Human capital planned maintenance

Davies Ndumiso Sibanda, Labour Matters

LIKE machines and equipment in your organisation, your human capital requires a proper planned maintenance programme if the men and women who work for an organisation are to add value.

Many organisations lose good men and women to dismissal, resignation, death and retirement due to failure to manage people properly.

I recall an employer who had an artisan working for one of his branches in the transport industry.

The artisan did not have proper accommodation, he lived at the back of the workshops with his family and the living conditions were sub human and in the end the artisan could not take it anymore, he absconded and got a job with a mine that gave his family decent accommodation and more civil working hours. 

A month down the line, the transport company started experiencing serious breakdowns and there was nobody to provide mechanical services.

They tried to hire replacements but all the replacements did not last due to harsh working conditions. The employer then followed the artisan who had absconded begging him to return.

He refused to rejoin the company and in the end the transport company folded and its business was taken over by others who treated their labour humanly.

The case above is not unique. I have seen many organisations that do not care about the welfare of their employees while on duty.

They only want to see the workers at the start of the shift and they want them to work overtime well into the night but do not care what the workers eat in those long hours and how the workers will get home, all they want is the worker back at work on time the following day.

I recall another case of the wife of one of the employees who brought children and their toys and blankets to visit their father at work as the husband was getting home at 3am and leaving for work at 6:30am and as such children had not seen their father for many days. 

The man soon resigned due to work pressure and went on to work for another organisation where conditions in the finance department were more humane. 

The human capital planned programme begins with the organisation’s strategic plan, which has well-threaded people management pieces.

Each employee must be known and understood in-terms of physical strength, mental strength, health position, educational qualifications, work experience, skills mix and many others.

It is these that the employer has the duty to properly manage and develop if he has to get value from people. 

Employees have to be given a works survival toolkit in the form of communication, presentation, analytic, team work, meetings, time management, leadership, negotiation, writing, human relations, financial management skills and ICT skills.  

These usually are not taught at school and cannot be imparted through coaching alone but the employer has to ensure that employees attend short courses covering these.

Once an employee acquires these skills and is able to utilise them as and when need arises, then the employee is likely to add more value to the business. Gone are the days when workers were employed to work and managers to think. 

As part of planned maintenance, the supervisor should be able to motivate and energise his team. They should work to levels where they deliver the unusual.

A classic example is the Jurgen Klopp case whose players overturned a 3-0 deficit and went on to win 4-3 on aggregate in a soccer match against Barcelona recently.

There was no magic but the manager believed in the subordinates, he equipped them with the necessary skills, put together a team of men who believed they were winners and they rose to the occasion. 

This is what every manager should do. Gone are the days when you worked with workers but instead workers should be inspired to do it for you and themselves. 

There are many other things that make the planned maintenance basket, these include allowing for proper work balance, being there for the workers when there is death, divorce, illness, embarrassing occasions, loss of loved ones, special occasions in their lives and many others.

The welfare needs of workers must also not be lost. Things such as retirement planning, staff parties, holidays, various types of loans are all part of the planned maintenance programme.

Lastly, gone are the days when employee discipline was about shouting at employees. There is a need to discipline employees in private without wounding their ego but helping the employee change and add value. 

In conclusion, if people are to add value to the business, there has to be a deliberate planned maintenance programme that is cost effective and at the same time adding value to the business.

-Davies Ndumiso Sibanda can be contacted on:

Email: [email protected] 

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