Ever wondered why we have a plethora of resources, both natural and human, in Ghana but the average Ghanaian continue to be poorer and poorer every day of our lives.
If we take our working hours as an example, we engage in so much man/hour wastages that if such are converted into productivity we would not be where we are, all things holding constant.
Our compatriots in Europe and the United State of America (USA) report that they are expected to report to work at a specified time and no excuses are entertained if one fails to do so. You put a call through to them during working hours and you either have to speak to the answering machine or to be told it’s not an opportune time to talk. Sometimes they have to sneak to the restroom during working hours to take emergency calls.
Back home in Ghana we go to work and engage in so many non-productive activities that contribute to the reduction in man hours spent on actual work. Some people can be on the telephone for so long you’d wonder if that was what they were employed to do. All this while that file that must be updated would be sitting on their desk untouched, clients and visitors to the premises must wait for them.
Activities engaged in by staffs that contribute greatly to wastages in productivity at workplaces include long morning devotion prayers, long break times, leaving office for private businesses, and engagement in long unnecessary and unproductive meetings.
ENTERPRISE PRAYER SESSIONS
Now let take a look at morning devotion prayers that are held by most companies and organizations in Ghana before the start of the working day. These morning devotions prayers are undertaken in schools both public and private, and businesses and organizations both government and privately owned.
Let us assume that there are one million formal workers in Ghana and each one spent an average of thirty (30) minutes in morning devotion prayers. This translates to five hundred thousand (500,000) man/hours spent in a day. If we assume eight (8) working hours a day then we have 62,500 working days wasted in just one morning. On can only imagine the number of man/hours wasted in a week, month or the whole year due to just prayers. These devotions are not limited to the morning alone. Even though I recognize that these figure may be in the extreme it surely give indications of the amount of time we waste doing things that do not directly improve on or contribute to improvement of our organizations and businesses.
In Accra workers rush to various churches during the afternoons for midday prayers. The famous one is that which is organized by Archbishop Duncan Williams called the Jericho Hour. All these wasted man/ hours if properly converted to utilize could result in improved productivity increased bottom line.
I know this is a controversial monologue as most in Ghana are deeply religious and many want to adduce many supernatural reasons to why we must have morning devotions. When god created the world he gave it to us to continue to recreate, develop and change the face of the creation through hard work and not through prayers. I am by no means implying that prayers are not important but God used six (6) days to create the world and rested on the seventh day. This should serve as examples for us to engage productive work and use the Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays as the case may be to worship the Lord.
In some cases staff, employees and students are punished for not taking part in morning prayers. Colleagues may brand you Anti-Christ, Anti-religious for opposing morning devotions and other compulsory prayer times at work in favor of applying such times to productive work.
LONG MEETINGS
Meetings are another source of wastage of productive man /hours. Many organizations conduct or hold staff and management meeting monthly and weekly respectively. This may involve moving staff from their stations and congregating at one assembly point for a meeting that may last a maximum of one (1) hour if extraneous activities are cut off.
Modern technologies advances have made it possible for many forward looking organizations to cut down in wastages involved in long meetings by applying technology. Such technologies include Microsoft, Skype and Google hangouts which allow for video conferencing. Other platforms such as Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber among others. These allow for real time group meetings and fora. It beats my imagination why organizations are not making real use of those technologies.
The deployment of these costs next to nothing and the availability of broadband facilities by telecom providers have made it easier nowadays to interconnect. Organizations should leverage on these easy interconnectivity to conduct their meetings with the use of these technologies without the need for transporting staff all over the place to attend a two hour meeting. How many man/ hours would be saved if a simple forum is created for staff, management or board meetings? How much would it cost organizations to deploy video conferencing apps? The man/hour spent in commuting from one end to the other could be redirected into productive enterprise.
USING OFFICE FOR PRIVATE BUSINESSES
The average working hours in Ghana is 8 hours with an hour break for lunch which is almost no existent in the banking sector. Bankers normally go beyond the normal 8 hour working time to balance their books and prepare for the next day’s work. In some public institutions in Ghana an hour lunch break mostly extends beyond the stipulated time. This is the time some use to attend to private businesses such as going for their kids from school or going from office to office selling items ranging from jewelry to clothing.
I have not yet sighted any real scientific or empirical data on how much these cost the nation in lost [productivity but I can make a safe bet that it would cost millions of Cedis which would have gone to improve on our collective wellbeing.
In conclusion I believe that a conscious effort reduce the wastage in industry would enhance corporate productivity, increase teacher/pupil engagement time. This would improve the bottom line of organizations. I know that this sounds like humans are mechanical where social interactions at workplaces must be frowned on. I believe however that by streamlining these activities and clearly outlawing doing private businesses during office hours and enforcing sanctions applicable sanctions when one flouts these we would be able to improve productivity which could result in increased income.
If we take our working hours as an example, we engage in so much man/hour wastages that if such are converted into productivity we would not be where we are, all things holding constant.
Our compatriots in Europe and the United State of America (USA) report that they are expected to report to work at a specified time and no excuses are entertained if one fails to do so. You put a call through to them during working hours and you either have to speak to the answering machine or to be told it’s not an opportune time to talk. Sometimes they have to sneak to the restroom during working hours to take emergency calls.
Back home in Ghana we go to work and engage in so many non-productive activities that contribute to the reduction in man hours spent on actual work. Some people can be on the telephone for so long you’d wonder if that was what they were employed to do. All this while that file that must be updated would be sitting on their desk untouched, clients and visitors to the premises must wait for them.
Activities engaged in by staffs that contribute greatly to wastages in productivity at workplaces include long morning devotion prayers, long break times, leaving office for private businesses, and engagement in long unnecessary and unproductive meetings.
ENTERPRISE PRAYER SESSIONS
Now let take a look at morning devotion prayers that are held by most companies and organizations in Ghana before the start of the working day. These morning devotions prayers are undertaken in schools both public and private, and businesses and organizations both government and privately owned.
Let us assume that there are one million formal workers in Ghana and each one spent an average of thirty (30) minutes in morning devotion prayers. This translates to five hundred thousand (500,000) man/hours spent in a day. If we assume eight (8) working hours a day then we have 62,500 working days wasted in just one morning. On can only imagine the number of man/hours wasted in a week, month or the whole year due to just prayers. These devotions are not limited to the morning alone. Even though I recognize that these figure may be in the extreme it surely give indications of the amount of time we waste doing things that do not directly improve on or contribute to improvement of our organizations and businesses.
In Accra workers rush to various churches during the afternoons for midday prayers. The famous one is that which is organized by Archbishop Duncan Williams called the Jericho Hour. All these wasted man/ hours if properly converted to utilize could result in improved productivity increased bottom line.
I know this is a controversial monologue as most in Ghana are deeply religious and many want to adduce many supernatural reasons to why we must have morning devotions. When god created the world he gave it to us to continue to recreate, develop and change the face of the creation through hard work and not through prayers. I am by no means implying that prayers are not important but God used six (6) days to create the world and rested on the seventh day. This should serve as examples for us to engage productive work and use the Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays as the case may be to worship the Lord.
In some cases staff, employees and students are punished for not taking part in morning prayers. Colleagues may brand you Anti-Christ, Anti-religious for opposing morning devotions and other compulsory prayer times at work in favor of applying such times to productive work.
LONG MEETINGS
Meetings are another source of wastage of productive man /hours. Many organizations conduct or hold staff and management meeting monthly and weekly respectively. This may involve moving staff from their stations and congregating at one assembly point for a meeting that may last a maximum of one (1) hour if extraneous activities are cut off.
Modern technologies advances have made it possible for many forward looking organizations to cut down in wastages involved in long meetings by applying technology. Such technologies include Microsoft, Skype and Google hangouts which allow for video conferencing. Other platforms such as Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber among others. These allow for real time group meetings and fora. It beats my imagination why organizations are not making real use of those technologies.
The deployment of these costs next to nothing and the availability of broadband facilities by telecom providers have made it easier nowadays to interconnect. Organizations should leverage on these easy interconnectivity to conduct their meetings with the use of these technologies without the need for transporting staff all over the place to attend a two hour meeting. How many man/ hours would be saved if a simple forum is created for staff, management or board meetings? How much would it cost organizations to deploy video conferencing apps? The man/hour spent in commuting from one end to the other could be redirected into productive enterprise.
USING OFFICE FOR PRIVATE BUSINESSES
The average working hours in Ghana is 8 hours with an hour break for lunch which is almost no existent in the banking sector. Bankers normally go beyond the normal 8 hour working time to balance their books and prepare for the next day’s work. In some public institutions in Ghana an hour lunch break mostly extends beyond the stipulated time. This is the time some use to attend to private businesses such as going for their kids from school or going from office to office selling items ranging from jewelry to clothing.
I have not yet sighted any real scientific or empirical data on how much these cost the nation in lost [productivity but I can make a safe bet that it would cost millions of Cedis which would have gone to improve on our collective wellbeing.
In conclusion I believe that a conscious effort reduce the wastage in industry would enhance corporate productivity, increase teacher/pupil engagement time. This would improve the bottom line of organizations. I know that this sounds like humans are mechanical where social interactions at workplaces must be frowned on. I believe however that by streamlining these activities and clearly outlawing doing private businesses during office hours and enforcing sanctions applicable sanctions when one flouts these we would be able to improve productivity which could result in increased income.
