{"id":3473,"date":"2012-03-21T08:42:35","date_gmt":"2012-03-21T13:42:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ict-pulse.com\/?p=3473"},"modified":"2012-03-21T08:55:51","modified_gmt":"2012-03-21T13:55:51","slug":"balancing-wages-and-competitiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2012\/03\/balancing-wages-and-competitiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"Balancing wages and competitiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following a series of salary disputes in telecoms sectors across the region, this post offers some thoughts on two frequently opposing considerations: wages and competitiveness.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/classblog\/\"<\/a>Over the last few weeks, there have been regular news reports of employee discontent in a few of the telecoms companies across the Caribbean region. Two of the organisations consistently featured are the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC), a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless in the Bahamas, and LIME in Barbados, where the contention in both instances is regarding pay. The unions are asking for salary increases, but the companies are prepared to offer considerably less.<\/p>\n

In Barbados, negotiations between the union and the LIME have ground to a halt, and the Minister is planning to intervene. In the Bahamas, the union has threatened industrial action, and last week it revealed that a salary review conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoppers indicated that<\/p>\n

\u2026 over 90% of BTC\u2019s line staff in our bargaining unit are underpaid, based on the 75th<\/sup> percentile, when compared with similar companies nationally and regionally\u2026(Source: The Nassau Guardian<\/a>).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although it is hoped that these pay disputes can somehow be resolved to the mutual benefit of all parties, below are a few thoughts pertinent to both sides, which most of us employed in the ICT\/telecom industry, and even the wider working community, may appreciate.<\/p>\n

Economic pressures and decreasing purchasing power<\/h3>\n

In many large and established companies, there is usually a provision for an increment to employee salaries to be made annually to offset the effects of inflation. While the payment of annual increments might be the case with many telecom\/ICT companies in the region, persons are still experiencing difficulty making ends meet, or maintaining their current lifestyles.<\/p>\n

Moreover, virtually all Caribbean countries experienced an economic slump over the last few years, which caused a contraction of most markets. Growth ground to a halt; and when coupled with the on-going recession in the United States, along with the weaker US Dollar (o which many of our currencies are pegged); the result has been a marked decrease in purchasing power, which has a direct impact on the cost of goods and services locally.<\/p>\n

Hence, the increment, although welcomed, might not necessarily accommodate the changes in the cost of living \u2013 to purchase groceries, a gallon\/litre of petrol, electricity, etc. \u2013 all of which are affected by the state of both our national economy, and that of our\u00a0major trading partners.<\/p>\n

The changing focus on\u00a0competitiveness<\/h3>\n

Competition in the telecoms sector, and across most other industries, demands that companies, among other things, increase productivity, improve efficiencies, and manage costs. From a human resource perspective, transitioning to operate in that environment has often required organisational restructuring, redundancies and other options for employee disengagement.<\/p>\n

A key argument being made by the union in the Bahamas, to rebut claims by the BTC that it cannot afford the percentage increase being asked for, has been the substantial increase the BTC’s profitability, as reported in Cable & Wireless Communications plc\u2019s half yearly report<\/a>, and the saving being realised through the BTC\u2019s voluntary separation programme, which has reduced employee numbers. However, the views expressed by the BTC have focussed on the need for the company to become more responsive:<\/p>\n

\u2026 to survive and thrive in an ever more competitive market.<\/p>\n

The operating structure must remain \u201cnimble and agile enough to address the customers\u2019 needs at all times; employees must be engaged in a \u201cconsistent and productive way empowering them to shape the business and address customer demands efficiently\u201d and the company must be performance driven\u2026\u00a0 (Source: The Nassau Guardian<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is also important to note that in highly competitive environments and from a compensation standpoint, salaries across an industry tend to become more consistent. Outside of senior management positions, significant variations become rare. \u00a0However, differences might exist in the perks offered, such as allowances and benefits, and even performance-related pay arrangements.<\/p>\n

Unchanged employee expectations?<\/h3>\n

Using a regional player as an example, historically, Cable & Wireless \u2013 when it operated as a monopoly in most of the countries in the region \u2013 was considered a choice employer, as it offered considerably higher compensation packages, relative to other companies across a number of sectors. However, the introduction of competition and regulation meant the company has had to become more streamlined and efficient. But to what extent have employee and public perceptions and expectations changed to reflect the company\u2019s current situation?<\/p>\n

[For those who have not done so as yet, please participate in our on-going IT\/tech salary survey<\/a>: 10 questions, 5 minutes ]<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

There might still be the belief that working in any area in the technology\/ICT space is highly lucrative. While this might be the case, depending on the actual field\/specialty, competition is changing industry dynamics and company imperatives, which inevitably affects remuneration. We are in no way suggesting that employees should not be properly compensated, but we may also need to recognise that what it means to be \u201cproperly compensated\u201d, at least from the employers\u2019 standpoint, might be changing.<\/p>\n

A final note…<\/h3>\n

It is also important to highlight that the cheaper cost of labour in the Caribbean, in comparison to developed countries, has been a key driver of foreign investment, which is a critical input to many regional economies. With increasing salaries, operating costs increase, which means that many countries will become less competitive within the region, and even further afield.<\/p>\n

Image courtesy of\u00a0Digitalnative<\/a>, flickr.<\/em><\/p>\n

___________<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following a series of salary disputes in telecoms sectors across the region, this post offers some thoughts on two frequently opposing considerations: wages and competitiveness. Over the last few weeks, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[82,17,11],"tags":[83,100,88,71,53,40,32,98,50],"class_list":["post-3473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-caribbean","category-ict-tech","tag-bahamas","tag-bahamas-telecom-btc","tag-barbados","tag-businesses","tag-competition","tag-expertise-hr","tag-information-society","tag-lime","tag-productivity","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2iE1G-U1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3473"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3473"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3487,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3473\/revisions\/3487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}