According to Minister Austin Gatt the only missing ingredient at Malta Shipyards is the level of productivity.
Otherwise, its own survival and future success are guaranteed. But who is to blame for the poor productivity? Is it the workers or their management?
Rather than politicising further the issue of Malta Shipyards, it is worth analysing the notion of productivity within today's economy and its impact on the labour market. Because, let's face it, the problem of poor productivity is not only evident in our shipyard but there are many other enterprises within the public and private sectors that need to strive hard to achieve the right level of productivity in order to maintain their commercial viability and jobs security.
Although, at operational level, productivity depends on the workers' skills, know-how and performance input, it is unfair to attribute poor productivity solely to the workers because management and middle-management in particular are key elements in determining the level of productivity. In a recent study conducted in the UK by management consultancy Hay Group it was determined that middle managers are the single greatest barrier to achieving their company's objectives and the blame for productivity malaise has been placed squarely on the shoulders of middle managers, long considered the backbone of the modern workplace. In fact, more than a third of British directors believe their organisation is paralysed by ineffective managers with under-performing middle managers costing the economy a massive £22 billion a year.
The report revealed that business leaders are struggling to compete in a challenging global economy because middle management lacks the skills to make business strategy happen. Unless action is taken to address the skills gap, this productivity erosion will only continue. The senior management's main concern was the impact of these managers on the rest of the workforce. Giles Walker, the author of the report, stated that with the impending retirement of the baby-boom generation, developing middle managers into tomorrow's leaders is a business critical challenge for senior management across the country.
It has been diagnosed that a lack of training and development opportunities and ineffective performance management are also key causes of middle management under performance.
Another factor adversely affecting productivity is the fact that nowadays work is becoming more sedentary and the workforce is becoming fatter, sicker and less productive due to chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. Unfortunately, the Maltese worker is not immune to such conditions as confirmed by the figures derived from the annual Eurostat Yearbook that placed the Maltese at the forefront of the EU male obesity leagues while Maltese women come in third place in terms of the body mass index of people 15 years of age and over.
PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute has identified chronic disease as a growing and costly threat to organisations and their workers and calls on CEOs worldwide to make "wellness" central to their corporate business strategy. The prevention of chronic diseases has been under-funded and companies are now paying the price for this in the form of reduced productivity, increased tax burdens and declining competitiveness.
While the US remains the world's fattest nation, with over half of adults overweight or obese, China and India are growing fatter at a faster pace than even their economies. It is envisaged that by 2015 the number of obese adults in China and India will grow by 66 per cent and 44 per cent respectively. Across the globe, the Health Research Institute report suggests that two per cent of all capital spent on the workforce is lost to disability, absenteeism and presenteeism (diminished productivity from ill employees who go to work but do not give their expected output due to chronic disease). These indirect costs are more than the additional direct medical claim costs that some employers incur.
It is no coincidence that multinational employers discovered a growing emphasis on health prevention in the workplace and are introducing corporate wellness programmes to attract and retain talented, healthy employees. What they realised is that "you can improve the health and well-being of your workers while also bolstering your bottom line. The economic case for prevention is overwhelming".
Although we concur with the findings of these specialist reports and that the productivity of Malta Ltd is high on the agenda of the government, the business community and the other social partners when it comes to speeches, seminars and conference presentations, we fail to take concrete steps to cure the ever-increasing disease of productivitytis - the viruses which are hindering our productivity.
It seems our commercial and business representatives are more concerned about who would possibly be holding the chairmanship of the newly-founded Malta Business Community Council, following the merger of the Federation of Industries and the Chamber of Commerce, rather than taking the plunge to implement effective training and development programmes and to provide performance-management tools to enable management to improve skills and enhance performance.
Expressing frustration over poor productivity without any sense of commitment to introduce corrective measures such as wellness programmes at the workplace would not improve the current situation.
On the other hand, our trade unions still need to realign themselves to the new realities of the labour market and the tough challenges of competitiveness, alias productivity. The absence of a common stand by the unions representing aviation employees to negotiate a second rescue plan at Air Malta proves they failed to realise that working with employers to increase productivity should be a key union priority, one that is just as important as action on pay, equality and unfair treatment.
Dr Gatt may be right to lament about the low productivity at Malta Shipyards, implying that the workers or "the handful of militants" are to blame, but that is not the end of the story!
matyas@maltanet.net