Inniss raises productivity concerns

 

A Government minister says that low productivity is a significant issue that Barbados cannot run away from and in fact must address.
 
Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development, Donville Inniss, piloting the debate on the Holidays with Pay Bill and the Labour Department (Amendment) Bill in the House of Assembly yesterday morning, suggested that it is a “fundamental issue” that all Barbadians have to wrap their minds around, if improvement is to be seen. Moreover, he said that statistics on the level of productivity exhibited across various sectors of the country, indicate clearly that there is a need to be concerned.
 
“I say that not in a manner to be critical of any one sector over the other, because it is a national issue. At the end of the day whether it is a business or Government, you make a certain level of investment in particular sectors, you provide a level of human resource, you provide financial support and you expect a certain level of output,” he said.
 
Inniss added, “When that investment is constant but you find that outputs start to fall, the reality about it is that productivity is not where it should be, and that is where business people and Government have to make informed decisions [as to] how do you boost productivity. Because if you go and make further investments in terms of financial resources, technology or human resources that may just be spinning top in mud.”
 
Inniss noted that one reason for low productivity in this country is the ongoing challenge of absenteeism. He lamented that there are some people who find “every little reason” not to go to work, and he said it may be a reflection of what is or is not taking place in the work environment. Added to that, he said, is the growing problem of presenteeism, where persons go to work but are not producing, which is also a contributing factor. The Minister maintains that the latter issue is one that should not be ignored and when it occurs, he said it is the duty of those responsible for human resource management to understand what is causing the problem and see how best to rectify it.
 
He made the point while suggesting that the human resource management practices are not at the level it should be in either the local private or public sectors. The Small Business Development Minister lamented that too many agencies and enterprises in Barbados are still focusing on the fundamentals of personnel management and administration, and not pulling themselves up into the realm of good human resource management.
 
“Where you are really looking now at the organisation, where it wants to go, the importance of the human resource therein, understanding the dynamics of the individual employees, helping each one to achieve their full potential within the context of the overall objectives of the firm; but instead we are still focusing so much on sick leave, maternity leave, vacation leave and those administrative arrangements. Now while they are important, it may not necessarily allow you to look at the big picture issues that really can drive your firm forward. And you can extrapolate that from the firm level into the macro level where you realise there is a national issue to be addressed,” he stated. (JRT)

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