What is the true value of labour? It is a question that has occupied philosophers, economists and public administration scholars for centuries. Is work measured by the number of hours spent at a desk, the effort expended, or the value created for society?
Despite decades of management theory and public-sector reform, many institutions remain captive to an outdated assumption- that physical presence is synonymous with productivity.
If an employee is in the office, the thinking goes, then work must be getting done. Not quite. The industrial age conditioned us to think this way.
Factories required workers to be physically present because production depended on machinery and assembly lines that had to be manned.
Productivity was therefore measured through attendance, supervision and time. Over the years, this factory-floor mentality seeped into public administration, where presence gradually became an end in itself rather than a means to better service.
The consequence has been a culture that too often rewards attendance instead of achievement. A public servant may arrive early, leave late, attend countless meetings and meticulously follow every bureaucratic procedure, yet contribute little to solving the problems citizens face.
Another may devise innovative ways to improve service delivery, reduce waiting times, save public resources or enhance efficiency, yet receive little recognition because traditional performance systems struggle to measure outcomes. Kenya's public service is increasingly confronting this reality.
Speaking during the Public Service Performance and Productivity Day at the Kenya School of Government, President William Ruto argued that government must stop measuring the time employees spend behind desks and instead evaluate the value they create.
His remarks reflect a broader global shift in public administration: success is no longer defined by physical presence alone but by the tangible difference public servants make in citizens' lives. If this transformation is to succeed, meritocracy must prevail. Sacred cows must be slaughtered.
Complacency must end. Accountability must become non-negotiable. A lean, competent, innovative, patriotic and dedicated public service will be better equipped to deliver quality services and restore public confidence. At its core, public service exists to create public value.
As public administration scholar Mark Moore argues, governments derive their legitimacy from the value they generate for citizens. In essence, they fulfil the social contract by solving collective problems, improving lives and strengthening public trust.
Public institutions therefore succeed not because employees occupy office space, but because they produce meaningful outcomes. Citizens do not care about attendance registers; they care about services.
When a citizen sounds a distress call, swift effective security response is what is needed.
When an investor seeks regulatory clearance, the expectation is speed, predictability and professionalism. When a patient walks into a public hospital, the concern is not how many hours a healthcare worker has been on duty, but whether quality care is available when needed.
Across the world, particularly within OECD countries, governments are steadily replacing bureaucratic systems that reward procedural compliance with models that reward performance, innovation and service quality. Digital technologies have accelerated this transition by making it possible to assess work through outputs, outcomes and citizen satisfaction rather than physical presence alone.
Kenya has already made important strides through Performance Contracting, Results-Based Management, the eCitizen platform and Huduma Centres. These reforms have demonstrated that government can become more responsive, efficient and citizen-centred when innovation is matched with accountability.
Yet implementation remains uneven. In many institutions, compliance with procedures continues to overshadow the ultimate objective of improving citizens' lives.
The conversation becomes even more significant as Kenya strengthens the role of Government-Owned Enterprises. These institutions are increasingly expected to operate with commercial discipline, innovation, efficiency, accountability and financial sustainability.
The era when underperforming organisations could routinely depend on government bailouts is gradually giving way to one in which measurable performance determines institutional survival. Their competitiveness will depend less on activity and more on demonstrable results.
Achieving this transformation requires more than new technologies or revised performance indicators. It demands a fundamental shift in organisational culture.
Institutions must move beyond measuring inputs and begin rewarding outcomes, recognising innovation, encouraging continuous learning and placing citizens at the centre of performance evaluation. Admittedly, measuring public value is not always straightforward.
The work of teachers, researchers, policy analysts, regulators and social workers often yields benefits that emerge gradually and cannot be captured by numerical targets alone.
Effective performance management must therefore combine quantitative indicators with professional judgement, institutional learning and continuous improvement.
Ultimately, the greatest challenge facing Kenya's public service is neither technological nor financial. It is cultural. For decades, many public institutions have equated work with bureaucracy, physical presence and routine.
That is parochial, arcaic even. Citizens increasingly experience government through outcomes rather than organisational structures.
Armed with digital technologies and unprecedented access to information, they are better placed than ever to evaluate government performance and contest narratives that diverge from lived reality.
Today's citizens do not simply demand services. They demand value. That should define the new zeitgeist of public service.
Wamanji is a foreign affairs analyst and a communication adviser. Email: [email protected]. X: @manjis.
