“Technology to tackle fraudulent weighing techniques in tea estates”
Hayleys Plantations wishes to correct certain inaccuracies published in the Sunday Times story headlined “Technology to tackle fraudulent weighing techniques in tea estates” on May 12.
We note at the outset that the headline mischaracterises the nature and purpose of investments made by Hayleys Plantations with regard to the implementation of its Real Time Digital Weighing System. The main objectives of the implementation of the system was to enhance accuracy of weighing and eliminate human error – intentional or unintentional – while reforming a crucial aspect in the production of tea.
Fraudulent weighing is certainly one aspect to consider, however the overreaching goal was focused on improving overall employee productivity, by providing them a fool-proof performance system that they could trust, while also providing the management team of Hayleys Plantations with real-time visibility into the performance of every harvester at every estate.
Such data is a vital precursor to any effort to optimise performance. The primary reason that these investments were showcased to media was in order to showcase progressive measures being taken by Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs), in order to build awareness and support for the expansion of such successful programmes into the wider plantation sector.
The article alleges that “Estate Managers are seen favouring some of the other tea pluckers who are advantageous to them and they get paid well with a small cut going to estate mangers’ pockets by the end of the month.”
This is wholly inaccurate and derogatory. Firstly estate mangers do not participate in the weighing of green leaf. This is a task carried out by a supervisor this is not a managerial function. Hence there is no possibility for managers to manipulate the weighing of green leaf.
We can only conclude that the allegation that management was involved in such unauthorised practices as being based on a misunderstanding as to the terminology and hierarchy of roles within the tea industry. Moreover, even if supervisors are implicated, Hayleys Plantations notes that this is an allegation which has been reported anecdotally rather than by making reference to actual instances of such unauthorized practices backed by evidence.
While the Hayleys Plantations acknowledges that unauthorized practices can and do occur within the industry – both in Sri Lanka and across the globe – it nevertheless commends the actions taken by Hayleys Plantations in establishing what amounts to a fool-proof system to combat such practices, thereby providing a cost-effective solution to a perennial problem that workers face on the ground.
The commendable investments made by Hayleys to incorporate Near Field Communication (NFC) technology combined with a proprietary cloud-based real-time performance review system have now been proven to help motivate employees and boost overall productivity, which in turn helps them to earn more. This represents a major improvement over the traditional manual systems given that it strategically addresses a real and perennial challenge on the ground that is cost effective and scalable across the entire industry, from RPCs to smallholders and even in the Government sector.
Finally, the article states that Rs. 11 million has been invested on training of estate staff. This figure actually relates to the total cumulative investment from Hayleys Plantations for its entire workforce including managers, executives, staff and the estate workforce.