What about employees in private sector?

The Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) boss, Omponye Kereteletswe has bemoaned government’s huge wage bill. When appearing before Parliamentary Accounts Committee recently, he stated that the private sector should be employing more people than government is. How can this be achieved when there already is little care about the working conditions of those within the private sector employ?

For a long time, private sector employees have been neglected by their employers, not because they cannot do better to care for them, but because they take advantage of government’s laxity when it comes to protecting and advocating for public sector employees, giving the cue to employers within the private sector to do the same or worse, to its employees.

While civil servants enjoyed their salaries in the comfort of their houses at the peak of COVID-19, it was private sector employees who suffered most and government could only do the minimal, if anything at all, to protect them.

As the pandemic eases, life is not getting any easier for employees in the private sector. While some were promised their jobs back, nothing has happened as COVID-19 eases, others had their salaries chopped, and many more are stuck with the same salaries they have been earning long before the pandemic set in with no prospect of an increment in sight.

We have of late been seeing inflation rising, prices of necessities sky-rocketing with employees in the public sector still expected to be productive and contribute to the development of the economy. While public servants are sure of a five percent salary increment for the next three years, the future looks bleak for private sector employees whose wages no longer meet the cost of living in the country.

It is only when all sectors of employment play their roles fully that a common goal can be achieved. We thus call on government to strengthen measures in place that protect and advocate for the rights of employees in the private sector. We have seen some private sector employers dump their employees when the going got tough, but still earned from government wage subsidy payments. We call on the Botswana Unified Revenue Service and other stakeholders to ensure that employees get their dues. Those who were unceremoniously fired should get their jobs back or be paid their due exit packages.

We would also like to urge employers in the private sector to do their best to take care of their employees and tread honestly. It has been proven that employees in conducive environments who earn adequately are more likely to deliver desired results.

We have over time as a media house reported on stories of employees complaining about employers and poor working conditions. Often it shows that employees are at the mercy of their employers.

We call on the private sector employees to always study their employment contracts and understand their rights and obligations against those of their employers.