The introduction of a 24-hour work system at the Ghana Publishing Company Limited (GPCL) has helped prevent job losses while improving staff productivity, the company’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Lantam Papanko, has said.
Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Afternoon Ghana on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, Mr Papanko said the new shift arrangement allowed management to better utilise its workforce, which previously faced limited workloads within regular office hours.
“There was clearly overstaffing there. People would come to work in the morning and by 4:30pm everybody picks up their bag and goes home,” he said.
According to him, under the old system, machines were shut down at closing time even when printing jobs were incomplete, unless staff were paid overtime.
“If there was a printing job and it got to 4:30 pm, they put off all the machines and go home, unless you paid overtime. That was not an efficient way of doing things,” he explained.
Mr Papanko said management, instead of laying off workers, opted to divide staff into shifts to keep production running round the clock.
“The managing director would have had to sack a lot of people for being redundant. But the 24-hour system saved jobs at the Ghana Publishing Company Limited,” he said.
He added that the company, which currently has a staff strength of a little over 200, has since seen improved output and even created room for additional recruitment.
“A little leeway and room has been made available for a few more people to be employed to do the work that we are doing,” he noted.
As part of broader restructuring efforts, Mr Papanko said management has also established new departments, including quality control and legal services, to strengthen internal operations.
“Imagine a state-owned enterprise that deals with legal documents like the Gazette not having a legal department. There is now a legal department,” he said.
He said the changes have helped make GPCL more responsive to client needs and reduced complaints about output quality.
“When any job goes out now, we make sure the right materials are used and the client gets what they asked for,” he added.
Mr Papanko described the changes as part of efforts to reposition GPCL as a productive and financially viable state-owned enterprise capable of meeting government and private sector demands.
