adminPeter Sibanda Business Correspondent
The WHY of work is a very sensitive and emotive question that confronts us every day; just like whether we are paid only for being fruitful or also for just being present at work. Various debates have been raised by researchers and practitioners as to what comes first in the world of work; happiness or productivity. It reminds us of the chicken and egg argument; what came first, the egg or the chicken?
A lot of employees go to work with high expectations of happiness there, at times forgetting that they are supposed to go to be productive and value adding.
Of course these two are closely connected.
In fact, there is a world of research which confirms the link between employee well-being, which brings happiness, and productivity.
It is argued that happy, engaged employees are worthy for the organization.
They are associated with high interest alignment, they demonstrate organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB), produce better results, and are eager to exhibit discretionary behaviours.
Here is the catch; many organisations end at analysing these ‘happiness’ metrics, and put less concern on the consequence or at times primary driver of these: productivity.
Are employees being productive? How do we know? Or do we know?
It is on rare occasions that discussions about employee productivity as a precursor for happiness is discussed.
Ironically evidence from the various goings-on in Zimbabwe’s employment relations point to the fact that the workplace expected and supposed to first be pleasurable before we are productive.
Whilst I buy a lot of that, considering that a pleasurable place to work stimulates employee productive behaviours I mentioned earlier on, and that employees naturally get inclined to the workplace as they spend more time at work than with families and friends, so that the workplace naturally becomes the first family, which supposedly should have memorable experiences, there is an element of goal displacement, where employees go to work expecting happiness instead of being productive.
The primary purpose of an organisation is to maximise on shareholder value.
The business of a business is the business itself. As a result, the only available space for employee happiness is if they are value adding in terms of the corporate objective(s).
Securing jobs for the sake of it is generally not a responsibility of companies, unless members are value-adding.
The aim of happiness inducements therefore is, and should be, to stimulate productive behaviours that sustain business viability overtime.
Yet paradoxically in a typical Zimbabwean organisation this equation is marginalised in daily discussions. Wages are ranked highly as a motivator, and major source of happiness, albeit very limited conversations about productivity and organisational efficiencies.
Resultantly what we see is more and more pressure for wages, so that processes such as arbitration are now the main fora for dealing with wage disputes.
Elements of corruption, bloated salary structures, unresolved wage disputes etc, whilst they may be explainable in various dimensions, point to the heightened employee proclivity on happiness before productivity, whether these are junior employees or senior managers, individuals or groups.
It largely explains why a lot of companies are dipping in under-performance.
The focus on happiness before productivity is not, however, one of malice.
Everyone wants happiness.
But there is the rub.
When we go to work with a mentality that the company has an obligation to make us happy, we become corrupt especially in circumstances where the company is not fulfilling that ‘obligation’.
This fulfilment and obligation incongruence results in active attempts to get even or ‘cheat the system’ in order to achieve happiness.
Productive behaviours are then misdirected to now focus on personal gain, usually at the expense of the company.
One of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by the late Stephen Covey focuses on the need to seek first to understand before you are understood.
Effective communication becomes of paramount importance. Organisations are created, sustained and changed through talk.
Therefore open and serious discussions about productivity and efficiency and how they responsible for happiness of employees should be made in organisations if any jobs are to be saved, if companies are to survive and compete, and if companies and employees are to avoid over reliance on alternative dispute mechanisms in resolving wage disputes. In many instances they do not really provide alternatives.
Law and the role of the state in dealing with work and wage issues is very critical, but not conclusive.
We still need to have both parties in the employment relationship to understand the big picture; that economics sets the foundation for understanding men and women in employment and also that efficiency and productivity are fundamental elements that deliver happiness.
Indeed it is productivity gains that increases the size of an employee’s pockets.
In one of these rural shops I got interest in a small portrait written; TO LIVE LIKE A KING, YOU MUST WORK LIKE A SLAVE.
Online Reporter