Deputy governor creates new civil service gongs
(CNS): In the wake of revelations that there are significant plans afoot to reduce the numbers of Cayman’s civil servants, the deputy governor said Wednesday that he is committed to building a new sense of morale throughout the public service and believed the new DeputyGovernor’s Awards will help. Franz Manderson said the service was informed about the awards this week which highlight the outstanding efforts of civil servants across core government so that both the people and their actions can inspire their peers. The awards set high standards, which are expected from all Cayman Islands civil servants.
“The Deputy Governor’s Awards are designed to recognize the excellent work performed by civil servants in the area of customer service, and towards reaching the goals of their respective departments,” he added. The accolades are an internal rewards scheme for civil servants who will be participating within their departments on a monthly basis.
“Every day civil servants go about exceeding the expectations of their customers, and it is important that such excellence is recognized,” said the deputy governor. “I look forward to the launch of this exciting new programme and would like to take this opportunity to encourage all of my fellow civil servants to continue to strive for excellence in service.”
In the light of the government’s fiscal problems and pressure from the UK to reduce borrowing and return to the principles of prudent financial management as set out in the Public Management and Finance Law, the public sector is beginning a process of retraction over the next five years which will see a significant number jobs shaved from core government.
In a statement issued to the media on Tuesday evening the premier said that the civil service would not fill 80% of the posts that were originally budgeted in the 2012/13 and there would be a continuation of strict hiring moratorium in future years. He revealed that there would be a reduction in headcount of the civil service by 360 over the next 5 years, a pay freeze on civil service salaries and the implementation of a voluntary separation scheme – meaning redundancies.
All new civil servants will have a revised health plan where they will co-pay and new police officers will face a revised housing allowance.
Category: Local News
Why not give them the "Honourable" title as well? They are at least as deserving of the title as our politicians.
Well said Cayman5:
"The leaders of the country have to convince the servants and ministers of a vision, a dream, motivating factor that will lead them true to duty and country. So I wish Franz Manderson good luck."
I have read some crazy/negative/illogical/bias comments on CNS before but I must say the comments on this story beat them all.
Over the years I have read numerous stories/articles about the private sector rewarding their top/best employees. I would imagine that most companies that care about their employees have a similar award scheme- so what on earth is the Deputy Governor doing wrong???
I read one post that said that Heads of Departments cannot choose the right employee of the month!!! What!! So only an executive in the private sector can do this and Government can’t.???
Remember the old adage – if you don’t have something good to say don’t say it.
Please use some common sense and stop making a fool of yourselves by trying to convince the public that the people like the brave helicopter pilot who travels many miles out to sea searching for drug smugglers or stranded fishermen, a fireman who saves a life, the police officer who arrests an armed suspect or arrest the many drunk drivers who make our roads dangerous, the teachers who go out of their way to ensure that our children are educated should not be awarded- yes folks these are Civil Servants too. Shame on you for not appreciating them!
Thank you Mr Manderson and all the thousands civil servants who work hard to keep us safe, protected educated and cared for. Many of us are very grateful for your service, we recognize that when we go to bed tonight many of you will be at work watching over us and responding to calls for assistance if needed. God Bless you all.
This will not work with third world workers. I think you should keep the good ones and just get rid of the ones who are not. Like in a developed country.
More meaningless awards. I would prefer if Mr. Franz would reply to my emails when I gave him evidence of two top public servants using GASBOY for their personal vehicles. Start looking at the REAL problems first please. Seeing this kind of activity is demotivating enough without giving silly awards!
Looks to me like Franz is trying to divert attention from low standards in the civil service as a whole just as he did with his immigration officers' indiscretions when he was CIO.
This is classic smoke and mirrors. Focus on anything that can be remotely presented in a positive light and hope no one looks at the big picture.
The word cronyism is probably the best way to describe what will happen when this kicks in. It's going to be divisive and divert resources from the real issues.
In my opinion, unless there is an independent assessment of people's performance this type of thing is very demotivating, in the private or public sector
I love Mr. Franz, but….the scheme is completely ridiculous. Leaving it up to the heads of department to choose their nominee…..hello…..the hard workers will never be picked, it will be the same ol' same ol' nepotism that this Government reeks of!
guarantee that in my department the people nominated will be the same people who received employee of the year awards in years past. Just saying…..
Thank you Mr. Manderson for creating this award. Please do not be deterred by the negative posts. Remember that everything the private sector does is good (including giving their staff cars, rolexes and huge bonuses) and everything thing Government does for its staff is wrong.
Your hard working Staff deserves to awarded- this will also act as an incentive tothe few who are not pulling their weight.
You have lived up to your word since taking on your new role and we expect you to continue to make the changes that are required.
"…the private sector does is good (including giving their staff cars, rolexes and huge bonuses)"
WTF?
What planet are you living on mate? I want some of what you're on.
I, and everyone I know in the private sector have never, ever, received perks such as these and would like to know where we can get them we can apply for jobs there. Nor have we seen a pay rise (COLA or otherwise) for years. The harsh reality of working in the private sector is, (provided you are not one of the many redundancies we've suffered in the last few years), that you pay your own contributions to health and pension, do lots of overtime for free, get no bonuses or raises, don't get our gas paid for, have to actually work and be productive in order to keep our jobs and get paid our salaries, and consider ourselves lucky if we haven't had our salaries reduced or been made redundant.
Just sack 10% of them.
the spin continues….. at every opportunity the government is trying to say how great the civil service is in a vain attempt to justify their job/salaries…..
i think franz manderson should do a public reading of the miller shaw report!
How about conducting efficiency audits and annual appraisals? Those that cut the mark stay, those that don't go. Those that excel and exceed expectations (confirmed by nominations from the public) get an award? Now we're talking innovative and much needed improvement.
they have appraisals, there are just no consequences attached to the outcome, bad or good
I think I'm the only one on the island who doesn't have any award. How did I go wrong?…
Oh I got it… I'm just a hard working, bill paying person in the private sector. Awww shucks.
C'mon Franz….they are paid to do a job and if they need pats on there bum bums to motivate them then there is a serious problem!!!!
And to 19:36…..if you remove all the work permit holders, who would do the work!!!!!
One set of bureaucrats, supposedly with greater power, is setting up a war with another set, to
be fought on behalf of the serfs.
Nice idea, but do bureaucrats ever want to fight other ones?
After all, they are all in the same game and have the same interests,
mainly power and security. And to pursue this game, they need
to extract largess from the serfs.
Trouble is, if they steal too much of the serf's money, the
serfs will die.
So it will be interesting to see how these various interests will play out.
I always work hard and don't need telling or a gong to throw in my drawer to prove it, week out and fire the sick merchants and lazy ones is a much better idea, have you seen some peoples sick records?wow unbelievable yet still given contract after contract, there you go Franz, grab that one and put it into place, too much sick= fired
What a joke. Is this suppose to motivate some of lazy people i work with to do better? Good luck!
Where did the money come from for this? O yes, I forgot; from the un-COLA. This could have been cut out of the Budget and would have helped reduce that last $2 million people were struggling to find in the end. I don't want to hear anything about private sector getting bonuses. You join the Service knowing full well there are no such monetary bonuses. Certainly non-monetary incentives/awards could have been found.
No doubt this is all well-intentioned, but personally, I prefer more tangible measures for an award otherwise they become meaningless. You try to please everyone by nominating someone different each period despite the fact that the same individual performs head and shoulders above the others time and again.
Where can I give mine back?
Awards to boost morale in the Civil Service??!! How about the wasters and deadwood doing their job for a change? Perhaps serving their customers with a smile and in under 30 minutes (where lines are involved); acknowledging or responding to correspondence in under 1 week; not thinking that their position gives them the right to be obnoxious (where seniority is involved); not wasting public funds just because it's not their own and they have the authority to sign a PO or make a charge. That's just for starters. That might give them some sense of achievement and create some form of 'morale' for them but would certainly boost the morale of the hardworking civil servants who are carrying the weight of the wasters.
Come on Mr. Manderson, I thought the "innovations" you spoke of a few months ago would really address some of the above – please do not recognize and reward unprofessionalism and inefficiency with Awards!
BTW, I'm a public servant and witness that described above on a daily basis. It's embarrassing.
In the private sector, you motivate your staff with perks and bonuses more than you do with vision and leadership. Why? Because the private sector is profit driven. In the public sector, the civil service, there is no such thing as a profit driven base. The leaders of the country have to convince the servants and ministers of a vision, a dream, motivating factor that will lead them true to duty and country. So I wish Franz Manderson good luck. In the face of salary cuts, reducing CS numbers, incompetent leaders, and the Caymanian-bashing from the private sector, the leaders will have to prove and rally the servants, and mere speeches and giving awards is not enough.
Now I wish I had never left! All these years that was all that was missing! This is exactly what itwill take to fix all that ails the Civil Service!
Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 08/29/2012 – 18:45
I soooooo know who you are talking about. I am a foreigner but I approached her and we became quite good friends, but if I am totally honest I used to see her barking at the the people from the firms using that particular court facility and being quite rude and unhelpful at times. I liked her and she liked me once we got to know each other, but others continued to be scared or cautious of her and they were the ones she treated badly.
The main problem is that we have too many civil servants on work permit with the government for too long. Some of them need to move on or go to the private sector and leave space for Caymanians. Government need to stop hiring foreign staff. If theyare hired in a professional job, they have NOT been training Caymanians, !! so I suggest they should be paid a salary accordingly to the time they have been there,one week for each year and one week severance pay, and their post made redundant. Those of us who have any sence at all, need to check what the Government is doing to Caymanians. Not only this government, the other government was known for keeping Caymanians out of job. They are the ones keeping us out of a job. They are the ones who are responsible for 9,000 on the children and family pay out list. Give Caymanians jobs, and stop maintaining expatriates through that department.
How is this different from the awards for custome service set up by Governor Jack – I think Franz himself got one of these (deservedly in my view). Despite what people think, there are some very hard working competent civil servants. The snag in this scheme, and it has been a problem in the past, is that despite all good intentions, the people who get them are too often long serving ("loyal") seat warmers. I remember one Governor Jack awardee for customer relations who people (especially foreigners) were frightened to approach she was so truculent. Such awards completely discredit the scheme. We have a similar problem with "National Heroes" but I wont go there.
We might just as well order 55000 and give everyone an award.