Fair Wages Commission

Eid Ul Adha Mubarak to all our Muslim brothers and sisters and their loved ones. May you know joy, peace and prosperity in this season.

2026 National Productivity Week kicks off with calls for efficiency, patriotism, and continuous learning

The Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI) has organized a symposium as part of the 2026 National Productivity Week, under the theme “Transforming Mindsets, Driving Efficiency – MDPI’s Approach to Sustainable Productivity for Economic Growth.”
The symposium brought together leaders from the public sectors to examine practical ways to improve efficiency and institutional performance in Ghana.

Speaking at the opening, the Minister of Labour, Jobs and Employment, Dr Abdul Rashid Hassan Pelpuo, said productivity must begin with knowledge and a transformed mindset.
“Any society that fails to propagate knowledge, equip its youth to learn, and encourage its workforce to pursue training, research, and continuous learning will not progress. It may grow in population, but not in development,” Dr Pelpuo stated.
He recalled that MDPI was established shortly after independence to train civil and public servants to adapt to changing times, not only for Ghana but for the wider region. While gaps emerged over the decades, he said a new generation of leaders is now reviving the Institute’s original purpose.

He said Ghana’s young generation is thinking differently, and called for productivity to be embedded as the core of national development
MDPI Director General, Prof Elijah Yendaw said the Institute’s core mandate is to shift mindsets, change attitudes, and build patriotism within Ghana’s workforce.
“Our role is to move people from 'this is how it’s always been done’ to ‘how can we deliver better results with the resources we have?”, he said.

Ghana has ‘no excuse’ not to pursue productivity aggressively – Fair Wages Boss

Ghana has “no excuse” not to pursue productivity aggressively, Chief Executive of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission Dr George Smith-Graham has said, urging a national shift toward pay-for-performance and a culture of accountability.

Delivering the keynote address at the Management Development and Productivity Institute’s symposium on the theme "Transforming Mindsets, Driving Efficiency: The MDPI Approach to Sustainable Productivity for Ghana’s Economic Growth,” Dr, Smith-Graham said Ghana’s prosperity depends less on natural resources and more on the productivity of its people and institutions.

“Across the world, nations that have successfully transformed their economies have done so not only through policies and infrastructure, but through deliberate investment in a productivity culture,” he said. “Countries like Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, and here in Africa, Rwanda, have shown that productivity growth is the foundation for sustainable economic transformation.”

The symposium forms part of activities marking the 2026 National Productivity Week.

From rhetoric to results

Dr. Smith-Graham identified low productivity, weak accountability, poor time management, resistance to change, and a growing culture of entitlement as major barriers holding back Ghana’s development.
“The greatest transformation many nations can achieve is not merely infrastructure—it is mindset transformation,” he said. “Productivity is fundamentally behavioral before it becomes economic. It is reflected in how people think, how they manage time, how they approach work, and how committed they are to excellence.”

Link pay to productivity

A central theme of the address was the need to redesign Ghana’s public sector pay system to link compensation to performance.
“Sustainable compensation systems cannot be built solely on annual salary increments without corresponding improvements in productivity,” Dr. Smith-Graham said.
He said the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission is working with the Public Services Commission, State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), MDPI, and other institutions to strengthen performance management and explore practical ways to tie pay to measurable outcomes.

MDPI’s role

Dr Smith-Graham stressed that leadership sets the tone for productivity.

“Where leadership tolerates inefficiency, indiscipline, and mediocrity, institutional decline becomes inevitable,” he said.
He praised MDPI as a critical national asset in shaping leadership thinking, building managerial competencies, and driving organizational transformation.
He urged Ghanaians to build a culture that values hard work, innovation, and accountability.
“If we transform our mindsets, we will transform our institutions. If we transform our institutions, we will transform our economy. And if we transform our economy, we will secure a prosperous and sustainable future for generations yet unborn,” he said.

Celebrating the Engine of Our Nation’s Growth 🇬🇭

​On this International Workers' Day, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) salutes the hardworking men and women across all sectors of the Ghanaian economy.

​Happy Workers' Day to the Ghanaian Worker.

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FWSC Moves to Link Pay to Productivity as National Roundtable Conference Committee Is Inaugurated

The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission has begun a major shift from a pay-driven system to a productivity-driven compensation model, with the inauguration of a committee to organise a National Productivity Roundtable Conference.

The seven-member committee has representation from the Public Services Commission, State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI) and Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC).

Before inaugurating the committee in Accra on Thursday April 16, 2026, the Chief Executive of the FWSC, Dr George Smith-Graham said the current wage model is “no longer sustainable, fiscally, economically, or socially.”
“For far too long, compensation discussions in our country have been dominated by negotiations around wages, often disconnected from measurable productivity outcomes,” the Chief Executive told committee members.

The move ties into broader public sector reforms. Dr Smith-Graham warned against introducing a new pay policy that “simply pays people more for doing the same old job.” He called for a full review of schemes of service, describing many as “completely outdated” with the advent of AI.

High Cost, Low Wages
The Director Productivity and Performance based Rewards at the FWSC, Cephas Amada revealed that more than 40% of Ghana’s non-tax, non-oil revenue is spent on compensation, a figure higher than the African benchmark. Yet the minimum wage stands at $1.98, below the global poverty line of $2.15.

“This suggests either our recruitments are not properly tailored to our needs, or our productivity levels are generally low,” he said. “A country that turns its attention away from productivity invariably embraces poverty.”

National Roundtable to Drive Reform
The National Productivity Roundtable is not just another conference. It is designed as a strategic national intervention to reframe the conversation on pay, build consensus on productivity measurement, and lay the foundation for a performance and productivity-linked pay system.

Four Key Mandates for Committee
The committee has been tasked with key expectations including ensuring the conference is outcome-oriented with clear, actionable recommendations to feed into the National Productivity Framework and a new Performance-Based Pay Policy.