POOR work ethic was yesterday cited as one of the reasons for the low level of productivity in the Caribbean.

Presenters at a conference of middle managers in Kingston said the region was also lagging behind in implementing management tools to increase productivity and to enable companies to realise their strategic objectives.

Human resource specialist Cassandra Rock, CEO of Rock Solid HR Consulting in Barbados, said Caribbean companies should engage their employees more in order to improve their work ethic. “There is a big difference in the work ethic of the United Kingdom and the Caribbean. When people move to the UK from the Caribbean their work ethic changes; why cant we have it here?” she asked.

The UK-born Rock, who is a former head of talent at LIME Barbados, said the UK’s high work ethic culture is not only about better pay.

“I think that pay is something that everyone wants, but companies can’t give a pay increase every time employees ask for one. Companies have to find ways to engage their employees without actually throwing money at them. It’s more about work ethic, culture and the way businesses are set up”, Rock told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

At the same time, pioneer in the field of project management in the Caribbean, Azad Hosein, said the region’s work ethic problem is more pronounced in the public sector than it is in the private sector. “In the public sector we have a work ethic and productivity problem. People are not motivated as much in the public sector, and as a result, project management in the public sector across the region is relatively poor,” said Hosein, the founder and principal of Microsearch International Inc, a Trinidad and Tobago-based project management and training company that has worked for many companies and most governments in the region.

Both Rock and Hosein are presenters at ‘Middle Managers’ Conference 2012′ which has its second and final day today at the Wyndham Kingston Hotel.

In her presentation yesterday, Rock challenged participants to engage their employees instead on seeking to satisfy them. “Companies across the world are focusing on engagement of employees, which is about them being enthusiastic about the business and the work that they do. Engagement drives productivity, profitability, retention, safety and a number of other issues at the workplace,” she said.

Rock said she hoped to use her experience of working in large global organisations to carry out engagement surveys on companies throughout the region.

Jacqueline Coke-Lloyd, managing director of Make Your Mark Consultants, organiser of the conference, in her opening remarks, said the conference was one way of addressing Jamaica’s productivity levels which are now lower than they were in the 1960s.

She expressed satisfaction at the turnout, as participants from all sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, export, telecommunications, tourism, and the public sector were present.

“We are happy that companies have seen the value of improving their middle managers, and that individuals have registered on their own in effort to improvement themselves,” she told the Observer.

The Observer is one of the sponsors of the conference which is in its third year.