12 Jul 2020

Botswana National Productivity Centre’s (BNPC) consultant, Mr Oarabile Lesole says good work ethics are necessary to improve productivity in both the public and private sector.

Speaking at the third meeting of the fourth Ntlo Ya Dikgosi session on Friday, Mr Lesole said, while the country was ranked high on areas of good governance, level of education and low levels of corruption, it was daunted by reports of low productivity due to poor work ethics.

He therefore, said it was important for employees and employers to bring about change. 

“If you want to compete globally, employees in both the private and public sector need to change their work ethic,” he said.

Mr Lesole said BNPC had partnered with World Competitiveness Forum to the tune of P2 million, to investigate issues leading to poor work ethics.

He said the findings were based on socio-economic, organisational and other general issues.

With regards to socio-economic issues, Mr Lesole said work ethics should be instilled in children from an early age, to help shape up their character and work values.

He encouraged the youth to up their game, adding that findings indicated that older people placed more value on hard work than young ones. 

“The younger generation tend to place less value on the importance of work while others feel they work less to match their salaries,” he said.

On issues of organisational behaviour, he said poor communication and management skills contributed more to poor work ethics, noting that leaders should equip employees with skills that enhanced productivity. 

Mr Lesole said although in most cases, some organisations and companies clearly articulated and documented their strategic foundations, it was unfortunate that some behaviour displayed by the employees said the opposite. 

On general issues, he urged Batswana to shun laxity.

Meanwhile, Kgosi Rebecca Banika of Pandamatenga stated that work ethics should be taught from grassroots level.

“It is totally disheartening that some parents fail to instill the essence of good work ethics by assigning their children simple domestic errands when they are young because when they grow up, they fail to act on their own,” she said. Kgosi James Khumanego of Morwamosu in Ngwaketse indicated that good work ethics could only be attained when any given work or project was given the desired respect and attention.

He said government came up with initiatives to fight poverty but due to poor ethics, beneficiaries were not prepared to go an extra mile and blamed government for their failures. Ends