Comment: Fingerprint scanning to improve productivity

The IFS, one of the largest software companies in Sri Lanka, which employs around 1,000 has only two persons to run its personnel department. The secret is the technology, the software it uses with fingerprint scanning machines to register attendance, has enabled the company to increase its efficiency while reducing the number of workers needed. If a similar size institution handles the work manually they may need to employ over 25 people to handle the personnel department.

The situation in other private companies in Sri Lanka may not be similar to this high tech software company, but the technology, finger scanning or other electronic attendance registry system is not a spanking technology for them and for many years most of the companies are using them. Irrespective of the rank, from top officials to sanitary worker of the institute follow the same procedure.

However, the public sector of the country, which is still in the stone era, is struggling to digest the new system introduced recently. As usual the fire began at the Ministry of Health, when it attempted to implement the system last year.

The health workers who have an extraordinary power of hijacking the innocent patients started the protest against the new system. After a bull, the issue sparked off again last month when the ministry decided to go ahead with the system from May 9.

As always the public thought the agitating health unions are wrong and the minister and the ministry officials' version of the story is correct. But this time they are wrong.

The ministry officials have done an injustice from the beginning and now the protest for equal treatment or against the discrimination is acceptable though we cannot accept the rejection of the new finger scanning attendance system.

The ministry first introduced the system in November last year and it was for 215 grades of employees in the ministry, except doctors. From the very beginning the ministry officials to evade the threat of the doctors' mafia did not touch the 'untouchable elites' and exempted them. However, other unions of 'untouchables' the technical staff that have the bargaining power over the life of innocent patients opposed the move.

The Ministry withdrew the implementation of the system. In the new round the system will cover only 16 out of 215 grades in the ministry. Now the minister and high ranking officials believe these categories of the workers don't have such a bargaining power and openly threaten the struggling unions.

The Government should have the courage and the ability to implement the system not only for these 16 employees' grades but also for the 216 grades including doctors.

Today certain government institutions are not capable of even implementing the attendance registry system, the essential part in any institution, be it public or private.

Trade unions are so powerful or so indifferent to struggle against this kind of matters and even threaten to strike. The problem the people of the country raise is why they can't go for a better monitoring system, if they are honest.

According to ministry reports last year's overtime payment for health workers exceeded Rs. 3,000 million. It has been revealed that some workers have drawn overtime payments by marking bogus times in the attendance sheets. They oppose the finger scanning system fearing that the doors to cheating would be closed under the fingerprint system.

In almost all government institutions it is the same. This issue in the health ministry reflects the grave deterioration in administration in the public sector in this country, where around 850,000 are employed.

Bureaucracy, inefficiency and corruption are rampant in the state sector from top to bottom and every now and then these matters are highlighted. The COPE report has revealed shocking evidence of corruption taking place in government institutions. The auditor General's Department has also pointed out the same issues.

Revenue collecting institutions are well known for corruption and inefficiency though ministers and officials boast about improvements taking place. The CEB, which is running at an operational loss and depends on government subsidies gives bonuses for its staff.

The Pensions Department and all other departments are still in the stone era despite the plush office rooms, computers and all other state of the art technology. After the O/L results were released, the lower pass rate of students in Mathematics and English proved the tragedy faced by the education system. According to reports the education administration system has deteriorated to rock bottom.

The government on many occasions attempted to change the situation in the state sector by investing heavily on it. In 2004 the government recruited over 30,000 new graduates to the overcrowded state sector and had high hopes on productivity increase and a boom in the sector.

But nothing happened and the 30,000 also fell into the same rut. It was then argued that without paying a higher salary the productivity increase in the state sector is not possible. President Mahinda Rajapaksa last year did this by fulfilling his election promise.

Now the minimum salary scale in the government sector is Rs. 11,000. But efficiency improvement in the sector is not evident. Now the main issue in the public sector is not productivity, but salary anomalies.

The finger scanning system was introduced with the objective of increasing the efficiency and reducing irregularities in the present system. It was first introduced as a budget proposal in 2006. If the new system is fully implemented the Health Ministry in Colombo can monitor the performance of its employees at any given time.

These are not the world's latest technology or HR management practices; they are several decades old. However, our society is centuries-old and not even ready to accept any positive change. The basic problem is the lethargic attitude the society has whether they are educated or otherwise.

Even our educated doctors feel that the signing of the attendance register or finger scanning is an insult to them. The freedom to attend the workplace as they wish is a privilege.

Now all persons feel that all the wrong practices and procedures are their rights. The Government too has to accept them as their rights because of trade union power, human and worker rights. Will this society go even a step forward without changing these indifferent attitudes?