One thing I like about living in Ethiopia is the fact that we follow a different calendar here. As a result, we are seven years younger and enjoy thirteen months of sunshine. And we also have the opportunity to celebrate holidays twice, like Christmas, Easter and New Year. Wonderful! Especially those who work in international organizations or companies will be privileged as both calendars are respected. Add this to the numerous other national holidays that are celebrated in Ethiopia and you hardly find the time to take up some of your annual leave days. From the employees’ perspective, that is. From the employers’ point of view, things may look somewhat less rosy though. Quite a number of productive days are lost or subjected to claims for overtime. Come to think of it and I realize that employees find it rather easy to claim overtime. They find it a lot harder though to apply for a day off or for annual leave. Annual leave is preferably capitalised instead. “What to do?” or “Where to go?” are responses that I get when I ask somebody when he or she will take leave. There is a monetary factor involved here as well as many will not have been able to set aside enough money to take the family out for a holiday. This is a pity as it is important to rest and spend quality time with family and friends.
On the other hand, I observe that workers find it very easy to stay away from the workplace at any given time, without requesting for it or explaining the reasons for their absence. If given at all, the reasons are expected to be accepted without further questions. Some of the reasons for absence are more justifiable and verifiable than others but even then, little effort is being made to inform the office sufficiently and in time.
I have noticed that employees find it very easy to leave their work on their desk and leave the office for any personal reason. They may be away for a few hours without anybody knowing where they are and for what purpose they left the office. Ever wondered about all the people who go to church during week days to pay respect to their church’s Saint? The whole street is blocked by parked cars and believers dressed in white to pay their respect. They can’t all be jobless, can they?
In some offices this has developed into the interesting habit to report for work twice a day, i.e. early in the morning and just after lunch. And after attending to some urgent matters, the coat is left on the hanger behind the desk, to be picked up again at the end of the day. Where the office bearer is during the hours in between, nobody knows.
While the existence of non-commercial organizations will not be directly threatened by such behaviour, this is different for companies that need to make a profit out of their productive hours. All the more reason to take the issue far more serious than is normally done. Examples of productive hours lost are plenty and here follow some:
Leaving the office to attend to personal issues.
Attending a medical clinic or reporting sick for not serious enough matters.
Attending funerals of not close ones.
Attending engagements, which are normally done on week days.
Attending the church’s Saint days during working hours.
Browsing the internet for personal reasons and responding to personal emails.
Personal telephone calls.
Staying away from the office or workplace the day after a public holiday.
I was surprised to notice that many people didn’t report for work on the Monday after Easter. The excuse used is related to digestion problems after eating and drinking things that were abstained from during the fasting period, read “hang over”. And so the work can wait? When will this time be compensated for? Probably not at all.
I cannot help but conclude that when it comes to ethics related to observing working hours and putting in the time and energy required to do the job, we face a culture in Ethiopia, which negatively affects business. And where this is so, such culture and bad habits need to be dealt with. Here follow some suggestions:
Have a policy, regulating leave, holidays and overtime. The policy will include the requirements to apply for permission for any leave or time off in writing, written justifications for any absence and the consequences for not following the regulations.
Don’t only have the policy; apply it consistently. Where you allow exceptions, the policy will become obsolete.
Set a number of compulsory leave days, for all workers to take, like for example the Easter Monday.
Have a system recording workers coming to and leaving the office.
Install cameras in the workplace.
I know some of these measures will be difficult to introduce as many workers have gotten used to relaxed working hours and they will feel restricted, while using Ethiopian culture as an excuse. Don’t worry about the excuses but remain consistent in applying the new rules will be my advice. After all, it is your business. In time, the resistance will make way for acceptance.
Happy holidays
ETHIOPIAN YOMIF LEADS BOSTON’S MIDDLE-DISTANCE CLASHES
Organizers of the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix have announced that world indoor champion Yomif Kejelcha, multiple NCAA champion Edward Cheserek and a handful of the USA’s leading 800m runners are among the latest additions to the line-up for the IAAF World Indoor Tour meeting in Boston on 26 January.
Yomif, who successfully defended his world indoor 3000m title last year, will step down in distance to contest the mile in Boston. Last week he opened his 2019 campaign by clocking 2:18.34 for 1000m and 3:52.61 within the space of half an hour on Seattle’s oversized indoor track.
He will face Kenya’s world indoor 1500m bronze medalist Bethwel Birgen, two-time Olympic 1500m medalist Nick Willis of New Zealand and Canada’s two-time NCAA champion Justyn Knight.
The men’s 800m in Boston will be just as competitive as USA’s Donavan Brazier, Clayton Murphy, and Boris Berian take on Spain’s world indoor bronze medalist Saul Ordonez.
Brazier, the North American U20 record-holder and US indoor champion, returns to the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix as the defending champion in the men’s 800m. He won last year in 1:45.11, just 0.11 off of Johnny Gray’s North American indoor record set back in 1992.
In the men’s 3000m, three of last year’s top four finishers return for a rematch: defending champion and history’s second-fastest indoor miler Edward Cheserek, event record-holder and Olympic 5000m bronze medalist Hagos Gebrhiwet, and Spain’s European indoor 3000m champion Adel Mechaal.
Saint George signs a Ghanaian; Dawzi, Lucky joins Police
Saint George signed an attacker from Ghana to replace the outgoing Nigerian Alex Orotoma while relegation threatened new comers Debub Police signed two Nigerians with a lot of experience in Ethiopian Football.
The Ghanaian side All Star’s former striker, 25 year- old Richard Arthur joined Saint George on a two-year contract and the first to put pen to paper under the newly appointed English Coach Stewart Hall. Although other foreign players are expected to join Stewart soon, critics are suggesting Saint George already has a strong strike force comprised of home boys.
Getaneh Kebede and Salhadin Said’s return after months of injury turned out to be a success story in a 5-1 demolition of Mekelakeya and upcoming forward Abel Yalew has been impressive so far with four goals to his name. Saint George appears to have enough firearms to battle for the title. According to critics, the arrival of these foreign players in the absence of international fixtures for the first time in five seasons, could be considered a waste of finance and talent.
In the mean time new comers Debub Police managed to convince two Nigerians: Former Electric, Dedebit and NegedBank striker Philip Dawzi and compatriot Lucky Sunny to one year contracts. Late in appointing Coach Zelalem Shiferaw and even later in joining players’ transfer` market, Debub Police are struggling to survive at the upper tier sitting 15th in the table collecting five points from ten matches. Dawzi; once runner-up top scorer of the season bagging 19 goals is expected to bring a real difference for the relegation battlers Debub Police.
Five out of 16 Presidents appear at Inter Continental
Ethiopian Football Federation’s meeting for Premier League club Presidents to discuss matters over the issue of creating a League Committee turned out to be a frustrating situation because stakeholders failed to appear. Only five out of the 16 presidents appeared for the meeting that took place at Inter Continental Hotel on Tuesday.
At the conference led by EFF President Essayas Jirra and Vice-President Colonel Awol Abdulrakim , Gezahgne Wolde presented a 140 page Study paper which defines the process of League Committee creation and experiences of other football nations on how they tackled the issue so that they could form strong leagues. Lack of standards in club formations, government and political interferences in organizing competitions, dependency on government finance are among the big issues addressed at the conference.
Though the absence of the League Committee is long considered to be one of the biggest factors for the failure of Ethiopian football, the clubs appeared to be reluctant to realize this. “We are leaving the stage for the clubs to run their own shows and ready to provide them with an office. But it is discouraging to discuss such huge undertakings among personalities that are unwilling to decide on these matters,” EFF President Essayas said to the participants.
Ethiopia Bunna Board Chairman Lieutenant Fekade Mamo who admired the initiative taken by the federation suggested that further in-depth studies should come to the stage. This is because the reality on the ground shows lots of hurdles to pass through. The Premier League clubs are being asked to submit a list of club representatives for further deliberations.
