On my way to work today I met a long time friend whom I’ve not seen in a while, upon exchanging pleasantries there was no joy from all he told me, it’s was all about one hardship to another. The camels back was broken early this week with the recent fuel increment, now he can’t make it to work due to the high cost in transportation as he’ll end up spending all his pay on transportation alone.

He has always been paid his salary, something above the approved minimum wage, but the Nigerian private business owners who pays their workers almost in the middle of the current month for job done in the previous month.

As I was already going to work, I hurriedly gave him some words of encouragement and scheduled a meet so we could talk properly, maybe I can be of help to him.

This issue occupied my thought all day as I imagined what it feels like for someone who has a job but couldn’t cope to meetup due the recent economic realities, now, talk more of someone who has little to no job, how will the person survive these times, what is the fate of such a person.

This led me to come up with ways organizations and businesses of employers of labor can help its employees. Since this hike in prices of commodities has come to stay, I think there should be :

1 - Rotation/ Shift system of working; it’s true that there is inflation and companies are not ready to increase its employees pay, not even the government is ready for such. In other to help employees, a shift system of work can be adopted. Employ more people, place them on the same salary and reduce the number of days of coming to the office to 2 or 3 times in a week. This will help employees save better and complain less.

2 - Adopt Remote system of working; some employees are mandated to come to the office on a daily basis and end up doing in the office what they can actually do from home. I understand that organization most time mandates staff to be physically present in the office to checkmate laxity and unseriousness. There are ways to always checkmate these without the employee being in the office. This system of working was tested during the Covid period and some organizations adopted and perfected on it and it’s working for them, both in cost savings and revenue generation. Unfortunately another Covid is here again in another disguise.

3 - Staff Bus; believe you me that there will be rise in the punctuality of employees to work in these recent times as compared to the past because most people in the bid to save cost will trek a while before boarding a cab to their office. Even those who own cars have resorted to boarding public transport. This will only render the employee tired upon getting to the office and will always impact in the output performance of such person. Imagine trekking a reasonable distance everyday only to get to the office exhausted and tired, how will one give his/her 100% at work coupled with the thought of another trekking at close of work. Staff bus will immediately put to rest this issue for good. As the saying goes, A happy employee is a productive employee.

4 - Staff Accommodation; organizations can provide accommodations for staff, even if it’s not rent free but at a subsidized rate where it’s staff can afford to stay and be okay. Especially for the ones coming from a far distance. Some staff can stay in this apartment on week days and go home to their families on weekends as the case may be.
Just last week I heard of a staff who wanted to be redeployed/reposted to an office closer to his house due to the amount he spends on transport daily, which is different from his feeding, talk more of upkeep and other costs, all these expenses on a merger salary at the end of the month.

The above are just a few ideas on how organizations both government and private can adopt to help salvage the hardship of the masses in these trying times.

Truth is that people are angry and hungry at the same time which is not good for anyone and any business. The prevalence of crime is going to be on the high side because hunger alone is enough to push even the most gentle of all into taking another persons food.

#Maziogaezy✍️