DAMMAM — A number of public and private sector establishments are making an effort to provide their employees with a positive atmosphere that will offer them stability and job satisfaction and to develop and excel in a team, reported local daily Al-Riyadh. “However, the presence of some employees with negative attitudes may impede these efforts,” a study has revealed. “These negative attitudes are contagious. They will soon communicate it to other employees who are serious about working and producing.” The study noted that some government department employees with negative attitude may openly state in front of their colleagues that salaries will not increase whether people work or not. The study said such an attitude would demoralize the other motivated employees, frustrating them gradually. It asked both government and private establishments to provide moral and material incentives to motivate employees and increase their productivity. “Such incentives will increase competition among the employees, making them determined to increase their levels of production,” it added. The study quoted Fahd Al-Abdul Karim, an employee, as saying frustration slowly creeped in after the very first months he took on his administrative job in a government department. “I was enthusiastic, disciplined, serious and ambitious when I was first appointed to my job but I soon began to feel demotivated and bored,” he said. Al-Abdul Karim graduated from King Abdulaziz University with honors in public administration. “My superiors did not appreciate my work. My efforts were not considered so I began to do my work routinely like others. There was nothing to motivate me and the negative spirit of my colleagues infected me,” he said. Majed Al-Otaibi, another government employee, agreed with him. “The general feeling in government jobs is that your salary will not be affected by the efforts you exert. At the end of the day you will all get the same salary without any increments or room for further development,” he said. Al-Otaibi said the negative feeling an employee gets from his colleagues would gradually kill the emplyee's enthusiasm and loyalty in work. “This is particularly true with the newly appointed employees,” he added. Khidran Al-Zahrani of the Public Administration Institute in Dammam said government employees should be well trained and rehabilitated to lead the process of development in the country. “The culture of encouragement and incentives is almost nonexistent in most developing societies,” he said. Al-Zahrani said encouragement and motivation of employees are vital factors for success in any industry. He said the policy of devastation might be caused by jealousy and envy among employees working in the same place. “The creative and sincere employees may quickly be devastated by their demotivated colleagues,” he added. He asked managements to inculcate an atmosphere of equality and fraternity among all employees. Al-Zahrani called for organizing special training sessions for employees to polish their personal behavior and teach them to carry out their duties. “The employees should also be made to join special programs for excellence and distinctive thinking,” he said. Al-Zahrani said productive employees should be given senior managerial jobs to motivate them to do better. He said government employees have no incentives or fringe benefits so they depend mainly on their monthly salaries, while private sector employees are given various incentives that will drive them to excel in their jobs. Mohammed Abdulaziz Al-Sofayan, director of information and public relations at Dammam Municipality, called for rotating jobs among the employees in each government department as a method of motivation for them. “Job rotations will help reveal to managers the good and bad employees,” he added. He said the private sector pays its employees a ratio of profits in addition to housing allowance and medical insurance for them and their dependents. “The private sector also prepares its employees to be second line leaders and managers,” he said. Saleh Al-Ghamdi, a human resources expert, said frustration and demoralization is widely spreading among government employees because of how their performances are managed. He called for tying annual salary increments to productivity and excellence and said this will drive lazy employees to increase their output. Mohammed Khairy Al-Shaikh, an economic expert, said employees of the private sector would have to work hard since profitability is the ultimate goal of the sector. He said the government employees are not concerned with the financial gains of their establishments and they will be paid their salaries regularly at the end of each month. “It will not make any difference for the government employees if they work or sit idle,” he said. He noted government departments are not applying a system of incentives that has been clearly stipulated in the statutes of the Ministry of Civil Service.
