Common Humanity

“The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices.”- Jimmy Carter. We are on the cusp of a new year. For many of us 2024 was a challenging year. Our finances, health, personal, spiritual and work relationships were all impacted. For a significant number of us our 2024 resolutions remained unfulfilled yet for others we achieved all that we had set out to. In 2024, we had wars, rumours of war, earthquakes, homicides, presidential elections, local government election, the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral and numerous industrial actions especially in the hotel industry. Without a doubt the closing year has been hectic. Locally, we have had a reshuffle of some government ministers namely in the Education and Finance Ministries. In Jamaica, general elections will be held in 2025. In the region, Haiti continues to be engulfed in social and political unrest while in Trinidad and Tobago, the government of Dr. Keith Rowley had implanted a State of Emergency due to rising incidents of crime and violence in the twin republic. In Germany, the voters will also vote in elections scheduled for February. The incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz has fallen out of grace with the German voters and is likely to be replaced by Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union. Notwithstanding, a number of Jamaicans are of the opinion that justice is only reserved for a selected few with enough money and influence to afford it. Most Unpopular Government in Postwar History. Scholz's political career has been marked by ups and downs. His chancellorship faced several major challenges following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Germany's tightrope walk of supporting Ukraine militarily without being drawn into the war itself. The resulting energy crisis, inflation, the economic slump, the European asylum dispute and the unprecedented postwar electoral success of the far right the federal government has had to deal with an extraordinary multitude of problems under Scholz. In fact Germany is once again named “The Sick Man of Europe”. Rising sick leave rates may be bad news for German companies at a time when the economy is already ailing. While some say changes to reporting in sick have made it easier to fake illnesses, experts insist the reasons behind the rising numbers are more complex, ranging from increases in mental illnesses to more work pressure. "The impact is significant and certainly affects economic activity," Claus Michelsen, chief economist at the German association of research-based pharmaceutical companies. Workers in Germany on average took 15.1 days of sick leave last year, up from 11.1 days in 2021, according to federal statistics agency Destatis. According to The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data, Germans missed on average 6.8 percent of their working hours in 2023 due to illness worse than other EU countries such as France, Italy and Spain. Some corporate leaders have been outspoken about the problem, with Mercedes-Benz chief executive Ola Kallenius lamenting that "absenteeism in Germany is sometimes twice as high as in other European countries". The Hans Boeckler Foundation's WSI institute, which is linked to German trade unions, said blaming workers for deciding to stay home too easily or for faking sickness were "dangerous shortcuts". Private detective Marcus Lentz has capitalized on this growing rate of absenteeism in Germany which has led to a boon in business. "There are just more and more companies that don't want to put up with it anymore." Lentz added that his company was receiving up to 1,200 such requests annually, around double the figure from a few years earlier. "If someone has 30, 40 or sometimes up to 100 sick days in a year, then at some point they become economically unattractive for the employer,". "They obscure the view of the really relevant causes," said Bettina Kohlrausch, WSI's scientific director who pointed instead to more stressful working conditions, increasing respiratory ailments and fraying social protections. In some work places locally there have been instances of mold than have caused many employees to become ill. Each employee immune system is different and as such what employee A can tolerate will make employee B become sick. Dynamism of Culture. Cultural dynamism speaks to the changes and interactions that take place within a society's culture over time. These changes include how cultural activities symbolize power, influence, and societal values. Undoubtedly, culture is dynamic. As a result, no one can predict what might happen in the future. Employers must also be mindful not to define sickness in narrow terms; ill health does not mean hospitalization. Unfortunately, in some jurisdiction mental health is not given priority. The state of wellness does impact productivity levels. We should not seek to punish employees for being sick especially since many work spaces are stressful and toxic. On this New Year’s Eve let us enter 2025 with realistic expectations. May we place God first in all we do and conceptualize! May we be more caring to each other as we realize the commonality of our humanity! Without a doubt the workplace needs to be less toxic and more inviting. The solution regarding absenteeism from work is not to hire a private detective. Perhaps the solution is to implement worker incentive schemes that will motivate and improve organizational performance. Let us all look within ourselves and identify those areas which require work. May 2025 be a blessing to all. “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God". "Everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love". – 1 John 4:7-8. Wayne Campbell is an educator and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues. waykam@yahoo.com @WayneCamo © #NewYearsEve