Public Service reduced from 4495 in 2010 to 'efficient' 2895 to date- David D. Archer Jr
“Since the world economic crisis, we have been aggressively trying to get the right size of the Public Service, and you will see significant declines,” Mr Archer Jr said.
The results come as part of the third phase of the Public Service Compensation Review, which culminated in the submission of “a compensation philosophy” from consultancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), he said in a statement released on July 10, 2023.
Archer Jr added that compensation philosophy is a proposed new way for the Public Service to organise job positions where PwC suggests adopting the Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) system for the assigning of job families, subfamilies, streams, stages, and levels.
“You will see where decisions were made in terms of not rehiring certain positions and just trying to get the right balance with transformation, digital transformation and technology. It allows us to look at a leaner, more efficient public service.”
Review based on models in several countries
The Deputy Governor shared that PwC has created the compensation philosophy in line with the Virgin Islands National Sustainable Development Plan and Public Service Transformation Framework, and has based their proposal on models from several different countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Jamaica, Barbados, the Cayman Islands and Mauritius.
The Deputy Governor shared that the review has now moved into the fourth phase where both a draft and final Compensation Review Report will be created in three remaining steps.
The steps will include developing a compensation strategy, designing a compensation plan and package and adjusting the salary administration system to facilitate achieving strategic objectives.
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18 Responses to “Public Service reduced from 4495 in 2010 to 'efficient' 2895 to date- David D. Archer Jr”
As to levels of customer satisfaction with govt. services, it’s easy to discern that scores are not great. The govt. has spent a lot of money to sent customs and immigration to several rounds of customer service training. Many employers can tell you about how work permit applications drag on. Many residents can tell you about the woes of dealing with BVI Electricity. Many residents rightfully complain about the state of the roads, schools that still fixing, Pockwood Pond, etc.
And, regarding controls, cost control/management is an essential part of running any business, including govt. anywhere. Got nothing to do with past colonialism and everything to do with making wise use of whatever resources are at hand. Only some oil producing countries in the middle east have an unlimited supply of money, and even that will run out.
- death
- retirement
- transfer from the public to the private sector (mostly the more qualified may transfer leaving behind the less qualified which can impact efficiency in a negative way)
- relocation to other countries (again, usually the more qualified persons would have explored this route)
- going on educational leave and never returning (better opportunities elsewhere for the more qualified)
To suggest that there was any exercise to proactively assess skill set and to take intentional steps to reduce anything to achieve efficiency is simply misleading Would it not be better to evidence efficiency by outlining what actual training has been provided to existing staff to improve their performance/efficiency and how their performance/efficiency has actually been assessed to determine the level of improvement?
Providing a baseless set of numbers to explain efficiency is simply unfounded, lacking any supportive evidence and misleading.
About the explanation for the PWC report, just a set of fancy words to say someone was overpaid to review current salary scales. I agree with the person/s who say that this could have been done internally. STEP 1 - list out every single job role, description and level of pay in government. STEP 2 - minimize the number of job roles by grouping similar roles together under one name, description and level of pay. STEP 3 - assign the new roles, job description and level of pay to staff. STEP 4 - clearly explain to the staff the performance indicators that need to be achieved in order to move up to the next role (higher level of compensation). STEP 5 - facilitate progression by providing tailored training to the staff.
Shameful.
broad due to cost of living, nepotism, etc.