Ghana Publishing Company Turns Overstaffing Crisis Around With 24-Hour Shift System

When Nana Kwesi Boatey took the helm of the Ghana Publishing Company Limited in February 2025, he inherited what many would consider a management nightmare — 250 employees performing work that could comfortably be handled by 150. Rather than reaching for the redundancy notices, he reached for the clock, restructuring operations around a three-shift, round-the-clock working model that has since become one of the most cited success stories of President John Mahama's 24-Hour Economy initiative.

From Excess to Efficiency: What Changed

Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Monday, Boatey explained how the overstaffing situation was creating serious liquidity problems for the state-owned printing firm. The company's wage bill was straining finances, yet machines sat idle for large portions of the day — a double inefficiency that threatened the organisation's long-term viability.

His solution was to redistribute the existing workforce across three overlapping shifts: a morning shift running from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., a mid-shift from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and a night shift from 10 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. By spreading staff across the full day, the company ensured that printing presses and other equipment were kept in near-continuous operation, dramatically improving both labour utilisation and output volumes.

Crucially, not a single worker lost their job. The restructuring transformed what had been a fiscal burden into a genuine operational advantage, with the surplus headcount becoming the very resource that made extended operations possible.

Why It Matters for Ghana

The Ghana Publishing Company's turnaround carries significance well beyond its own balance sheet. The 24-Hour Economy is one of the NDC government's flagship economic policies, premised on the idea that extending working hours across key sectors — manufacturing, logistics, services — can unlock hidden productive capacity without necessarily requiring new investment or new hires.

Critics of the policy have questioned its practicality, particularly around worker welfare, transport infrastructure at night, and whether demand exists to justify round-the-clock production. The Ghana Publishing Company example begins to answer some of those concerns, demonstrating that in sectors where demand is steady and machinery is capital-intensive, the model can work.

For Ghana's broader public sector, where overstaffing is a well-documented challenge across numerous state-owned enterprises, the approach offers a potential blueprint. Instead of politically painful retrenchments — which often face union resistance and generate negative headlines — management teams could explore whether extended operations can absorb surplus labour productively.

There are, of course, conditions that must be met for this model to replicate elsewhere. The organisation needs sufficient orders or demand to justify night-time production, the physical infrastructure must support safe overnight operations, and workers must receive appropriate compensation and protection for unsociable hours. None of those factors should be assumed automatically.

A Template, Not a Silver Bullet

Boatey's account at the Government Accountability Series was candid about the cultural shift the new system demanded. Discipline, accountability and efficiency had to be actively reinforced across all three shifts — qualities that cannot be assumed simply because a timetable changes.

Nevertheless, the Ghana Publishing Company's experience provides the government with a concrete, home-grown case study to point to as it seeks to build public and investor confidence in the 24-Hour Economy concept. Whether similar results can be replicated across other state enterprises will depend on how seriously sector-specific constraints are assessed — and whether the political will exists to push through the necessary operational reforms.

For now, a state printing company that was quietly drowning in excess staff costs has found a way to breathe again — and in doing so, has handed policymakers a story worth telling.