Renumeration has slid down the charts of employee motivation in Botswana as employees are actively demanding trustworthy leadership and greater transparency on how organisations are governed, a leading human resource expert said.
In a┬áshocking┬árevelation, Bernard┬á Dithabi, head of LeadEx, said┬á contrary to what┬á most people thinkÔÇöthat ┬ásalaries are a driving motivator ÔÇô there ┬áis┬á a ‘ deeper┬á issue than ┬áwhat meets the eye’.
“Wages are lagging behind┬ácompared to other motivation┬ástuff. Employees need leadership that they can trust,” he said.
Some of the key factors they have identified include job enrichment, recognition, career growth, trust on leadership and then renumeration at last.
Dithabi, who is a former Debswana Human Resources Manager at Jwaneng Mine, was speaking at the just ended Botswana Call Center Conference that was aimed at taking stock of the development of the industry in Botswana.
The two-day conference was held at Phakalane Golf Club and Resorts Center on Wednesday and Thursday.
It emerged that most of the time employees are not truthful when asked by management to state their concerns at the work place because often they fear to be victimised.
This has led to a situation where trust between management and employees being eroded leading to a situation where leadership work mostly on assumptions.
“If there was something to do to drive┬áemployees┬ámotivation┬áit makes sense to hear them out first,” he said.
“The issue of (poor) leadership seems to be a big one,┬áespecially when the economy is in a bad shape┬áand employees are looking for direction.
“Employees want┬áa sense of┬ábelonging┬áand committed leadership who are able to respond to challenges in time,” he added.
He said often times the leadership takes time if┬áat all they are lucky to respond to┬áemployees needsÔÇö who in turn are expected to deliver on┬ámandates.
“Employees need to be given a chance to┬áappreciate a bigger picture in a company. They want to know and appreciate┬ároles played by different departments,” he added.
Dithabi further pointed out the situation is even worse in the Call Center industry where employees are mostly working on temporary basis, work long hours, which affect their ability to  socialise and  work on their career paths.
“Most of engaging companies (Call Centers) are looking for temporary┬áemployees leading to lack of┬ácommitment to the┬álong term goal of the companies,” he said.
“This is why 60 percent of the employees in the country spend most of their time actively┬álooking for┬áa new job,” Dithabi added.
