Is HR nonchalant about the broken Air Conditioner? Does your workplace feel like the worst place to be on earth? I am not even hinting at adversaries at work, or banters with co-workers but outrightly unpleasant working conditions!
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Are Ghanaian companies anti-fun?
Most Ghanaian companies don't seem to be a lot of fun.
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If you’re nodding your head in affirmation to all these questions, then you’re probably working in Ghana.
Although Ghana ranks averagely in worst places to work in the world, working conditions are not that average. You don’t always need a broken air conditioner to have a stifled and stuffy workplace. Just the painting of the building could do the trick. The gloominess, lack of positivity and vibe is obvious when you visit most Ghanaian companies. The only conclusion one could come to- Ghanaian companies are anti-fun.
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The keyword is ‘EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION’ and very much has escaped many of the top managerial firms in Ghana. I am no Industrial or Motivational Psychologist, nor am I an expert analyst at institutional performance, but the number of suggestions you get when you google ‘fun things to do at work’ pretty much slam dunks the issue of boredom in the face of many companies in Ghana.
Imagine if you had a mini tennis court at your workplace, Xbox 1 console, a dance or karaoke night once a while, or a morning workout session every last Friday of the month. I bet you’d love to work at a place that had a ‘Pizza Wednesday’ but isn’t Papa’s Pizza. A beautiful artwork on the wall could fuel you with all the drive you’d need on a moody day. How many Ghanaian company do these for their workers? A handful!
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The truth is you, the price to pay for fun is nothing close to its dividends. Forbes rates Google Inc as one of the coolest companies in the work. So, it is not surprising that it tops the charts for the best companies in the world. The ambience at Google makes the dullest Jack want to be ‘Jack of All Trades’. They actually make climb you ‘mountains’ inside cool and they sure are climbing their way the top.
My last internship was stressful. It was a hunt to catch up with Google’s pile of documents, not with algorithms but with my feeble typing skills. How I survived? Team bonding! We had series of games when the room felt downcast. At first, it seemed trivial, even infantile but it took the stress off and you’re energized for another hit of hard work. Even these effortless components that costlessly create the positive energy and enthusiasm that soaks away the boredom engulfing Ghanaian workers are mostly missing our working environments.
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They’d always be dozens of articles about why efficiency in Ghanaian workplaces is in sinking sand. Perhaps if our motivation is concreted into solid rock fun environments then, we could hope for the very best of efforts from our workers.
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