27 Jul 2015

In the quest to increase productivity in the workplace, employee recognition and development has been identified as vital for the attainment of productivity.

Speaking during the Jwaneng Town Council reward and recognition ceremony recently, director of instructional and workplace training in the Human Resource Development Council, Ms Margaret Baiketsi said recognition and rewards in the workplace would make employees feel appreciated for their contributions.

The rewards, she added, would also motivate staff to give their responsibilities their best.

She said recognition helps employees to take pride in their work responsibilities and inspire them to do their job with passion and commitment.

Ms Baiketsi said awarding good performance would make employees open to constructive feedback as well as supporting and promoting a positive atmosphere. This, she added, would also help the organisation to fulfil its mission, vision and values.

The director of instructional and workplace training said employee development was as important as recognition because employees also need skills and attributes that would match the ever changing world that most organisations face on a daily basis.

Diamonds and tourism have been the key drivers in the development of the country in terms of infrastructure, wealth generated, education and the economy in general, and achievements such as political stability, macro-economic stability, regulatory quality and international creditworthiness and consistency had been achieved through human resource, she added.

Ms Baiketsi said it was important that organisations invest on developing the skills of their employees to be able to meet the challenges of the future.

She encouraged the Jwaneng Town Council leadership to continue with efforts of motivating their staff through awards ceremonies, adding that employees needed to be involved in the preparations of the awards in terms of setting the criteria of best performers to make the awards fair and open.

Ms Baiketsi also encouraged management of the council to give credit where it was due in order to motivate an employee to go the extra mile instead of waiting for awards ceremonies to do so.

She encouraged the leadership to delegate responsibilities in order to equip staff with leadership skills that would be needed in future. She cautioned management against demoralising employees in the name of rectification.

“If feedback is to be given, it is supposed to be done in a way that the employee will see it as constructive rather that humiliation,” she said.

About 70 employees received awards in different categories, which included mid-career, silver jubilee, long and distinguished, creative and innovative, departmental best employee, departmental leader, manager of the year, department of the year and employee of the year. Ends