PROMOTING LAZINESS AT THE WORK PLACE

 I'll like to start where I ended on Employee Stealing. That companies where stealing by employees is pervasive , it is caused by the companies by the payment of callously low wages and since employees must stay alive, they innovate for survival which the wicked employer calls stealing.

In the same vane, what is not contestable is that any company where employees do not put a fair day's work for a fair day's wage is actually caused by the management by the culture of the company.

HOW?

There are several ways through which employees show low commitment to work. Some of these ways may include the following:-

Firstly, A company's inability to carry out a proper Job Analysis and Classification results in promoting laziness. Until a proper job analysis and Classification is done, employees work haphazardly thinking they are putting in their best which in most cases it is not good enough.

Secondly, Arising from number one above, some companies are unable to provide employees with detailed job descriptions. Any job description that does not contain Key Results Areas and Key Performance Indicators, is not qualified to be called a job description. Until an employee knows what he is held accountable for, you cannot measure his performance properly.

Thirdly, Measuring performance and adequate rewards. An employee who does not know his accountabilities will never be satisfied with what he gets as reward at the measurement intervals. I worked in one company where every body irrespective of performance measurement score receive the same percentage increment. While there, I told all those who cared to listen, that the whole exercise of performance measurement and rewards thereof was a disincentive for performance.

Fourthly, Another way by which companies promote laziness is the place of work is Over-staffing. A situation where a job meant for one employee is given to three or more employees. The result is that each employee thinks the other employee will carry out the work. If you had no opportunity to read my Content on "The Law of Rest" please search for it and read it, then you would appreciate how I handled over--staffing causing laziness in the work place.

Fifthly, Lack of integrity on the part of company management. Where management makes promises it does not fulfill, employees will not put in their best. Empty promises can be expressed mathematically as "any figure multiplied by zero is equal to zero"

Finally, Lack of discipline. When the Rule becomes the exception and the exception becomes the Rule. There are companies with clear cut rules but when it comes to applying the same rules, some HR Professionals come up with the theory of Flexibility. I worked in one company where a thief was caught during the weekend and  I applied the rule but four days later, without reference to yours truly, the dismissal was converted to termination of appointment with full entitlements.

The champion of everything above is the HR Professional, so that when the workforce put in less than expected is the failing of the HR Professional. I worked with this manufacturing company whose employees report for duty after commercial transportation. I implemented the timelines for resumption of duties and all transportation business by employees stopped.

The HR Professional is an agent of change and must work to increase the profitability of the company  by reducing waste but not necessarily by cutting down the number of employees.

Next week, I shall suggest what trainings HR Professionals should undertake to contribute more meaningful to reducing waste and consequently improve profitability.