adminsentiments of independent labour consultant Mr Stan Takaendesa.
He contends that the only viable solution to the issue of remuneration in Zimbabwe is for the social partners to put productivity at the centre of remuneration policies in both the civil service and in the private sector.
“As wage negotiations tend to increase this time of the year, workers should appreciate the fact that they cannot negotiate for something that is not available.
“There is a general feeling among employees that firms are making super-profits, which is not necessarily the case. There is need for them to ascertain business norms and know what they are worth.
“Typically, workers get between 10 to 15 percent of a firm’s turnover, hence if they want a wage increase they should simply boost on their 10 to 15 percent through improving on productivity,” he said.
Mr Takaendesa explained that for every business there are certain norms that govern the distribution of a company’s profits between the respective interested parties (labour, shareholders, creditors, etcetera), which means that profitability does not necessarily translate to wage increases.
He added that at present, around 70 percent of workers in the local economy are not meeting their cost of employment.
He, however, adds a caveat in his analysis saying that this does not absolve companies that are deliberately underpaying their employees despite performing well.
The issue of unending wage negotiations is grounded in the fact that labour is clamouring for better remuneration that is at least at par with the country’s Poverty Datum Line, while employers are arguing that they cannot afford the salaries requested.
Another labour expert, Mr Memory Nguwi, contends that the fact of pegging salaries to the PDL is a dysfunctional model for Zimbabwean companies that are suffering from constrained production capacity.
He calls for productivity-based remuneration and incentives that are taxed at half the normal tax on remuneration, a move that he anticipates will greatly assist employees to benefit from productivity gains.
Productivity is basically a measure of output from a production process, per unit of input.
Australian productivity expert and founder of Resource Alternatives Australia Mr John Parsons, who was in the country recently, postulates that productivity, even at micro-level (organisational) is a critical element in a nation’s overall economic growth.
“It does seem clear that productivity is of paramount importance to both the survival and well-being of a nation, its enterprises and its people.
“The productivity process itself is a socio-technical phenomenon the outcome of which simultaneously determines the welfare of individuals, the competitiveness and financial success of enterprises and the sustainable growth of the nation.
“Economies grow because they either consume more resources and/or the rate at which those same resources are converted increases (that is, higher productivity),” Mr Parsons told participants at a Workers’ Committee Conference in the capital recently.
Online Reporter