There is not one day that goes by in which a job request does not come to my phone or is solicited via a face-to-face conversation. Mostly, Jamaicans ask if I can get them a farm work card or something that can earn them more money. Typically, the conversation goes something like this:

“MP, I need a job I am not working,”

“What kind of job?”

I will do anything.”

“What are you trained to do?”

“I can do anything, MP.”

“When was the last time you worked?”

“Six years ago as a supermarket cashier…”

Perhaps it is felt that if a Member of Parliament or someone known recommends them for a position they are sure to get it. As they say in Jamaica, “links run tings”. But, while the ‘links’ may get you the job, they cannot make you keep it; it’s your results on the job that do.

Most people assume the hardest part of a job is getting employed, rather than focusing on how they will add value to the organisation towards ensuring that they will always have the job and move up. For them, the main objective is to collect a pay cheque, rather than to help the company grow and prosper so that they can share in its profitability. Performance and productivity are measurable, and even more so in today’s working environment.

Senior lecturer in the Department of Economics at The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Mona Dr Andre Haughton simply points to productivity being the amount of output per person and the value of that output, or how much a person can produce in his/her job over a given period of time. In other words, if a farmer produces three tomatoes per day, the value of the tomatoes is the productivity of the farmer or how productive he/she is for that day. If the farmer moves up to produce six tomatoes per day, then his/her productivity would have increased by 100 per cent.

Between 1993 and 2019 Jamaica’s labour productivity fell by 15 per cent, whereas the majority of our Caribbean competitors had improved. The Dominican Republic increased by 111 per cent and Trinidad 109 per cent. Jamaica is “the lowest among the top five Caribbean countries in 2019. Annual labour productivity in Jamaica was approximately US$13,000 less than St Lucia, US$20,000 less than Barbados, US$21,000 less than the Dominican Republic, and US$49,000 less than Trinidad and Tobago” (Haughton). See table.

Most Jamaicans measure their performance and productivity by the amount of time they spend at the workplace, rather than their productive output or the value they add while they are working. Therefore, how do we teach the meaning of adding value? Is it being highly educated with strong skills? Or could it be operating within systems of meritocracy that reward excellence? Why can a Jamaican go to the USA and perform with a completely different work attitude versus working in Jamaica?

Seven out of the 10 smartest countries in the world — based on mathematics and science — all have one thing in common — their per capita GDP (gross domestic product) is over US$40,000. Among them, Switzerland, US$87,000; Singapore, US$60,000; Netherlands, US$52,000; Finland, US$48,000; Hong Kong, US$46,000; Canada, US$43,000; and Japan, US$40,113. That’s the economic output per person based on dividing the total goods and services produced in the country by its population, or the established wealth of a country that can be redistributed.

Jamaica’s GDP per capita in 2019 and 2020 were US$5,369 and US$4,665, respectively.

This summer, Minister of Education Fayval Williams said we “must set our sights on being among the world’s best schools, [that] it is not enough for students to go to school at 7:30 or 8:30 am. until 2:30 or 3:30 pm. with time for recess, lunch and all the other activities, and expect them to be high-performing”.

In addition to this goal, the minister also announced the formal implementation of two additional years of high school for students through the Sixth Form Pathway programmes with the intention of giving students “needed life skills, certification, and maturity for the world of work, entrepreneurship or advanced studies”. But will this be enough to break the decades of institutional acceptance of memorising information based on repetition or learning by rote? While most Jamaican students are excellent at having the ability to quickly recall basic facts based on memory, this form of learning can be repetitive and insufficient for critical thinking and deeper problem-solving. Furthermore, it lacks systems and space to support diverse ideas, mentorship, teamwork, and communication. At the moment, our primary and secondary institutions do not develop an entrepreneurial mindset or investment in oneself and it is not clear whether the additional two years in high school will get us there. Employers are looking to hire strategic decision-makers whose approaches are always backed by up-to-date research and analysis. It is important that we know our own gaps and address them, versus always waiting for someone else to fix them.

How to create value

Here are three fundamental guidelines that, no matter what level you are in an organisation, you should consistently practice:

(1) Aim to upskill yourself every year. Yes, the employer needs to provide some training and support, but you also need to do an annual assessment of yourself and seek out initiatives that can aid in improving the learning gap.

(2) Have an entrepreneurial mindset. Don’t get caught in doing the same things the same way all the time. Think differently as to how you can always improve the process, challenge the status quo, eliminate waste, and improve the bottom line which will result in a virtuous circle.

(3) Maintain trust and develop your integrity. Ethics is a dwindling skill; therefore, having it makes you of substantial value to any organisation.

As a country we must leap forward with our productivity and value-added goods and services if we are to have any economic growth worth mentioning. This begins with each of us individually committing to creating value in the places we live, work, and go to school. The fact that we are not known for the creation of any value-added industries in the 20th or 21st centuries speaks volumes to the way we have been programmed over the past 100 years.

On the eve of our 60th anniversary of Independence, shy eight years away from the Vision 2030 goals, it’s time we critique ourselves honestly and accept that if our presence does not add value our absence surely won’t make a difference. Let’s all level up our productivity, excuses are outdated.

Lisa Hanna is Member of Parliament for St Ann South Eastern, People’s National Party spokesperson on foreign affairs and foreign trade, and a former Cabinet member.