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THE WORK ETHIC IN GUYANA

Oct 29, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Some things are difficult to change. One of these things, in small societies, is the work ethic of public employees.
The work ethic in Guyana leaves much to be desired. Change in Guyana’s work ethic is slow. No matter what is done, the work ethic remains almost the same as it was three decades ago.
This is so because workers are rarely sanctioned for their work ethic. They get away with their lackadaisical attitude.
When you live in small societies, there is a certain degree of closeness that develops between inferiors and their superiors. The boss comes to know his subordinate and therefore is disinclined to sanction them as often and as severe as one should.
When you live in a small society it is easy to have a Godfather. Your boss gives you a problem, threatens to dismiss of transfer you, you run to your Godfather and the boss ends up being sent on administrative leave.
This is what happens and therefore work ethic becomes very relaxed. Workers do not take their responsibilities seriously. They are entitled to twenty-eight days paid sick leave and they ensure, sick or no sick, they take this leave. Some of them work at two paces: slow and dead stop.
A few days ago, this woman on the bus was complaining about the nurses at a certain public institution. She related that if she does not go to bathe and feed her sick relative in the hospital, the person would remain dirty and starve. The nurses, she said, do not pay the sort of attention they should.
This is one of the reasons why during visiting hours, there are so many persons going to see their sick relatives in hospital. They have to go to ensure that their relatives are bathed, their clothes washed and that they receive food.
This is quite unlike what obtains in some private hospitals where foreign nurses are employed. These foreign nurses are very professional and they are courteous; they are eager to attend to you and they also ensure that there are no complaints about the work they do. They know that such complaints will cost them their job.
It is true that they receive far more money than some of the lackadaisical nurses. But it is felt that even if the local nurses receive such pay their work ethic will not be at the level of the foreign nurses.
Increasing the pay of local nurses is therefore not likely to result in better performance. The small society curse is likely to remain.
The work ethic is not going to change in Guyana by pay being higher. It is not going to change by mass firings. The work ethic is a product of the smallness of the society.
The only solution would seem to be to bring in foreign workers on a temporary basis. They will do the work faster and cheaper. Just look at the Marriott Hotel. Do you really believe that if Guyanese workers had to build that hotel that it would have been completed? By now the foundation would have still been incomplete.
The solution to the poor work ethics in Guyana has to therefore be to encourage more foreign workers, not to displace local workers but to show locals what hard work is and what is to be expected of them. The more foreign workers there are working alongside local workers, the better it will be.
It is not certain what is going to be the policy of the new government in relation to foreign workers. There are many foreign workers in the health sector and if they are not retained then a lot of sick Guyanese are not going to receive the best treatment, and they will die in the hospital.
There is need to find foreign labour for the Guyana Sugar Corporation. Why can’t we bring persons from Central America and the Caribbean to Guyana and cut cane? Why, for a country built on immigration, forced and coerced, is Guyana so afraid of immigration?

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