Austin Gamey Urges Employers to Reward Workers Based on Productivity, Not Attendance

Labour analyst Austin Gamey has urged employers in Ghana to adopt a performance-based salary system, arguing that workers should be rewarded according to their productivity rather than simply their presence at work.

He believes linking salaries to individual performance and the overall performance of businesses could improve workers’ earnings, strengthen job security and create more employment opportunities.

On Tuesday, November 10, Mr Gamey said Ghana’s labour laws already provide for productivity-based remuneration, but effective implementation remains a major challenge.

He said the proposed Independent Emoluments Commission should help establish a remuneration framework that prioritises productivity and promotes the payment of living wages.

“Nobody in Ghana should ever be paid based upon appearance at the workplace. We must be paid based on the performance of the business and the performance of the individual. So productivity pay is what will give us what we have always been clamouring for, a living wage,” he said.

Mr Gamey also called on the private sector to take the lead in promoting productivity-based remuneration, describing it as an effective way to reward workers, protect existing jobs and expand employment opportunities.

“The private sector is supposed to lead that crusade. This is the most civilised way of rewarding people and protecting their job security, and to ensure that we expand and employ more people,” he added.