A COMPANY’S corporate culture comprises its values, beliefs, short- and long-term goals, products and services as well as other operational aspects. Every company’s culture differs vastly from that of the other.

Having worked in national and multinational companies for more than 45 years in various cities of Pakistan, I encountered different corporate cultures and behaviours of people, which mostly illustrated the expectations of owners from the business as well as the impact of surroundings on the organisations.

It was Feb 22, 1972, when my father brought me to a factory, which produced light engineering goods and had been recently nationalised by the first PPP government. After retiring from Pakistan Railways, he had joined this factory as an engineer and wanted me to join it as labour officer, which I did.

The factory, which employed around 2,500 workers, was located behind Kot Lakhpat railway station in the vicinity of Lahore. The previous owners did not allow any trade union activities in the factory but after its nationalisation, there was no such constraint.

Why does productivity vary from company to company?

There was thus a mushroom growth of unions in the country: 17 were registered by the registrar of trade unions within a short span of time. One of them was the representative union ie the collective bargaining agent. The management reached the first ever collective labour agreement with the CBA in March 1972, which gave the workers a substantial increase in salaries and benefits also to ensure compliance with the prevailing wage laws.

Despite this, the factory’s output started declining and a general environment of indiscipline set in. The leading unions operating in the area started fighting with each other in a power struggle and consequently our factory’s premises became a permanent abode for the federal security force. The management found it too difficult to meet the production targets as the workers were more interested in maximising their income through unnecessary overtime work and in taking excessive leave.

In June 1977, I left this organisation and joined an American fertiliser factory in Daharki, Sindh. The salaries and perquisites paid by the company to both its management and non-management staff were among the highest in Pakistan; moreover, it assigned high priority to resolving employee grievances, if any.

The residential colonies in Daharki, for both categories of staff provided all amenities including separate clubs for recreation and entertainment. There were two schools, one taught in English and the medium of instruction in the other was Urdu. The standard was comparable with the best schools in the country.

Fully content with the facilities provided to them by the company, the employees would make an extra effort to deliver their best. During shutdown for periodical repairs and maintenance of the plant, the employees would work in two shifts of 12 hours each continuously for periods ranging from 10 days to two weeks.

Due to so much hard work put in by its employees, the factory’s output would consistently remain above the plant capacity. There was no problem of inflated egos even among senior management and they would accept transfers to smaller cities without reservations, keeping the company’s interest in mind.

The corporation’s worldwide head, who assigned top priority to maintaining the best employee relations, once asked his deputies to explore the reasons for such high returns from their plant in Pakistan. He was shocked to find that the majority of employees worked much beyond their capacity simply to remain in a company which treated them so well monetarily and also provided attractive perquisites.

In April 1983, I joined a reputed British multinational company which had large manufacturing plants all over Pakistan. Soon after, I was transferred to its polyester fibre-making unit in Sheikhupura. With the product in great demand, the unit’s profitability was fabulous and the employees expected high remuneration from the management. A serious labour dispute was successfully handled by the management by convincing the CBA that the salaries were compatible with the prevailing trend in comparable companies.

Unlike the previous American company, the environment here was more relaxed and key management positions were occupied by those who had good family connections and were amongst society’s elite. Promotions would take place on this basis rather than on merit. Managers in the top hierarchy would refuse transfers to smaller cities, as a result of which the company had to close down its lucrative agrochemicals business in central Punjab.

The experience of working in two renowned multinational companies where employees were over-performing in one but underperforming in the other, made it clear that delivering output according to the shareholders’ expectations is important but at the same time employees must be allowed to retain a work-life balance so that their families do not suffer.

The writer is an industrial relations professional.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2017