THE discussion on productivity is one that is done very much in isolation and as a result, it does not take into account certain types of workers.
This was one of the points brought forth by President of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), Akanni McDowall, as he delivered remarks yesterday at Browne’s Beach to mark May Day celebrations.
“The NUPW is certainly supportive of all efforts to make the public sector as efficient as possible. However, we find that the discussion about productivity is done very much in isolation, as it does not take into account the plight of temporary public servants who wait upwards to three months to be paid; the many public servants who have not been appointed or even given an opportunity to act in higher positions; the public servants who are being asked to revert to their substantive post because of the new qualification order; and the public servants who have not received a salary increase in almost a decade.”
He stated that this is because in the public sector, a top-down approach is still very much in effect and therefore, not all of the affected stakeholders are involved in those discussions.
“In the public service, a top-down approach is still very much being used, hence the operational core of departments are not involved in the discussion of the goals and objectives or the planning of activities.”
In addition, there is very little research relating to the productivity levels for persons in the public sector in comparison to those in the private sector. More effective
research must be done in this regard.
“Furthermore, there is limited research of productivity levels in the public sector as compared to the private sector. Therefore, it highlights the need for research on productivity levels in the public sector, which would of course mean improvements in the data collection methods. Nonetheless, we believe that public servants have been more productive since thousands of public servants were retrenched, yet Government is still able to receive the same level of output.”
McDowall also stated that these discussions have to include all of the obstacles that are present in the workforce.
“The discussion, therefore, has to include all the factors that influence and impact workers’ ability to be productive. Many challenges lay ahead of us. We have an ageing population and increasing dependency ratios. We therefore need greater output per worker to sustain the ageing population. Also, with globalization, there is a need to reduce cost and hence, increase productivity.”