The eThekwini Municipality has introduced a new policy to tackle overtime abuse, boost worker productivity, and enhance service delivery.
Council, which was briefed, approved the Shift Systems Development Policy this week. The policy aims to curtail errant behaviour, which has undermined service delivery and angered ratepayers.
The Metro said the policy aimed to “address service delivery challenges brought about by poor levels of labour productivity and reduce the City’s overtime wage bill”.
The municipality said this is a new policy, and the implementation of the policy will be fully unpacked to management and staff in the municipality after it has been approved by council.
“The Mercury” understands that labour stakeholders have been briefed and workshopped on the policy.
A report on the policy detailed its development. The report stated that “authority has been granted for the Organisational Development and Change Management (ODCM) Unit to implement the Shift Systems Development Policy”.
It said the ODCM had embarked on the critical intervention of developing the Shift Systems Development Policy within various municipal operations.
The report said it was found that the existing shift systems were found to be “completely inadequate in addressing the operational coverage requirements and ultimately have proven to be the most inefficient, costly, and unsustainable mechanisms for service provision”.
It said therefore there was a need for the Shift Systems Development Policy to improve operational performance, business sustainability and service delivery excellence within the municipality.
The policy comes amid concerns that city workers were abusing overtime and the former mayor had previously stated that the level of service delivery in the city did not reflect the fact that the city has 25 000 workers.
The report added that the city manager had mandated the development of this policy to scientifically determine and institute optimal shift systems, which will ensure alignment of operating mechanisms to strategic objectives.
It also said the policy would address the issue of overtime abuse; “The Mercury” had previously reported that city workers were earning excessive amounts in overtime pay.
The report on the policy stated: “The overtime utilisation has shifted from being a necessary provision for exigencies to being a means of supplementary income, resulting in a provision that seems inadequate in addressing a continuously expanding deficit that staff create through adapting their lifestyles to a total sum exceeding the salary provision. The overtime trend has extensively surpassed budgeted provisions and have ultimately removed the value proposition of having overtime as an operational catalyst for necessitated provision.”
Councillors in the metro said the policy was essential and had to be implemented.
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said the policy would bring consistency in the manner the city keeps track of its employees on duty.
“For a while we have been raising concerns that working hours are not speaking to overtime hours.
“The municipality still uses different methods to verify whether someone is at work and what time they started and what time they left. Some departments use biometric scanners that can tell you that this particular employee was at work from this time to that time and they started working overtime at that time.
“But in some cases, they still used old methods of signing in. They sign they started at this time and finished work at this time. There is nothing that stops a particular employee from signing that they left work at 6 when they left work at 4,” he said.
DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa said they supported the policy in its efforts to improve the quality of service that is being offered to residents.
However, he said while the policy may be able to tackle overtime abuse, he did not believe it would be able to address poor levels of productivity.
“We do not believe that it will achieve that, what is needed there is consequence management, because people could be at work but be unproductive.”
Ish Prahladh, president of the eThekwini Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association, welcomed the developments, adding that the policy should be implemented with force once in effect.
“Time sheets must be in place and only signed off by the legitimate heads who do not undermine the system. In this way workers will be doing their jobs and providing value for the ratepayers’ money,” he said.
The Mercury