Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Baba Jamal Mohammed Ahmed, has expressed disquiet about the increasing rate of lateness to work by workers in state institutions in the country.
The deputy minister who doubles as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwatia Constituency in the Eastern region lamented that this unchanged attitude of workers in state institutions was so pervasive to the extent that it has greatly affected the output of these institutions.
“If you come to the ministries in the normal working day (Mondays to Fridays), you could see that lateness to work in the ministries is the order of the day. Workers, who are supposed to report to work exactly 8:00 A.M., always arrive at 9:30 AM. Even on Fridays, the workers close early and go home before the stipulated closing time.
Government is so worried about this behaviour of workers at the ministries.
“…but in private institutions lateness is tolerated by the employers; the workers are always time conscious. If their employers ask them to report to work at 7:00 A.M., the workers will do exactly that …so this makes the difference between public and private institutions.”
Baba Jamal said this on one of the flagships programmes of Ghana Television (GTV) Break Fast Show (BFS) yesterday in Accra.
Making reference to the defunct Ghana Telecom, the deputy employment and labour relations minister recounted how the company was facing a similar workers’ deficiency challenge but managers of the company were able to inject efficiency and effectiveness into the telephony business after its controversial privatisation.
According to him, lateness to work has been classified by many labour experts and people in the academia as one of the social cankers that eats deep into the fabric of the nation’s productivity.
To overcome this social challenge, Baba Jamal called on heads of state institutions to reintroduce various checking measures including electronic attendance registers.
He also indicated government’s commitment to introduce what he called a biometric clock-in-and-clock-out system to replace manual attendance book to regulate the arrival and departure of workers.
“As one checks in the device will automatically register the date and time of arrival of that employee thereby reducing the tendency for one to manually manipulate the entering data to his or her advantage,” the Akwatia MP emphasised.
He revealed that the electronic new system was currently being used by his outfit which was helping the ministry to improve discipline among workers.
This initiative, he said, formed part of his ministry’s vision to change attitude of staff towards work.
The deputy minister thus pleaded with workers to comply with the new directives and develop a positive attitude towards work.
This exercise, he believed, would go a long way to increase productivity.
<<Print>>