On the Labor Day [Archives:2008/1151/Community]
By: Maged Thabet Al-kholidy
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First of all, I am sorry to delay Part 2 of my article entitled “to love before or after marriage: a contrast” because today is the International Labor Day and it is good to comment on a topic related to such an occasion. I hope, It will be published next week, expecting some readers' responses to the two articles
It is really good to specialize at least one day per a year for laborers. As a reward of their continual work through a year, laborers celebrate this day as an international day.
On this day, laborers must be honored. Of course, it is difficult to honor all the laborers on this day by high ranking institutions. As a result, many companies and institutions annually select an ideal employee or laborer to be honored in public. This is really good. But, many laborers wonder about the standards according to which the selection of such an ideal employees takes place.
Selecting an ideal employee in each company or institution encourages others to work harder so that they compete with each other to be selected as ideals in years to come. But, what is the criterion of selecting the best employee in any company.
There might be different ways, but which one is fair and which one is not. Is it according to the work done or to the attendance-record, or the personal relations?
If it is only by personal relations or mediation, there would be no fair at all. In such a case, the real ideal laborers no longer think of work quality, since work quality or hard working does not offer them anything. They start to think about any mediation to get such an honor even if they take work only as a matter of fun.
The attendance record can be considered as a means of evaluating to mark those who are regular from those who are not. It is sometimes taken as a standard for selecting the ideal employee of the year. This is, I think, unfair to take it alone since it is not everything.
The achievements of work are really a good evaluating standard to select the ideal employee of the year. Good morals, following the regulations and respecting others are also important in the selection of the best employee.
When mediation or personal relations are taken as an evaluating standard, it reflects the corruption of workplace. In such a case, while other laborers work hard, while the others are to get the honor. The rights of such hard working people are wrongly passed to those who take job as entertainment and wasting time. When such hard working people realize this, they get discouraged and finally no new progress in the field of work. It negatively affects the personal moral of such people. It, moreover, affects the work itself and, subsequently, the institution of work as a whole.
The attendance record, or any device of attending-time check, is an official procedure which is supposed to be followed in all companies and institutions. It obliges workers or employees to respect work time, and to be punctual. It is, however, useless to count minutes and seconds for evaluating. Actually that will be a good standard when a person is indifferent about the work duties. It may awake him up to respect responsibilities. The case may be different when the attendance device is used to determine the present and the future of someone whose actions and achievements speak louder than words and signatures.
Leave emotions aside, and hard restrictions too. Deeds do always prove the seriousness of any employee. If circumstances prevent him/her to come on time or even not to come, it does not mean that he/she is careless and indifferent. Hard times or bad circumstances are imposed upon all. This must be taken into account when evaluating any working staff especially when it is taken as a determining standard in the personal lives of such people. All people will be regular and punctual. But they may do nothing or at least, they will not take it serious. In such a case, if they are evaluated as good and excellent employees, it is of course, a vanity. Work must be superior, and any additional criterion comes latter. The other rights can be changed and make them accustomed to, but achieving better work is supposed to be more important. Some institutions and companies are successful for following such a way of evaluation because they take the matter through the mind's eye.
Labor Day is briefly an international day for to celebrate and refresh their minds. Institutions and companies must work together to honor its best employees who must be selected fairly so that laborers get encouraged by such an advice.
Majed Thabet Al-kholidy is a writer from Taiz, currently doing his M.A. at English Dep, Taiz Uni. He is an ex-editor of English Journal of the University.
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