Dwindling work ethics and motivation: A barrier to economic performance.

Work ethics refers to a set of moral principles, values, and attitudes concerning how to behave at work. The discourse of labour in Pakistan primarily focuses on terms and conditions of the jobs and other facets such as labour participation rate and gender inequality in the labour force, among others. However, labour productivity, which refers to the output attained by using specific inputs, is an important measure of economic performance that receives little attention.

Labour, capital, and materials are all considered critical inputs as these have a direct impact on productivity. However, the provided inputs are intermittent because they are material in nature and are simply external components that may or may not be productive at all times. Whereas morality and work ethics are inherent characteristics that finely shape a person's character, and are critical for long-term national prosperity and development.

Unfortunately, in the regional comparison, Pakistan has the lowest level of work ethics and the lowest rate of labour productivity. The International Labor Organization (ILO) reports that China's output per person has increased by 388 percent between 2000 and 2019, while India's has grown by 177 percent, Bangladesh's by 109 percent, and Pakistan's increased by only 32 percent. According to APO's Productivity Databook-2022, Pakistan's productivity is lower than that of other regional competitors. From 2015 to 2020, it expanded at a 1.6 percent annual rate in Pakistan, compared to 4.9 percent in Bangladesh, 2.6 percent in India, 4.7 percent in China, and 5.2 percent in Vietnam.

The entire country is plagued by a sluggish and less productive work environment, and the bandwagon effect is visible among the labour force. Lower productivity can be attributed to a lack of motivation, incentives, or simply to an employee's dissatisfaction with his job. This is compounded by a workplace culture devoid of ethical values. Employers treat their employees as though they are slaves. That's the kind of culture that leads to a squabble between employer and employee, resulting in the employee losing interest in the employer. Businesses, rather than addressing the fundamental source of the problems, hire managers on top of it and begin playing politics. This is the kind of business culture that breeds sluggishness.

The open secret is that all levels of employees and management in the services and public sectors have a blatant disdain for ethical norms...