Doctrine of a countrys employment policies
Employment
The employment is one of the most important aspects of human life. In modern societies,it is the channel that one contributes to the collective effort of the population to function a complex social system. Individually,it is the link that one gets regular income to sustain a preferred lifestyle,esteem needs and sense of belonging to the society. Different types of employment available may run into millions in modern global village. The government,sovereign authority of a nation has a very responsible role in regulating the employment of people. It should not look at the issue from the perspective of the society or the individual and act biased. Instead the government has to be in the middle and ensure that the interests of the society and individuals are both met through employment in a win win situation. In my opinion,the root cause for the failure in communist doctrine was its focus in building the nation or the society by the collective contribution of all citizens,but it’s negligence in fostering the natural human needs. The communist doctrine does not consider the disastrous consequences of family separation,human passions,suppression of religions,arts,literature,culture etc in its effort in achieving material development. Those failed communist regimes even resorted to torture,executions,detentions and other inhuman treatments to force people to work for the common benefit of their own definition. The instigated fear psychosis was the main driving force which created giant monuments,factories and collective farms. The regulation of the people’s employment under communist regimes delivered temporal results in terms of material gains. But on the long run,the human nature turned against all their achievements destroying everything with in the system itself like a virus.
Even in the free world,a wide difference can be observed in different policies adopted by authorities. In certain countries people work like machines,delivering a very high rate of production out put making them rich in terms of economic indicators. Some countries produce goods for the foreign markets while their own populations do not have the access for what they produce. Another employ their working class in near slavery conditions by the use of force. These extremist policies that govern the people’s employment cannot make a nation satisfied. Most of the developing countries do not have a meaningful doctrine that governs the employment of their people. The demand and supply in the employment market is not controlled in any way. Unregulated industries,construction and manufacturing cannot forecast their future human resource requirements and even if they do,there are no systems in place to regulate the training systems to supply the skilled man power. This leads to unemployment among the eligible youth and scarcity of manpower where required. Often untrained and unskilled individuals fill slots in employment sector breeding more problems that contributes to lowered productivity,high cost and low quality.
Just like any other issue,employment cannot be taken in isolation only as a method of making a regular income available for individuals. The employment of an individual which keep him occupied through a better part of ones lifespan has to be synchronised with a way of life in order to retain the workers in a particular trade,deliver productivity and employee satisfaction. Once a particular trade is selected by an individual at a young age,first and foremost it should be able to fulfil the esteem needs. The youth is engaged in a social dance to attract its partner and it is a critical stage in the human biological cycle. The job one selects at this stage is one of the top most ‘gauge’of life’s future prospects which are a considerable part of the dance of attraction. The young boy or girl should be able identify himself by his job with certain pride. The society must be able to respect it. The regular income,prospects for continuous improvement,opportunities to climb through some form of professional hierarchy,social recognition,and social security and retirement benefits should be basic features in any trade if it is to gain the social acceptance. These are very sensitive issues among the youth in free world because they are educated. If the employment becomes an isolated and laborious endeavour for the purpose of making money alone,that particular trade cannot attract and keep employees.
The inclusion of individuals to a working group is a necessity to merge the individual efforts with group dynamism. The group becomes an entity with a unique work culture that sustains it. The government finds it easier to regulate as a worker body rather than an individual. It can absorb the ups and downs of individuals by making automatic adjustments. As an example,if a small company can recruit twenty five masons and employ them in the construction industry;unconsciously they will help each other to survive. They will feel the sense of belonging and security that comes by being a member of a group. The group will take pride in the symbolic representations of the company and being able to identify with it. The speedy workers will compensate for the slower ones. Another will work hard to compensate for the colleague who has taken a leave. This group dynamism is very active in factories where a large number of workers employed. Trade unions represent their collective voice and opinions. It is strong glue that can be used to attract and bind potential entrants to very important trades like carpentry,masonry,welding,machining,plumbing,brick layers,etc. It also enables to contribute for provident funds,provision of leave,insurance,health care and social security. Sociologically,it is easier to inculcate discipline,work ethics and social responsibility to a group than to a free lance individual. ‘Tap Doctor’is a company that provides ‘plumbing’services in a suburban of Sydney,Australia. If a household needs its services,a prior appointment has to be taken. The company sends smartly dressed,skilled,licensed and well equipped plumbers depending on the requirement. The job of the plumber is dignified just like the job of a medical doctor and his earning capacity is also does not differ significantly. The plumber has to hold the appropriate licence category in order to attend the job.
As Sri Lankan’s,we have to sit back and think what our expectations are in life. If we opt to run the same race as others producing to sustain the westernised consumerism,we will have to be the slaves of economic prosperity and endure the social bankruptcy loosing our self esteem in many years to come. We are not Singaporeans,Japanese or Americans. We are a wholesome nation and our requirements are slightly different. The preferred lifestyles are dominated by cultural values that have been moulded for millenniums by the environments we live. Buddhism,temple,agriculture,water,rice,fruits,vegetables,extended families,cotton,rain patterns,rivers,jungles,mountains,meadows,plateaus,basins etc are a few of the many that have influenced our lifestyles. We find peace in natural settings. We have a family structure full of refined traditions,values and ethics that have been evolved over a very long period of history. The social calamities that we experience today are results of pursing ideals that are foreign to our up bringing. It is a confrontation of global consumerist ideals and our traditional values. Our ancestral employment heritage for more than two millenniums of recorded history is agriculture,education,practice of medicine,pottery,architecture,steel craft,wood craft,construction,fishing,irrigation,royal service etc. The core value of all most all the vocations is dedicated hard manual and skilled labour with sweat in the brow. While the male population worked hard taking pride in the gift of the masculinity,the females mainly looked after the children and light cottage industries. The families got together in their humble homes after dark. They lived together and it fostered beautiful family traditions that matured with Buddhism. Even today we are a nation passionate of our family traditions. We are craving to go home after days work. We love to spend our time with our own families,relatives and friends whenever we can find free time. We love to host family functions. Even a religious ceremony is a combination of religious and family traditions. The level of income has no significant effect on our festivities. What matters is the celebration in a way we can afford them. It is a proven fact that we cannot totally forget what we were and become something completely new erasing all the traces of our past. If we try to emulate the Singapore model or American model in total blindness to our own identity,values and traditions,it will be a disaster. In today’s world all most all the economically developed countries have build their empires that run on the foundations of their cultural values. Quite unconsciously,the culture determines how the country and its economies are governed. Japan can be taken as a classic example. The economic and technological growth of Japan was automatically controlled,fostered and augmented by the extremely traditional Japanese culture unique to them. Very strong family traditions foster the social values such as loyalty to the Buddhism,low consumerism,hard work,thrift,honesty,loyalty,respect for elders and classlessness or equality. Those social values sustain and project the technological and economic growth upward. At present,even Japan is facing the attacks by the popular American Hollywood culture which is taking its toll in Japan. The American culture works in America,but not in Japan or Iraq. Even for Japan it will be very important to preserve its culture and traditions in to the future if they want to retain its position as an economic giant.
The appreciation of our past does not mean that we have to stop everything modern and go back to the history. If we try to do it,global forces will ensure that we cease to exist. Instead we have to find a way to fit into the globalize employment market making the required adjustments. In order to do it right,we have to clearly identify people’s expectations in getting an employment in our country. We have to discover and restore the true cultural values of our nation. We have to get rid of the half baked local and Hollywood mix that we emulate as a result of colonial influence and loosing of our tracks. Sri Lankan people will never enjoy being workaholics to make money. We like to work certain number of stipulated hours in a day and spend rest of the time with our families,relatives and friends. The quality time spend with families can range from playing with children,gardening,outings,visiting of friends,games,talking,helping children with their studies,entertainment,family functions,meals,reading,hobbies,religious activity and the list is endless. But none of the above activities will deliver the best satisfaction when performed out side the families. The innermost needs in enjoying the sense of belonging,sharing and sacrifice is activated fully only with in the families. Therefore the employment should be able to remunerate the employee with adequate buying power and free time to afford family lives. When a person is married,he or she must get a much higher salary than a young apprentice living with parents. Very basically,when a young couple is married,they must be able to afford a decent house. The hassle of building houses by the population that is involved with other vocations has to be stopped in the first place in order to get the full concentration and commitment to the vocation of their choice. Every person who builds a house for the first time make many mistakes,waste materials and waste a lot of useful time. The houses built by professionals trained to build can save time and resources,deliver better quality and space management. The cumulative savings of the said advantages can be simply transferred to the buyer. A young couple taking a decision to invest in a house should have the choice of its size,locality and,amenities. Instead of wasting many things trying to build houses on their own,potential housing buyers can concentrate more to their choice vocations earning more money to make the payments to a completed residence. They can start a complete life from the beginning and pay off the value as the time goes on. In summary,the employment in Sri Lanka must remunerate the employee to afford a comfortable family life,own a house,educate the children,and have reasonable free time and freedom to make choices. In present context,only the elite white collars can afford to have above discussed basics earning through a job. Those who are in authority make money through illegal means while a greater majority of employees struggle to make the ends meet.
The most basic classification of employment in the modern world is divided as ‘white collars’and ‘blue collars’. While the white collars carry out the administrative work with the pens,the blue collars do the actual manufacturing,building,repairing,food production etc with their hands. In present day,Sri Lankan parents want to educate their children to become a doctor,engineer,lawyer,businessman,executive etc which are white collar jobs. If a child manages to become one of them,they will have the opportunity of having a regular income,social security that comes with the social recognition,glamour,better partner in marriage,less labour intensive work and retirement benefits. All these provide a chance of enjoying a happy family life. While parents always think of the entire process of obtaining the stability in the lives of their children,they only voice their final expectation in making their children white collars such as doctors or any other executive which is the end result. The children are driven by them to achieve the end result.
Only a very few do not mind training their children to become a good farmer,carpenter,steel craftsman,artist,fisherman etc. The popular social belief is that,it is only the school drop outs pursue such employment opportunities and therefore treated as second or third class jobs. While a society requires doctors,engineers,lawyers,politicians etc in small numbers,it requires farmers,fishermen,steel craftsmen,wood craftsmen,masons,plumbers,welders,factory workers,technicians and labourers in very large numbers to produce food,build and maintain infrastructure. Great nations are built on the skills,craftsmanship and hard work of their populations. Whether it is by slavery,communism or by a motivated work force in a capitalist economic setting does not matter. Modern technology can only increase the efficiency of the building process and ensure safety. The robust,skilled and masculine men have to carve,bend and build with their own hands using modern technology,if a nation to prosper. Their skills,knowledge,judgements,accuracy,speed and application makes the difference. The beautiful homes,graceful furniture,household equipment,roads,buildings,cars,planes,ships and anything else that man has created requires skilled labour of the nations population from digging out of raw materials through the process of delivering the final product. The contribution of the white collars sitting at office desks in the process is negligible compared with the contribution of people that actually performs the work. In many parts of the ancient world where great infrastructure was built,inhuman slavery had been the method used to extract the human expertise. The soldiers loyal to the kings had been driving the slaves with inhuman treatment.
Even today in the modern world order,there is no alternative for manual hard work. A majority of the population in a country have to work,if the country is to prosper. Every body have to do hard work for a reasonable number of hours a day on average in any developed country even today,just for survival. The graceful homes,clean cities,beautiful parks,ample food etc are all fruits of collective hard work of populations. They are not free gifts of God. Our own people who migrate looking for seemingly greener pastures in developed countries admit this fact by them selves.
The free education in Sri Lanka after the independence has improved the general educational level of the population including the literacy rate. If a government simply let the conventional education system of the country to focus on aims that are considerably different from the actual employment requirements of the country,it is the start of disastrous disappointments. The expectation of an educated population is complex. They have many dreams of their own making and copied from Hollywood movies that they will strive to achieve. Taken on the face value of the issue in present context,it appears that only the white collar executive jobs can promise to fulfil the dreams of the educated youth even up to a certain extent. The worker community cannot afford decent housing or any luxury in life. If we look at the construction workers in cities as an example,they live in unhygienic temporary makeshift shelters,no proper toilet facilities,during the day they work under hot and humid tropical climatic conditions,no occupational safety standards,no job security,no insurance in case of injury or death,no guarantee of livelihood in the event of a disability,no social recognition,no adequate and regular income to support the families,no retirement benefits etc. It is hard to believe that any sensible parent will want their children to become a mason,electrician,plumber,welder or brick layer in this context. While the real employment opportunities and requirement lies in the fields of construction,agriculture and in industries,our educated youth focus their goals in education and training mostly towards the white collar jobs. Therefore our greatest challenge in creating employment lies between the expectations of the educated youth and the real requirement out there in the fields of skilled labour in building the nation with skilful hands. We have to think of new methods in infusing the economic and social stability,social recognition,value and glamour to the vocations that only the school drop outs choose at present when they are without an alternative option.
In most of the developed countries,the dignity of labour is unconsciously implanted in the youth at a very early stage of student life. It is absolutely accepted in any social level to do part time jobs by young students in the fields of hospitality,cleaning,delivery,manufacturing,harvesting,building etc. Taking up a toilet cleaning job in the university is not a humiliating experience. Young students irrespective of the gender work hard and get paid for the number of hours they work. Taking up a part time job at a very early stage in life can be an adventure at the beginning. But it patiently teach the youth,deep practical lessons on work discipline,efficiency,value of money,responsibility,virtues of hard work and the dignity of labour. These children do part time jobs while staying in comfortable homes with their parents and enjoying social acceptance. While these children gain valuable experiences related to many social issues connected with employment,the collective contribution of quality and robust labour at a reasonable pricing is an enormous national wealth.
going through any work experience at an early stage in life. They only daydream and unsuccessfully try to understand other persons experience. The taking up of a few different part time jobs can provide the wide exposure and deep insight to select a vocation that one would have aptitude and liking. It helps in working towards the achieving of job oriented goals at the end. Children can assist parents to supplement family income by supporting themselves.
Getting the services of the young student population in the society in labour form is similar to getting young children’s help for house keeping. It benefits both parties. Labour intensive business operations get robust and smart young workers at a lesser cost. The commitment of the businesses towards long term worker welfare programmes such as EPF and ETF can be reduced. Children can assist parents to supplement family income by supporting themselves. The businesses can benefit from the speed,accuracy,and initiative which are always higher than the average as they are students with developing brains. In Sri Lanka,this kind of a practice is unknown except in a few places.
There are many contributory factors for this situation. As usual,the primary reason is the insecurity. Due to the confused and scattered nature of locations of business establishments and housing,there are no neighbourhoods that children can be sent for part time jobs with guaranteed security. Many businesses are not properly administered with standards to send young girls and boys for part time employment other than franchised American food chains and super markets. The security is the foremost issue while the standards are also low for part time interaction of business and the youth.
The government,sovereign authority of the nation must have a clear understanding of the expectations of a nation and regulate its education features that employment should have of the people in our country
The sustenance of such a society would have required an efficient administration during a time that modern theories of management were not even born.
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