Productivity: My effort… my pay!
Are Ghanaians productive? Is productivity important at all? What is the measure of productivity in Ghana?
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For instance, what is the measurement of the productivity of the police officer who stands at an intersection with a torch light to direct traffic when there is no power?
Is the productivity of the officer measured by the fact that by some fortune drivers are able to decipher what is meant when the torch is thrown to blind the eyes, and thus stop; or is productivity measured by the prevention of accidents merely because the torch is shaken vigorously at vehicles and in confusion drivers stop?
Has the police officer through providence that daily favours all and prevents self-created intentional and unintentional misfortune, been productive?
Productivity
Productivity is a technical economic word and indicator.
Businessdictionary.com defines it as “a measure of the efficiency of a person, machine, factory, etc., in converting inputs into useful outputs.”
ILO measures it as “output per person or output per hour worked, i.e., as the productivity of labour input.”
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) of Ghana defines the term in its Training Manual for Labour Studies on Productivity and Work Ethics (2011) as “the indicator "that tells how well an organisation (individual, enterprise, industry or country) is doing in terms of converting resources (labour, materials, machines, etc.,) into goods and services."
Productivity offers a measure of economic growth, competitiveness, and living standards within a country.
Labour productivity, therefore, can simply be said to be a worker’s contribution to the wealth created in an organisation, with the tools at his or her disposal.
It is from this wealth that the worker should benefit, based on contribution, measured through his or her performance.
These are the ideas that undergird the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) for its sustainability and equitableness, and which is now to be applied for several reasons.
Chief among the reasons is that the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) is currently costing about half a billion dollars in the payment of the salaries of about 600,000 public sector workers.
Thus, the value created through work by employees of the public service must be what sustains the spine.
Challenges and propositions
But productivity as an economic concept is easy to grasp, but may be difficult to apply in Ghana.
Many experts have concluded that the Ghanaian culture impacts greatly on the productivity of workers.
A Daily Graphic article on July 25, 2012 quoted a consultant of the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI), Mr Osei Antoh, as saying that Ghanaians have no idea of what productivity entails.
For him, the way Ghanaians walk, not smartly but relaxed, all point to the fact that the idea was lost on them.
Productivity as a cultural manifestation was also emphasised at a Fair wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) round table discussion on the concept on April 14, 2014, as a precursor to the national productivity forum, which is to take place by the end of 2015.
The forum brought together Prof. Stephen Adei, the former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Aministration (GIMPA); Dr Wereko Brobbey, energy expect; the acting head of the civil service, Nana K Ayekum-Dwamena; Dr Shaibu Ahmed Gariba of the MDPI and other facilitators.
Prof. Adei, in his keynote on “Driving performance Productivity in Ghana: Getting it right from the onset,” noted that linking performance and wages in Ghana required a rigorous performance management regime, which was a cultural anathema.
He shared experiences of how such a rigorous performance management system instituted during his tenure at GIMPA increased productivity so much that the institution became very profitable, with personnel costs accounting for just 35 per cent of the total costs of running the institution.
In line with Prof. Adei's proposition, Nana K. Agyekum-Dwamena also mentioned a strong performance management system as foundational in instituting indicators for measuring performance and productivity in the public service.
One of the most appealing responses given on the need for productivity in an economy was by Dr Gariba.
He said a higher productivity impacted on standards of living through the availability of larger supplies of both consumer and capital goods at a lower cost and lower price, higher real earnings for citizens, improvement in working and living conditions, including shorter hours of work and the strengthening of the economic conditions of human wellbeing in the country.
For him, the drivers of productivity in Ghana would include the level of technological progress, the skills of the labour force, attitude to work, efficient use of resources and energy, as well as the weather, because of the country’s dependence on agriculture.
Dr Wereko-Brobbey in his presentation on building consensus said for Ghanaians to embrace the concept and apply it, productivity had to be promoted as an inclusive public good for all, and not a partisan private greed.
For him, an essential prerequisite in facilitating national consensus was for citizens and the government to be clear in their minds on the sacrifices and benefits to be made and achieved.
Giving the parameters of measuring productivity in Ghana, Prof. David Abdulai of the African Graduate School said the country's current productivity compared favourably with its peers in the sub region, however, its level of labour output per worker fell far below that of workers in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa.
Labour productivity in relation to the manufacturing sector, he added, showed that Ghana lagged significantly behind.
A productive spine
With these ideas, the FWSC has compiled the key action points and is in discussions with labour unions, economists and the private sector to firm up views to be tabled at the national forum.
In anticipation of the enhanced opportunities to be achieved with productivity, a Performance Management, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit has been established at the FWSC.
All must also anticipate the transformational changes that productivity would allow and join in the campaign.
Writer’s email: [email protected]