SSP Diaries | Time to change the mould

EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE grievance policies have been characterised by a predictable set of procedures since Independence, despite new laws and formulas being introduced to improve the way in which such matters are resolved at the workplace. It is still adversarial, packed with threats, aggression, a lack of trust, politically influenced in some cases, and overall, serve to maintain a status quo that continues to pit one against the other.

Frequent problem areas include, but are not limited to, junior doctors going on strike/sick-out; teachers taking industrial action; the police threatening sick-outs or even strike action; the correctional services, firefighters, NWC, and JPSCo employees threatening or taking industrial action to have grievances heard, decided, or settled. My argument is a simple one. There is nothing wrong in airing a grievance. I think that this is a good practice, one that should be encouraged and follow appropriate channels/processes. I have a problem, however, with the reaction to the airing of employee grievances by management.

NINE-DAY WONDER

In most cases, when a problem at the workplace arises, there is the tendency to hope that this is something of little consequence, something that is a ‘nine-day wonder’, not worthy of serious attention. What starts out as things that could be easily rectified, if addressed immediately, are left to fester and become ‘sores’ with little or no prospect of healing without prolonged treatments, involving many stages and even ending up in our courts of law.

The fact that employers often fail to listen to their employees results in huge losses of productive manhours, employee dissatisfaction and distrust, toxic workplaces, a lack of respect for the parties concerned in the environment, and the severe inconvenience caused by the lack of available services to the public.

For a country striving to achieve developed status, these actions continuously retard efforts and prolong the acceptance of what are unhealthy states of affairs, driving the economy into decline. Essentially, by virtue of the way in which industrial actions are addressed today, one is always trying to resolve issues long after they have surfaced.

Not only has there been a loss of respect for the working class, but the ‘them and us’ stigma continues to fuel the aggressive mode of dealing with issues as opposed to dealing with them in a more harmonious manner. We have mastered this methodology handed down to us from our colonial past. The mould needs to change, and it starts with our leaders, those who are more educated than their predecessors and should be presenting themselves as change-agents, the masters of proactivity, as opposed to bullyism and procrastination.

HARMONIOUS ENVIRONMENT

Leaders in the work environment must focus on getting the best out of their most vital resource, their human capital, and to do this they must not only provide the other resources necessary, but also create the processes, systems, and procedures that will provide a harmonious environment conducive to achieving desirable outputs.

What is the purpose of having highly educated and skilled individuals in the workforce today if we cannot improve the way in which we relate to each other to foster growth and development? How does one justify paying extremely high salaries, especially at the management level, if the organisation is frequently beset by disabling industrial actions?

In today’s global economies, full of high degrees of competitiveness, one must be mindful of all the negatives that impede development. If we fail to understand and address these problems, then someone will come from ‘outside’ and reap the successes we could have otherwise enjoyed, leaving us continuously struggling in a developing modality. The time to change this mould is now.

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