'Underutilised' public servants may be rotated to other departments- SFC Report
This was hinted in the report on the deliberations of the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) held between November 20 and 29, 2019 at the Office of the House of Assembly in Road Town, Tortola, where Minister for Health and Social Development, Hon Carvin Malone (AL) inquired about the possibilities.
According to the SFC report on deliberations on the Human Resources Department, "The Minister for Health and Social Development and Territorial Member enquired of the amount of members currently employed in the Public Service. The Director has stated that she provided members with statistics at a glance... which states that there are 2,525 Public Officers."
Send staff to other Departments - Hon Malone
It was then that Hon Malone inquired about the rotation and stated that there may be persons who are not be fully utilised, hence, could take on new roles in another department.
"He asked the Director her thoughts on the subject. The Director indicated that the department fully supports the rotation programme and indicated that there were internal advertisements on work and learning, where certain officers could apply and work on certain projects without having to be transferred," the report further stated.
It was also highlighted that the move would allow officers to be exposed to more areas and gain certain insight; however, one possible challenge, according to the Director, is that having persons released by their departments has been an issue in the past.
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12 Responses to “'Underutilised' public servants may be rotated to other departments- SFC Report”
Nonetheless, it is an open secret that the VI public sector employment is bloated at approx 25% of the workforce. The workforce needs to be cut. However, no politician neither government nor opposition will touch this hot potato with a 100 metre pole. Instead, everyone looks the other way and pretend nothing here to see. If memory serves me correctly, Barbados had a similar issue and took the tough and unpopular decision to cut the public sector. Upfront let me say that no one should get any glee from one losing one’s job. The economy should provide the opportunity for everyone to find employment to take care of one and one’s family. The bloated situation in the VI is not sustainable; public sector needs to be cut. Government must explore means and methods to mitigate the cuts. Some suggestions include a)take action to strengthen, deepen and diversify the economy, a) conduct a rightsizing study, c)implement a hard hiring freeze, d)reduce hiring through attrition, e)incentivizing early retirement by offering selective employees $25-50K to retire early........etc. In addition to cutting employees, the level of productivity needs to be looked at; low productivity cost big bucks. Steps should be taken to reduce/eliminate/avoid duplication, waste, fraud and abuse. For example, every dept does not need its own HR Dept. The territory should have a central HR Dept, serving all Depts, including RVIPF and FD, if it is not already so. Another issue that needs attention is the employee pension fund unfunded liability; the unfunded liability exceeds $300M. Steps should be taken to roll out an employee retiree sinking fund. During an employee work life, he/she , along with government, will contribute to the fund and at retirement, employees will draw from the fund.
You back broad. We are use to it. Without us, this territory shut down.