SURVIVING ON THE JOB! part 1

Is it just me or there are some who would agree with me on this….. “We can do more to improve on our work ethics in Nigeria”. I am sure people will agree with me at this point. Both private and Government, there is something that rubbishes our work ethics and makes it majorly lip service.  This is Nigeria; we have our way of doing things…..maybe we are so used to it now. You listen to people and they seem to be saying the same thing…..it is not just me, if people would just admit. In the end, a lot of things go wrong and work suffers. With all the profit and success on the outside, human dignity is totally eroded and continues to suffer the same fate. While it is true that money is a motivating factor around here, it is understandable because man must survive…..so people have to endure demeaning conditions and procedures to keep body and soul together, as it were.

As a new staff with all their vigour and expectations, you go for training and you are lectured, motivated all round with the goals, rules and regulations of the company, what drives it, then you return to your station and you find your own direct boss breaking that same rule with a straight face. They tell you to do as you are told, not as they do. Anything outside that and you suffer for doing like your superior.

The manner some superior talk down their subordinates leaves little to be desired. It leaves the subordinate feeling disoriented, disorganised and his morale goes flat bottom. Sometimes, unofficial personal errands are used as yardstick to measure loyalty and ultimately leverage for promotion and even sanctioning of officers. You find people coming home late sometimes, tired and feeling totally useless all in a bid of running an unofficial errand. At the end of the day, the guy’s schedule is disrupted, his work suffers…..a lot of people simply do not know what multi tasking means; should it include unofficial errands like baby sitting, going to the market, children pick up from schools, airport pick up and drop off (when you are not a driver?), attending unofficial functions (even at the expense of personal and family life) at most weekends and working when people should be resting. Sharing with other people is great but sometimes, it is like making a register; being present.

A lot of potentially great human minds with the best intentions see themselves diminishing and gradually settling for less because they are in a tight corner between pleasing the boss (keeping the job) and following the rules.

You find colleagues sabotaging themselves to get the boss’s approval, engaging in eye-service at all cost just to buy that favour……the sad thing is that it actually works. The man who practices eye service is the one who seem to get all the favours.

Sometimes, when people display this disturbing and embarrassing behaviour, it comes from people you would not believe would stoop that low as to use eye service to buy favours even at the expense of others. Blackmail, gossiping and all manner of unholy behaviours that does not apply in the work environment happens in places you least expect. We are so used to these things we just have accepted it as one of those things.

While profit is major goal and money motivates, there is a limit to where it can reach…after a while people begin to want more and want better. They become exhausted and work ultimately suffers. People should be treated right both as subordinates and colleagues. People have to feel genuinely appreciated and when somebody does a good job, commend them. Some people never have anything besides complain and complain….funny enough, they cannot do that same job that well. Don’t be the type of a person who champions suffer-head methods of doing things and practice what you preach. Our work ethics in Nigeria is so bad that even those who make the fat salaries still feel some sense of emptiness and some are willing to trade their job for something else because of how things are done in their office.