Incentives matter: Motivating staff is a necessity not a luxury

Richard decided td speak to Yassim. He explained to him that although he was very pleasant and always smiling but he didn't attend to his work,he was never around when needed,he gave bad advice and failed to arrange things properly. The young man admitted honestly that it was true but explained that because he was so poorly paid by the boss , he thought to himself why should I bother?

Richard pointed out that infact Yassim had agreat opportunity to impress foreigners some of whom might buy a riad and set up a business and employ him. He should realise that foreign contacts are an asset and he should work proactively to make positive contacts in his own self interest, to create his own future. After the talk Yassim worked well for the rest of the visit.

A positive attitiude is important in any situation. It must be said that low pay is one of the problems facing the tourist industry in Marrakech. Many tourists complain of poor service in hotels and restaurants, one of the factors is poor motivation by employers and bad or insufficient training. Richard's simple call for young people to put more effort into their work would surely be echoed by many Moroccans as well as Europeans. 

However it isn't as simple as that. There are cultural differences and attitudes  to work between Morocco and the West as illustrated it such books as Culture Shock and the more appropriately entitled Culture Smart  published by Kuperard. The job they argue is not the first thing in a young Moroccan's mind, it is the family which counts above everything. The work ethic has its place in life but it is not as all embrassing as in the West . There is also a tendency for young Moroccans not to take foreigners seriously, they tend to come and go after all.

With the onset of the global economic crisis  it also has to be said that there is a danger of a whole generation of young people in Richard's country , England growing up completely unemployable and disassociated from society, the education system is failing and the link between school and the work place is not there and hasn't been for many years. This is by no means just a Moroccan problem.

The speech by His Majesty King  Mohammed VI  on Throne day was outstanding in its honesty and clarity. He said that teaching by rote and cramming must end and children need to be taught to question and think for themselves. Initiative and individuality has to be  encouraged and not crushed. The illiteracy rate is still too high and one remembers that in 1998 Abderrahamane Youssoufi was the first Prime Minister to admit that illiteracy in Morocco was 50 per cent.

However It is staggering that in the West with all its advantages, the education system has failed in a similar way and the link between education and the workplace has been lost. Captialism is failing to produce enough jobs and as with the last Great Depression their will be millions of blighted lives.

Richard Farleigh is right about motivation and a carrot and stick approach. Marrakech only has tourism  with which to face the future and the leaders of its tourism industry need to look very closely at how they train and motivate their staff. Employer employee relations need to vastly improve in Marrakech and  Morocco many  employers have failed in this respect and employee rights count for very little. It also has to be recognised that tourism cannot provide enough employment for the full population of Marrakech, the majority of whom do not have university degrees.