03 May 2004	Monday	12 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

There are no authentic figures of unemployment in the country. Numbers released by the government are looked upon by most people with suspicion. The government claims that it is moving forward in its efforts to alleviate poverty and job creation.

The two essential differences which make nations rich or poor are the number of people who work and the productivity of each individual worker. According to one study, Singapore is at the high end, employing 57 per cent of population and on the low end is Iran which employs 26 per cent.

Pakistan is near the bottom with around 28 per cent people employed. Increased number of vacancies advertised in newspapers is taken by officials as one measure of growing employment opportunities. But in doing so, no one has really tried to investigate how many workers are put out of work against every new job created.

The buzz word is not setting up of industries so as to generate employment opportunities, but retrenchment, golden handshakes (GHS) and voluntary separation schemes (VSS). Permanent workers are substituted for contract employees and non-core jobs are being out sourced. The era of life time job-even in country's such as Japan- is long since over.

In order to be competitive, industries need to increase productivity per machine as well as per worker. Although workers have lost their power to bargain, in most factories in our country, they have resolutely decided not to shed their ways. As they say old habits die hard.

In manufacturing concerns as well as in service industries such as banks, entrepreneurs have increasingly begun to link performance with wages. Factory workers are the basic resources and what the company earns at the end of the day, is directly based on how the workers perform.

But most company managements complain that workers do not really have commitment to goals of higher productivity or quality. Mohammad Sarwar who runs a medium-sized garment factory in SITE, Karachi, says: "Workers think that productivity and quality of the product is not their responsibility, but that of the management".

They, therefore, do not put in their best efforts and in consequence our products are not able to compete in international markets. Many companies have now realized that the traditional working and methods of measuring work performance has become redundant.

Companies are convinced that it is necessary to enhance worker efficiency and extract higher per worker output, for that would eventually be reflected in company profitability.

Managements have been arguing on the best methods to increase per worker output. Staunch human resource personnel have relied on sacking the old and bringing in new workers.

But that hardly solves the problem for the newly inducted workers, after a short probation period, would end up as the same old ones. Managements are, therefore, now placing premium on leadership qualities.

Leadership means taking charge-taking over the responsibility with a group of people to see something through to completion in a positive, motivating manner. Naveed Saleem, an MBA who works for a local drug firm in a senior position contends that for a manager, it is not always necessary to be a leader.

The difference lies in the fact that while manager focuses on systems and structure, the leader focuses on people. He says: "Managers give out orders, but the leader inspires and motivates.

Manager does not necessarily posses the ability to energise the group of workers, while leader must have just those qualities." Workers grumble that factory managers, looking through their glass-walled air-conditioned rooms do not bother to know the workers' problems and merely insist on performance.

They should get closer to the reality in the field; they must subordinate and delegate responsibilities. The going theory of handling workers is the "pull", which has replaced the age-old system of "push".

Improving productivity per worker involves investing in their training and helping to elevate their living conditions. Leaders and managers must be lavish in their approbation and generous in their praise.

A worker criticised in public is likely to hate his work all the more. Management experts say that workers like the mangers best when they treat them as partners.

To set a good example for workers, manger should be ethical, i.e honest and fair in his dealings. Giving out respect to workers as people and not just another clog in the machines, would mean getting better results in terms of productivity and quality.