lead to good results, as the rest of society is left behind and does not understand what is going on. It can be bad enough that individual citizens do not understand the content of laws and regulations. It gets worse when those who make the laws don't understand them either. There is a real concern that politicians in both Denmark and the EU are passing rules that they don't really understand – and don't understand the consequences of.

At the same time, we become victims of technical jargon that is foreign to most of us. The Danish Working Environment Authority works in the field of occupational health and safety, where technical jargon has dominated for many years. Their website states that the following reactions may be encountered: Orders with a deadline; immediate orders (divided into "in case of significant danger," "in case of imminent, significant danger," and "without significant danger"); reprimands; orders with an offer of dialogue and guidance; investigation orders; agreement procedures; administrative fines and police reports.

There are certainly many occupational health and safety experts who are fully aware of the differences, but what about the rest of us? We must hire outside consultants to find our way through the swamp, or lawyers to challenge the authorities' decisions because we cannot determine whether they are reasonable or not.

In other words, the many rules have created new markets and more jobs. The question is whether this creates value for us as a society overall, or whether (some of) these resources could be better used in a way that creates more value for society.

At Bridge Consulting, we make a living by creating value for our customers. Therefore, it is not particularly inspiring to assist customers with tasks where the customer sees us solely as an unavoidable cost imposed on them by foolish rules. Unfortunately, however, that is what we risk.