If one reads the report, (link below)
that was recently published in the Daily Mirror, it seems to imply that retail
workers are particularly badly exploited by their employers. Just think about
it for a moment.
Supermarkets
of any size are Food City, Keells, Laugfs, Arpico, and Sathosa, the latter
owned by the Government
All other retail are small, where if the
staff are exploited, it is simply the fault of the employee to suffer in
silence, as he or she can leave in an instant as vacancies outnumber job
seekers 25 to 1 in this field.
So I ask, we now have an open system of
recruitment, where all supermarkets are desperate for employees, and it is up
to the employee to continue in service or leave for better prospects. If there
are people who want security of employment, then they have to suffer the
ignominy of putting up with terms that are unfair or exploitative, but that is
only because they choose this security for the chance of perhaps bettering
themselves.
There was NO reference in the report
above to there being NO alternatives for the disgruntled employees to consider.
In today’s labor market, the real problem for all employers, be they Supermarket
Chains or any other private company, large or small is the rapid turnover of
staff. We are in a labor market that has many vacancies and staff look at all
opportunities available to them in choosing to remain or leave, for better
prospects. This holds true at ALL LEVELS of employment, from the cleaner right
up the chain of command to the boss.
Going back to the supermarket labor
force, the staff in these companies compare benefits all the time, as they are
in play, meaning they will move for better prospects, depending on their mobility,
taking into account their personal circumstances. There is competition for
staff and gradually I have noticed that staff gravitate to those who give the
best overall package, that consists of working hours, wage rates, benefits in
kind, be they be travel, meals, accommodation, child care, promotion prospects,
and the chances of those showing promise to rapidly rise through the ranks.
When a staffer says they are poorly
paid, they are simply being exploited, because they have chosen to continue to
work in the same establishment, without moving out, the reasons for inertia are
not all that clear.
One is free to leave to another employer.
Vacancies in every Sunday Newspaper seems to defy all sense, for us to imagine
that there are no people to fill them.
I personally would turn the whole retail
debate on its head, and tell the employers that the ball is in their court to
offer the best package that is financially justifiable for the organization to
be profitable to the extent it needs to be. IF by doing so they are able to
recruit capable, willing and able staff, they will then draw customers in more
than they do now. The article assumes, Supermarkets are bent on paying staff a
minimum wage which is not sufficient to live on. Well if that is true, no one will
take those jobs due the marketplace having more choices. There is a huge dearth
of housemaids in Sri Lanka as there is for drivers, obviously people who chose
these fields do so because they believe the working condition are more
conducive, as otherwise they would leave. So the whole point of the article is
lost, and much ado about nothing.
It is also worth mentioning that the
overtime carrot is always placed in front of all employees in all fields, not just
in retail, to show the potential income if they work the said hours. It is a
calculation that is easily done, and frankly, the retailers, being so short
staffed and unable to recruit give the existing staff the chance of working
many many hours of overtime, with the human limit, being the reasonable amount
one can actually work without getting ill from overwork!
It is just as well to point out that
employers don’t give staff a large basic salary as the EPF and ETF calculation
is based on basic salaries and not on the overtime their staff work. Further let’s
not forget that overtime is a factor of the hourly basic wage, and so when that
basic wage is higher so is the overtime, a further reason NOT TO PAY a high
basic as overtime can be a multiple of that wage, especially when it comes to
statutory obligation to pay double time for working on Sundays or Poya Days,
actually preferred dates for staff to work on due to extra pay earned then.
From this summary hear, I trust that the
reader is able to come to a conclusion that there are options for all people,
and those stuck in retail are those incapable of doing anything else, but who
should not blame their employers for that predicament, but themselves alone,
either due to a lack of education, lack of mobility to move to where better employment
prospects are available or simply because they like the devil they know to the
devil they don’t!
It is up to each individual to work out
their best personal work life balance bearing in mind what’s available. What the
state should do is reduce the attraction of Govt. jobs that lead to
dissatisfied private sector employees. They compare the NO WORK environment of
many public sector jobs, from which to make comparisons and therefore bemoan
their lot for journalists to write crap
7 comments:
Workers in Sri Lanka not being mobile is the biggest issue, as there is no public housing in places where there are employment opportunities and the private slumlords are exploiting the situation resulting in workers in these areas, unable to make ends meet even with the job. So they would rather sit in their village waiting for a good government job from which they cannot be fired, so they can stay at home and go to work and earn a pay check for doing NOTHING.
This is the tragedy of Sri Lanka today, that is why they would prefer at all costs to leave this Country as that is the ultimate in mobility they have which they are denied in their own country.
this is something serious that policy makers must think about.
In reality if the State had privatized Sathosa, the staff working there would have better incomes, but they would have to work harder than at present. This is a good example point the difference in Public and Private sector.
Sathosa IT system is archaic, so when you buy you stuff from there, you don't know if you have been charged correctly. I have been fleeced by them, but have not been able to prove, as the bill is NOT specific which item is being purchased. With a private sector supermarket, I know exactly what I have purchased and so if there is a dispute, I can get it resolved on the spot!
So that will draw customers who are even slightly intelligent away from them, and so the workers and the organization lose out.
Then look at the state or disorganized state of Sathosa stores, there is no proper pricing, so even if a few items are cheaper overall they don't give special rates on items one would buy normally to stock up with.
Don't you think all this will change with private ownership. All that happens now is someone senior in Sathosa gets a cut on purchases and demands kickbacks that don't appear through the books and so does not get caught.
Need I say more?
Sri Lanka has archaic labor laws to start with. First of all in industrialized countries youth under 18 are permitted to work UPTO a stipulated maximum hours. Kids to supermarket bagging in the USA for pocket money as parents don't then have to pay for their personal expenses.
Why don't they permit it in SL so that the shortage of staff is alleviated and people as a whole can benefit?
Just imagine if many of our kids can learn to serve customers at a young age, they will be more savvy, empowered and more confident than they are now, and will mature to know what they want to do. It's simply elementary.
It is this sort of thing that Governments are for, and not owning supermarket chains! Time we had a change in thinking and fire all the jokers in Diyawanna Oya, who obviously don't have the interest of Sri Lankans at heart
You are too right in the comment above. Go to any small shop in Maharagama, they are desperate for staff, but they are not allowed to use school kids part time after school as fillers to help out, though kids would love to earn some money and will not feel exploited.
It is time the rules are changed to reflect modern day habits. It will have a great impact in relieving this problem of worker shortages in the retail sector.
No one says anything in the village when the kada kmudalali's under age daughter or son serves in the counter, so why should it not be official?
Re Comment by author above
If this is permitted, then while relieving the worker shortage in the service sector, the upward pressure on wages will also be less benefiting the employers more than the workers. Unless this results in lower prices at the retail stage, as they will not have to raise basic wages to attract staff, this is going to increase the profits of a few large supermarkets.
I agree that for the small shop it will not be a major issue, as it is now a matter of not getting a temp worker for short hours, against adults who will demand a wage at least as high as a supermarket, which they will not be able to match, unless off course they are specialist shops requiring workers with special skills
Of course this problem can be mitigated by minimum wage structures
there seems to be a huge opportunity in the IT/automation field to fill these vacancies as workers are not in enough supply to do all of the necessary work. does anyone care to take the opportunity?
if there are so many job openings for prospective workers, why don't wages rise to ultimately fill the open positions? something is not right in the numbers
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