Time vs Value: A Breakthrough Reform

 Consider a situation wherein you completed your graduation and entered a startup. With the help of your merit and skills, you and your colleagues in the department manage to raise the revenue of the company by a colossal 27%.

Now here’s the deal: If there were two similar startups, one which has a salary structure as a base income and a bonus commission on every profit you brought to the company, and another startup which gave you a fixed income every month with respect to the time you spent working regardless of your significant contribution in driving the company’s growth, which startup would you work for?

The Central Vigilance Commission has one of its roles and responsibilities to minimize or eliminate corruption in government machinery and government-affiliated corporates.

Apart from implementing strict rules and a code of conduct, a study of potential causes that hinder high monetary growth in the professional world is also very important for a vision of the complete eradication of corruption.

The Time versus Value model:

A primary factor behind corruption we encounter in India is the nonfulfilment of the desire of the person to achieve more in less time. Somewhere our current financial system only values the time of employees and not their value output.

This unfortunately gives a clear indication to the employees that their creativity, skill, or experience don’t get to play a significant role in their job, which eventually leads to the development of a lethargic mindset and high inefficiency among them resulting in low productivity and loss of interest which makes them a liability of the company.

On the level of authority, however, since there is the freedom to form policies and sanction financial aid, the persons holding the big positions have better access to illegally work around this hindrance factor and fulfill their desire. Although opting for corruption is illegal and must be dealt with strict actions, the rigidity of the time-based paycheck model often leads many to find corruption as the most lucrative method for high monetary gains.

The Value output model on the other side provides a window full of opportunities where the employee/the manager can use his skills and creativity to increase the value output and get rewarded accordingly. This way they get an opportunity to increase their income without having to opt for corruption or breach any terms of the code of conduct. The possible implementation of a value-based income system is a sure way to eradicate corruption.

Another very good solution for minimizing corruption is to recognize and provide monetary/non-monetary awards to those who maintain their integrity and say no to corruption.

The basic behavior of a human to repeat the action for which he is commended can be leveraged here. Praising the employee or the manager for not being corrupt as well as publicizing them across the company atmosphere is a great start towards minimizing corruption.

Role of Education:

Education is another primary factor for ensuring minimal corruption in corporate or government institutions. Higher investments in ‘value-based’ education inducing a vision of a prosperous and developed India by 2047 are bound to show positive results by a decline in corruption at various levels. This is proved below by how Singapore used the very same technique to effectively eliminate corruption mentality from its soil.

The Singaporean template to eradicate corruption:

On August 9th, 1965, A small piece of land breaks away from the country of Malaysia and claimed complete sovereignty. At that time, however, the country of Singapore was known for having one of the biggest slums in the world.

And in 2022, the very same country ranks 4th least corrupt in the world. A great deal of this achievement comes from its systematic and well-planned approach to erasing the idea of corruption from the root level.

A brief elucidation can be given in the following way on how it is done:

The vision of a prosperous Singapore is induced in the minds of the youth at an early level during their education. After establishing the vision/goal, the education system is designed to provide them with strategies or in other words, do’s and don’ts on how to make yourself and your country flourish.

The ministers of the government are paid handsome figures every month so as to ensure no one feels his/her efforts and talent is being undervalued.

In fact, if a minister through suitable reforms manages to bring positive growth, a certain percentage of the monetary gain is rewarded to him. Here we can find the value output model at play. Other monetary and non-monetary rewards are also provided to recognize his genuine efforts.

Unlike India and other major nations in the world, the political system in Singapore demands a certain level of education as the bare minimum to join politics.

Even if a person tries to attain assets through corruption, the judiciary delivers a quick verdict and imposes enormous penalties on the convict so as to prevent such incidents in the future.

Posts and promotions are awarded just on the basis of the Merit of the candidate. This has a hugely positive outcome since cases of corruption are significantly lower when people are chosen based on merit.

Overall, Singapore with its well-planned strategy and with excellent execution has effectively managed to eradicate corruption in its government and private systems and shines bright today in the world.

There are many lessons that can be learned here and changes that can be implemented without having to destabilize the current financial system in India to a significant level.

These were some of my opinions regarding Corruption free India for a developed Nation.