The International Labor Day epitomizes the role and importance of every employee in the workplace.
Today, the world of work has evolved and continues to do so, particularly in the face of technology. There is a healthy mix of white and blue-collar jobs. White collar jobs, akin to blue collar, require that people work harder, and oftentimes, for longer hours than ever before, to adapt to stretch work demands and/or economic realities. It is not exceptional anymore that one will find themselves working beyond the official 8am – 5pm specifically with the advent of ever–present communications technology.
For staff to be productive and thrive in this environment requires employers to not only promote a positive employee-centered work culture but more importantly, make a deliberate effort to ease work processes, through digitization. More than ever, the digital age has presented employers with a task, and opportunity, to automate various processes that support this advent – automating both the mundane processes like staff leave applications, attendance management, performance appraisals, and work meetings, to automating more integral processes including training & learning, strategy monitoring, business intelligence, analytics, and institutional reporting, among others.
Today, we have in place telecommuting arrangements that allow staff to work from home, on the road, or from other satellite locations; these arrangements have altered colleague relations as well as how we execute our duties. For this approach to be successful, employers must invest in appropriate technology, tools of work, and key enablers like the provision of internet data to their staff. The employees too must reinvent their psyche towards work! The work-from-home phenomenon requires a high level of self-management and personal ethics, many a time influenced and catalyzed by the institution’s work environment and culture. The employer must rely on the employee to deliver on their work goals ‘unwatched’!
This year, Uganda joins the rest of the world in celebrating Labor Day under the theme; “Promoting positive work culture and Ethics: A prerequisite for increased investment, employment opportunities and household incomes.”
The theme of the day speaks to what lies at the core of organizational success. When companies prioritize a positive work culture and ethical behavior, they are more likely to attract and retain like-minded top talent, the anchor sustained productivity and innovation. This, in turn, drives continued business growth and maintains jobs whilst also creating new opportunities; ultimately contributing to improved household incomes and the standards of living. The quality of staff in an organization, therefore, is a testament to the organizational culture, as is grounded in the organization’s ideals, ethos, norms, rituals, and practices.
Having participated in hundreds of talent identification and selection processes and having devoted the last couple of years of my professional life to managing organizational talent, it is my conviction that culturally fit employees – those that typify the values, traits, and motivation desirable to and aligned with the institution’s culture – usually end up delivering the most value to the institution.
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