Productivity within Organizations

Organizations do contribute towards GDP growth. At a micro level organizations have the following objectives at the core of its productivity improvement program;
 

• Making better use of available resources in order to increase output
• Reducing the cost of producing goods and services
• Operating as efficiently and effectively as possible
• Providing a higher quality of service
• Employing a faster and more accurate processes for identifying customer needs
• Improving the quality of products
• Promoting teamwork and co-operation amongst staff members
• Providing training to acquire a highly trained and capable workforce

The following are some pertinent issues that affect productivity;
 

• High number of staff on sick leave
• Unauthorized absenteeism
• Negative attitude/behaviour in the workplace
• Wastage of resources
• Obsolete laws and Policies
• Long procedures
• Poor Managerial styles
• Poor Leadership
• Poor customer service
• Poor working conditions
• Low quality/ sub standard products
• Inequality in salary
• Poor communication
• Reward system
• Lack of appropriate safety measures
• Poor working environment
• Delay in production target
• Lack of incentives

The Productivity Working Group

The Productivity Working Group was launched in April 2008. The aim of the group is to identify and address productivity issues and make recommendations and proposals to issues and challenges in the area of productivity.

In order to raise productivity awareness, various initiatives have been undertaken by the Productivity Unit in partnership with the Productivity Steering Committee. They include;

• A workshop “Leve Debrouye pou ogmant Prodiktivite” held on 12^th-13^th November 2009

• Productivity Conference which was organized in 14^th May 2012

• A workshop on “ Performance Base Management” was held on 18^th -21^st March 2013 at School of Business Management, University of Seychelles as part of the activities to commemorate Productivity Week

Productivity Awareness Week

The Productivity Awareness Week is organized every year under a specific theme. Various activities are organized for workers, employers, and students. The following activities were organized for: the following years:

Activities 2013

• Workshop on ”Performance Management”
• Different organizations were invited to showcase productivity issues and best practices and included the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, ANHRD, Public Utilities Corporation, Seychelles Trading Company, Islands Development Company, Allied Builder and Indian Ocean Tuna Limited. For future activities, the Ministry plans to encourage more organizations in the Public Service to participate
• Production of TV spots in various Sectors of the economy illustrating pertinent issues impacting on productivity, the culture of hard work, best practices and innovative ways of promoting the National Theme FOR 2013
• Public Speaking Competitions for Schools  to educate students on the issue and importance of productivity at early age
• Dissemination of productivity issues in print media and
• Radio phone-in, outlining issues affecting productivity

Activities 2014

• Re-launching of the Productivity Working Group
• Conference – Determination for greater productivity
• Sessions with S4 / S5 Students and members of the public on tertiary training opportunities given by the Agency for National Human Resource Development (ANHRD) and how to set up and manage a small business by a rep
• Fair and Exhibition to showcase employment opportunities available in various sectors of industries and promote Human Resource Development and entrepreneurship.
• Sensitization Campaign through television spots on attitudes and work ethics in the workplace
• Dissemination of productivity  articles in the newspaper and
• Radio interview on promoting productivity and the importance of hard work

Benefits of Productivity

Higher productivity benefits all.  These direct beneficiaries are the workers of the company, the company itself and its customers.  Productivity growth leads to lower costs which in turn enable:

(a) Higher wages, larger bonuses and better benefits for workers

(b) Greater competitiveness and higher profitability for companies

(c) Cheaper and better quality goods and services for customers.