Alfred Dawes | My job or de people dem wuk?

It is a struggle encountered by business owners at every scale – employees who show no sense of ownership of the organisation where they earn a living. This is evident in, as we say in Jamaica, a duncya (sp) attitude about minor details easily addressed but not a part of their job description, to actual dereliction of their duties because they are dissatisfied with their organisational status.

It is a standard operating procedure, especially in the government service, to do the bare minimum in order to guarantee a salary, and to do it with very little concern towards customer service. That is the primary reason why civil service reform by throwing more money into equipment and salaries is bound to fail. Jamaicans on a whole simply do not take pride in their jobs. Instead, they trudge painfully through tasks while doing de people dem wuk, and go home. It is not “my job”, where ownership and pride is taken in one’s work. It is de people dem wuk that must be done for only de people dem benefit and therefore the least is good enough.

Customer service is poor at most establishments, especially small businesses without an imported or legacy corporate culture. There is little regard for the paying customer who if they deal with you “a way” you have to show them that you are not taking it. It matters not who is wrong or right. It becomes about the ego of the employee at the expense of the reputation of the business.

A business owner once told me that it is the employee who gets paid the least who will cost you the most. Often those are the persons interacting the most with customers or executing the smallest tasks with the biggest risk of an avalanche if not done properly. They are also the most likely to be discontented with their salaries and working conditions.

The complexities of achieving growth and expanding in a developing economy are overwhelming for the small business owner. Not only is capital hard to acquire or simply too expensive, but finding the right staff can limit expansion even when the conditions are right for same. The education system continues to fail each generation and combined with a culture of low emotional intelligence, Vision 2030 is an illusion, not a dream.

LEAST PRODUCTIVE

Jamaican workers are among the least productive in the Western Hemisphere. The attitudes of workers towards the most basic of expectations, such as punctuality and decorum, often border on passive resistance. Educational attainment and level of employment have no correlation with poor work ethic. There are some in organisations who have reached the top because of proverbial links, or years of service. Many entities have a corporate culture whereby staff focus more on the process than the outcome.

I discussed this with a few of my staff members who reasoned that de people dem wuk mentality sets in when staff are demotivated or underpaid. They vehemently denied that they referred to their jobs as the people dem wuk but enquired about a salary increase just in case a name change started to take root. My research was cut short by the necessary deflection as this could have proven costly. It seems that a job that doesn’t pay well is often treated as a necessary evil in order to pay bills. There is no greater example than the healthcare sector.

Even if one goes to a hospital or clinic with the intention of improving their health and are happy with that outcome, they are invariably dissatisfied with the customer service. Staff morale is so low and the wages so out of sync with those in other countries, that healthcare workers can’t wait to migrate lef de people dem wuk. Ninety per cent of negligence claims reaching my desk as senior medical officer were traced back to not substandard medical care, but the attitude of the hospital workers delivering that care. If you are sick and go to a Jamaican hospital, you will feel better but you won’t feel good.

TIMELINESS IRRELEVANT

Other government entities are just as bad, if not worse. The process is more important – timeliness of same is irrelevant. Documents are stuck on the desks of vacationers. Permits are regarded as tools of oppression and favour. Offering guidance to applicants trying to meet a standard is not a part of their job description, which is to inspect and fail and inspect again until they get their act together. Meetings are held to discuss what will be said in meetings. When attendees run out of ideas, they repeat what was already minutes. “As Alfred was saying earlier…” and regurgitate and paraphrase without adding anything worthwhile. Matters arising dominate all-day meetings and the correction of minutes is more important than resolving those items. Same plot, different unit.

Low productivity is the Achilles heel of our growth agenda. No super ministry or growth council will achieve the fabled five per cent growth rate until we address the fundamental conditions that create de people dem wuk and the consequences thereof. Growth is not about throwing money into a pit or creating talk shops and retreats. If a paradigm shift in how we view our jobs and our productivity is not achieved, then all the fancy proposals and meetings will be a product of half-dead attempts at doing de people dem wuk.

- Dr Alfred Dawes is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, CEO of Windsor Wellness Centre. Follow him on Twitter @dr_aldawes. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and adawes@ilapmedical.com.