In our weekly column this week, we take a look at the labour turnover being experienced in the business entities, being run by Small Medium Entrepreneur’s (SMEs)
Labour turnover in the simplest terms of explanation can be equated to the high frequency of workers joining and leaving a particular work place within a specified period of time.
I have been prompted to write on this subject particularly on SMEs out of the experience that has come to me by way of witnessing the exodus of employees from various work places, particularly in the sector of SMEs.
It must be appreciated that labour contributes significantly to the well being of businesses being run not only by individuals but even the incorporated companies run by several share holders with the wide spread of branches.
Well established companies with proper working business structures and run by several share holders, have put in place a well be fitting labour policy for workers, which sees employees remunerated handsomely with proper pension scheme.
Employees are further remunerated with a wide range of benefits such as holiday allowances, sick benefit schemes, housing allowances, education allowances, sharing the profits of the company in one way or another just to appreciate the contribution made by the workers.
While this country appreciates the entry into aliberated economy which has seen the coming on the scene of private companies run by brilliant individuals with brilliant business ideas, less has been seen in rewarding of workers who have helped these individuals become millionaires today.
While an employer is expectant of maximum input from a worker to propel the business to the next stage, little has been done to remunerate the worker correspondently.
Most employers in the category of SMEs define a salary as a final remuneration in a month and this is despite of any increase in the volume of business sales which can be attributed to the hardworking of the workers.
And to make matters worse, such workers aresubjected to working conditions that are not good.
Such conditions are the working hours that go over the stipulated hours as required under the Labour Act and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) respectively.
And if a worker raises concerns over the harsh working conditions, the next course of action taken by the employer is a dismissal. These conditions of work have contributed to the high labour turnover.
One such industry where there is high labour turnover is the motor industry. The highest a worker can stay on a job in this industry is two years.
At one time when I was consulting with a firm in this industry, the workers approached me  that they needed loans from the banks where they were receiving there salaries from.
With so many employees in this country benefiting from personal loans from various banks and have constructed houses and bought personal vehicles, I thought it wise to help them in this area.
However, when I approached the bank with such a proposal, I was shocked when the loan officers informed me that it was not possible for the bank to extend such facilities to workers in the motor industry because of high labour turnover and non existence of pension benefits.
I witnessed an incidence where one business owner instructed the manager to reduce the work force just because he could not enforce the minimum wage. Two months down the line he employed the same number of the employees as those who where laid off.
Workers in the SMEs sector are insecure with their jobs and if one had to visit the labour office, one would be amazed at the number of complaints and claims for benefits from these employers.
Those familiar with business ventures are aware that in the production industries such as the manufacturing sector, raw materials and labour are inseparable in the production mix of end products.
It  is amazing how some business owners have attached great importance to the procurement of materials and with less regard to labour.
Other employers sacrifice labour and sometimes workers  can go for several months  without being paid and this brings a lot of strife in the work place contributing to high labour turnover.
A well groomed staff in a work place becomes an asset to a business and their contribution must always be acknowledged by the business owners.
Incentive creation in the work place must be encouraged as this is one away of appeasing workers.
SMEs should learn to invest in labour as part of business investment because as you are aware, investments are associated with returns. A good investment yields good returns so is investing in good workers.
High labour turnover is a danger to a business because the growth of a business would be affected in one way or another. So let SMEs learn to invest in labour and put up a policy of labour retention.
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