CS job cuts underway
(CNS): The goal to reduce the civil service by 360 jobs over the next five years is now underway. Officials say that since the recruitment moratorium was put in place in December 2008, 162 positions have been cut. Most of those have been cut in the 2012/13 budget, in which 145 or 80% of the existing and new vacancies that were originally budgeted to be filled have now been cut. The service management has now been given five years by the UK to slash the remaining 198 posts from the public sector, which will be done via voluntary separation, by continuing the recruitment freeze and a reduction in the scope and level of services offered.
According to a memo circulated to public sector personnel from the civil service portfolio’s chief officer, Gloria McField-Nixon, every effort is being made to ensure that valued staff and vital services are not negatively impacted by the cuts.
During this financial year, in the budget passed this week by the Legislative Assembly, there are almost $10 million worth of savings related to human resources that the civil service will now have to realize.
On top of the job cuts, all civil servants have lost the cost of living allowance of 3.2%. In addition, there will be no ‘within pay grade’ salary raise but civil servants who are promoted or given new posts where jobs have been amalgamated can move grades provided the increase in pay does not exceed two point increments.
The housing allowance for new recruits to the RCIPS will be reduced to $200 but those already in the service will retain their allowance. The settlement allowance for overseas recruits has become a loan, which must be paid back over the first six months, and all personnel over 60 years of age employed on contracts will be paid at the lowest level of the pay scale for their post.
In the memo circulated on Thursday, McField-Nixon wrote that the overall strategy was to focus mostly on meeting the reductions in the cost of the civil service required by the FCO via the moratorium on recruitment and to do everything possible to alleviate hardship for existing staff.
See circular below.
Category: Local News
So why did government get a new office administration building, when in a few years it will be at less that half the capacity. It's going to belike Famagusta in there shortly!
Government – rent the office space out in the new and old building this will help you achieve your revenue projections.
Make everyonesubmit their resume, then test them on the skills they “say they have” give them 90 days to retest and cut the ones that cannot score to what they say they can/should do.
Big Mac let's start with your personal chef and Juilanna's body guard.??? Trim the fat
Why do we need a manager of Pedro to rake in over CI$150K, Turtle Farm Staff 100K+?, Waste- waste-waste!!! I see these HUGE salaries and get so angry this week with schools starting and now pleading for basic school supplies (and the Dept of Ed is another bloated overpaid cartel that has sucked us dry and delivered nothing but sorrow.)
This is ridiculous ! Since when do unproductive inefficient people who complain and gossip all day and just show up to collect a cheque get laid off? The real world you say ? Where the XXXX is that?
Got to start somewhere! Keep it comin!
Are you guys actually buying this BS…??
WOW.
He's suckering you…..He's trying to show you numbers TO MAKE YOU FEEL HE'S DOING SOMETHING.
BUT no one is going so no in CS looses anything so WIN WIN for him.
Thisis all romantic BS.
Yeah!!! Bout XXXX time! Maybe we will start to see some efficiencies in the CS starting.
Just because the UK wants 360 jobs cut does not mean we have to cap the cuts at 360. Can we go for 720?
Anon 1112 I have no problem with what you are saying but a few things need to be taken into consideration
how will the cuts affect pervformance of the department
the cs has already been cutting jobs
big problem is that they cut from one section and hire someone new in a different section therefore the overall numbers dont change too much
cs jobs affect everyone more so than private sector jobs
the country needs an alternative source of funds, for the elected that means increasing fees but all that does is raise the cost of living.
Every non professional postition in the CS that is not held by a "Native Caymanian" and persons that were granted Caymanian status prior to the mass status grant of 2004 should be cut . New vacancies should be filled by the many Caymanians returning home from universities. The government need to worry about Caymanians instead of others who have their home countries to return to when they need to.
Well – since they have equal claims by law, we can't discriminate between 'native' and 'paper' Caymanians, can we…
I was advocating efficiency measures, not institutionalised racism.
I did forget to add to my earlier comment that we should be getting an example setting salary cut from our "hard working"MLAs starting with our premier who way back when said to the effect that he would lead the way in reducing his salary and that of fellow members of the house.Ha!Ha! Wake me up when all this comes to pass.Its a crying shame that they meet a few times a year and get paid such exorbetently(spell?)high wages to seem so relaxed in those padded chairs.Change those fancy chairs for hard wooden benches and that might help to keep them all awake.Shame Shame lead by example and stop paying lip service to self cutting wage cuts.
"…our premier who way back when said to the effect that he would lead the way in reducing his salary…"
McKeeva has some nerve in calling the media liars. Talk about leading by example.
how about we look at who owns cars that are in the carpark at 0830 on Monday and sack the rest.. O no that would be thee quarters of the cs not at their desks..
Maybe 9am thst would only be 50%
My office has four people that turn up anywhere between 9:15 and 9:45 every day, yet at 5pm there is no sign of them.
Anyone who runs for office in the next election and promises to take a 30 percent pay cut when there get the job has my vote.
I wouldn’t vote for any of the west bay 4 even if they “did”the job for zero $.
This is a real Caymanian contribution list without a single Caymanian Teacher, Doctor or Nurse. Please visit this website http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/caribb/caymans/kyfamous.htm it's no wonder Cayman is in such a mess if an Alpine skier is there and not a single teacher is there. This is what Caymanians should be showing on their facebook page the faces of real Caymanians and Cayman of old so that people can see who we are and from whence we came. It would do good to visit Graham Rankine facebook page and see our Caymanian people old, middle aged and young.
I have a few relatives that should be noted, but need better info. There are a dozen Graham Rankins and no with an”e” on the end except KGRankine- like to see page, but need better info.
Didn't McKeeva previously promise to take a 30% paycut? Did it materialise?
Has anyone checked what year or type of car the people picking up the money drive
Will the Politicians pay be cut too? Or dey cant survive on any less, but the poor cs must make do. On another note, spouses of deceased and retired Civil Servants should receive the same pension as their spouse. After all not because they are out of the picture will the cost of living be any less. This is totally wrong. Come on Mack please do something about this, for sur I am sure that Miss Julie will do something.
The cost of living is definitely less when someone is dead. Heaven doesn’t charge rent!
360 civil servant's jobs cut???? In order to get the government on a better track I would say go ahead make my day. Lets see how many expats who are sitting in offices day after day with nothing to do are going to be affected from this move. And not to mentioned if the work flow is slow, and the supervisor is expat he/she passes all the work to the expat. This is facts.
I am sure that the government can do without a lot of these foreign expacts who aretaking Caymanian's down. Thank God my office just got rid of one who was bias, not willing to share his knowledge (yet most times you wonder if they really had the knowledge) he always made sure that the expats were kept busy.
There will be civil servants aged 60 or nearing 60 and you can bet your bottom dollar they will be cutting those jobs also. But it is absolutley sinful to send home a 60 year old and fill the position with expat — now that is exactly what will happen.
Most 60 years old barely have sufficient resources to survive with, can you imagine what those people are going to suffer.
Mr.France Manderson, think clearly, make sure Caymanians are not replaced with young foreigners. It would be a shame and disgrace on the government.
Remember Caymanians 60 years old have no where to go. Their pension is fruitless.
My advice to you sir,is this " As long as a Caymanian has good health and is willing to stay off the social service list, please keep us employed".
Get rid of some of the foreigners who dont have any work to do on the job and make way for the younger Caymanians
This is Caymankind fact. I have had to deal with CS many times and I always pray I get to work with an expat as I am sure many (without a family tie in) do.
"Mr.France", sounds like a foreigner… Does he even speak English?
My God, this is totally illiterate, bigoted and based on the ignorance that so many people accuse Caymanians of. "Expacts". "Who was bias" "France Manderson". It plays into the "caymanians are useless, illiterate" syndrome. It's sad. Cant someone stop Caymanians making idjuts of themselves? You say this: "Get rid of some of the foreigners who dont have any work to do on the job and make way for the younger Caymanians." Can you please list the posts these foreigners hold and explain why if, as you say, they dont have any work to do on the job a Caymanian would have a job to do? FULL DISCLOSURE: I have asked this almost exact question several times over the last three years and NEVER had a single response to it.
Expats protested when the suggestion was made for them to contribute to the community in which they live. I was appalled that Caymanians joined in this protest. Perhaps they were desperate to stand alongside expats. Perhaps they longed to feel needed by them. How disappointing. The alternative is now for Caymanians to be cut from their jobs in the civil service and for Caymanians to have their salaries cut. There are no protests, there is no facebook page. Given the difficult options – our government has chosen to impact Caymanians so that expats can continue to prosper here. Caymanians, we are known for our quiet disposition, but this is ridiculous.
Why should you not contribute to the community you live in too? Why are you special and why do you support racist discrimination?
Maybe mother nature will solve all the problems of Cayman and assist us in her own way.
To 21:49 coming from 18:35. I absolutely agree with every word you said. Caymanians could never go in another country and protest what the government do. I know that those foreigners who had Caymanians protesting against the work permit tax is laughing their heads off to see what a D– fool some Caymanians are. No wonder the foreigners say we are not educated,no wonder they scorn us. I say shame on all those Caymanians who did. – " these same people pay taxes where there came from -What? They are here soley because they dont have to pay nothing in return to live a better life. Hahah —come see a Caymanian on New York, Canada, jamaica, Easter Caribbean streets prostesting the government. They would be stoned.Only in Cayman this Could happen. The citizens of those countries would kick you out.
EZZARD MILLER you too should be ashame of yourself to protest the government – you only beat up your chest and loud mouth just to tell the people what they want to hear. But Iam sure that the current voting generation has no knowledge of why you lost your seat in the legislative assembly. We all know you are nothing but a show . Any one who believes that you have changed they are fooling themself . They talk about McKeva, tell the Caymanian people to make Ezzard Premier see what a mess he will make of the country. If it was anything that the UDP did which made sense it was the work permit tax. Never mind Ezzard will never get any further than North Side cross road in the legislative.
While I am sure some expats protested against the idea of direct taxation simply because they did not want to be taxed, most protested against the discriminatory nature of the proposed tax and were joined by 21st century Caymanians who shared the same values. Since your post clearly indicates you are in favour of discrimination this point has escaped you.
It also seems to have escaped you that the alternative tax hikes, aimed as they were in the main at the financial industry in various forms are also borne predominantly by expats, albeit a different group than originally targeted. Caymanians like you apparently believe you have no obligation to fund your own government – you know, the one only you can elect.
You also fail to understand the consequence of CS job cuts. I have not read anywhere that it will target only Caymanians, as your posts suggests. Nor will it be only Caymanians who have their salaries cut. These reductions will be applied across the board – but of course this is not discriminatory enough for you.
If the result of a Caymanian speaking up is the kind of divisive, uninsightful rubbish you have written, it is as well they are quiet. Luckily for us all, there are quite a few who do not share your xenophobic views, who interestingly you cast as uncle Toms. If you want to feel disappointed, look in the mirror, there will be plenty to be disappointed with staring back at you.
In response, expats are having to pay increased work permit fees…again…the financial service sector largely made up by expats is having to pay the brunt of the increased fees across the board…this small cut (what is it less than 5%?) will have very little impact. CS is the least affected by the recent changes. If you want to start a Facebook page go ahead, nodoby is stopping you! Without expats, “prospering” will be a distant memory. A collective solution is required in which everyone needs to tighten their belt! This is what fortunately is happening right now. The new government will need to make difficult and unpopular decisions affecting expats and Caymanians alike to ensure that our beautiful global financial centre/tourist destination continues to prosper!
Signed Caymaniac
Lazy? Ineffcient? Incompetent? Entitled? Are we talking about CS employees or MLA's? WWill they cut their salaries, pensions, perks to ease the situation even a little? No way although it would only make sense but they can feel your pain. As a matter of fact if you look at their record, that's what they have been paid for. Isn't it nice to know that someone asleep in a leather chair is feeling your pain for you.
Yep bet you aint gonna hear no expat jump in and say they gonna help these caymanians who will be without a job soon find work!! What a joke, but caymanians gonna stand up and defend them on taxes!! Should tax them 50% nt 10%!! This place is so gone, soon be the next jamaica
You are right. I don't care. These people will all find jobs because there are plenty in Cayman. I do care about paying through the nose of fees and duties for a useless public sector.
See my post on 08/31 @10.14 if you don’t believe expats don’t like what they are seeing and won’t stand next to Caymanians on the issue. There is huge scope to make major cuts in the expenditure which do not involve any job cuts or salary cuts, or expat taxes (nation building, gas boy, fat MLA’s salary) yet here they are taking from the least paid. It is shocking. If you organize a demonstration you better believe I’ll be there supporting the cause. It’s not about expats vs Caymanians, it’s about these beautiful islands being economically destroyed. We will achieve nothing if we do not stand together.
Ghastly double negative. I stopped reading after that.
Why is there no talk of cutting the Statutory Authorities and Government Owned Companies as well? They cost the country millions in subsidies and many are very overstaffed
Shut down all services for a week, fire everyone and start again. Its the onlyway.
Pick me, pick me! For the love of god pleeese pick me!
360 jobs is 5% of the CS. I think we could afford to lose closer to 50% without any impact on services.
I smell a rat! Mc, you smell it too? I was almost convinced that it was Alden who was saying to cut the Civil Service, now I understand that the UDP knew that the UK was demanding the cut. Some twisted tongues, who always try to deceive.
When will we ever understand the meandering and ebb and flow of the tide.
Manipulating numbers will not work. Give CS a specific head count target like 6,050 or less by 2015. That way you cannot fudge numbers , use semantics and do pretend cuts. Upper limit on salary budget for CS should be $175 million. based on $550 million revenue. At present slaries are close to $235 million.
Start at the top with the waste of spaces that collect big salaries for doing absolutely nothing & leave the little man in the street alone to try & make ends meet. Too many top jobs to well underqualified persons with fat salaries to match!!!!
Hmmmm.
Sounds like you talkin' about the Minister for Finance and the Financial Secretary.
Agreed and Not only what you say but get rid of high paid, well off, unproductive civil servant who have their private businesses on the side!
Cut the salary across the board for the MLA's.
Then, cut the number of people on welfare significantly. 9,000 people are on it. This country has 55,000 people roughly, so that's 16.4% of the population on receiving benefits – and to my knowledge, not all of them exactly need it.
After this has been corrected, the traveling abroad frequency at which the Premiere and his delegates go by must be reduced significantly as well. Hello, there's a thing called Skype now, Big Mac!!
Nation Building Fund? Hey, let's slash that too.
I suggested voluntary redundancies here on CNS before. I also suggested job shares. I am sure there would be quite a few CS employees who would rather share their jobs than lost them, and this would also give them the ability to have more time for family commitments and the like.
I'm willing to job-share with McKeeva. The last Friday of every month I could decide who gets some fo the Nation Building funds.
Me too. I would like to job share with McKeeva. Let me do the meetings in Venice, Italy.
I want my meeting in Vegas where the ATM is.
Not sure the government should get credit for:
"Most of those have been cut in the 2012/13 budget, in which 145 or 80% of the existing and new vacancies that were originally budgeted to be filled have now been cut."
these positions were vacant and/or recently created so, they don't they don't really count as a "cut" in my mind
How are they not job cuts? There was a job there before and now isn't, or a job that was required and it wasn't filled. Some departments are now short-staffed believe it or not. There have also been significant cuts in the operating budget of every department. Along with all of the 3.2% given back (again) life for the last few years in the CS hasn't been all that rosy believe it or not. I think the cuts that each department has had to make should be published on CNS so that those outside the civil service realize that significant cuts have in fact been made. I'd like to see more targeted cuts but I think there should be credit given where it is due.
Let me explain: money was allocated in the budget for these positions, the positions were cut, hence money saved.
"Most of those have been cut in the 2012/13 budget, in which 145 or 80% of the existing and new vacancies that were originally budgeted to be filled have now been cut."
Am I correct in that no actual jobs were cut? Just jobs we'd like to have hired for but won't do so now?
Does that count in the end?
Start with the MLA's, they are taking home way too much pay for the amount of time they give of themselves doing work for the people who pay them. Some of them could not afford a Mercedes Benz before elections, but as soon as they got in they could not wait to get the down payment to buy a fancy car. this is reidiculous in times like these. Stand up MLA's and show the people who you really care about.
They have been showing you that for years. You just still can't see it.
They are about themselves.
145 of the swingeing 360 job cuts (out of 7,000+?), have already been cut, "80% of which were new vacancies". This is classic civil service doublespeak – if you have 100 employees and plan to create another 20 jobs (despite the call to cut spending), and you then cancel the new jobs, you are still left with 100 employees, so how can this be a reduction in headcount?.
As for the freeze in salary increases, stand by for a flurry of job switching within departments all mysteriously invoving increased responsibilities even though the work is exactly the same.
It's a nice service.
But do I really need to be escorted from the front door of the Government Building to the T&B office at the right end of the hallway.
Do I really need to be told which direction to circle the parking lot by a uniformed security officer?
What I would like is a culture that answered the phone or returned a message or an email.
That returning phone calls culture ain’t her buddy. Better move on
How in the world is a person supposed to retire with some dignity at age 65. Everything is contradicting. Permit fees to be the main source of the Fee increases, but telling the business that they need to hire caymanians? in most cases , qualified or not. Qualified also means being intersted to work and not to just show up to collect a pay cheque. Then Goverment is also saying that lot of school leavers cant find Jobs At the same time they have persons working in the civil service older than Columbus. They continue to have them hired since these persons know the job, and will show up and work, while the younger generation cause a break down in the fundamental laws of business. But with the new technology process and services, the older persons are not able to adapt as well as the young. So it could be considered a catch 22. You cant retire the older persons, and you cant get the younger generations to get the experience that they need. You cant train morals. I remember speaking with an older Lady at the hospital while she was doing her Job and bathing the baby and going through the motions, and I asked, where are the Caymanians and the younger ladies or men that have seen the care and the responsibilities of this job. And the response was the same thing you hear every where, They show up and think its a walk in the park, then when they see some responsibility involved and that the job cannot be done while chatting on the phone, they find excuses not to show up or they use the routine a lot use this days, "im going back to school". So I dont think the civil servants will be cut as it is mis-leading depends on how the article is read, its more that they seem to say no more positions will be filled as before when to be hired in the civil service was a last resort when someone could not find another job. What is so wrong about retire at age 55 or 60. What good does it do to work to 65. Average life span this days seem to be 50 years.At this rate we really want the person to drop on the job. Or is this Goverment way of passing the burden on to private business, then they can say how they helping the old people by forcing them to work at such an unresonable age, How would you get the younger generations involved if you not retire the older persons. This rate means that the turn around would be about every 47 years if the normal hire age is 18.
Somebody please forward this news to Eric Bush! I think he missed the memo.
too little..too late…… the damage has already been done to the private sector(which will never recover) through fee increases…..
btw can someone please explain how you can have recrutiment vacancies during a 'recruitment moratorium that was put in place in December 2008'????
Let me explain. What they tell you is never what they mean. They are just going to tell you what you want to hear. To them it is the biggest and hardest part of their job. If they are caught in a lie and fired for it Bush would have lasted all of 1 week.
Mrs McField-Nixon could start by cutting some unnecessary "management advisory" staff in her own Portfolio. Even if they were good performers (they are not) the posts are nice to have ones not must have ones.
08/31/2012 – 09:51 I agree! When she is at it she can stroll over to Immigration too and get rid of some of the many secretares and assistant secretaries and assistants to the assistant secretaries and executive managers and managers who don't manage and directors whose private business manage them totally even during the little bit of time they are in the office! Then we might get phone calls and emails answered and some work out of the ones left and be able to get our letters in time to tell us about the new the big fees we goin have to pay and suck up!!
I am not sure how this is "cuts" if you aren't filling positions that already exist. But then I again I know the US Congress says we are "cutting XXX millions of dollars", but never fully explain to the public that "cutting" means we just aren't going to spend all the money we planned too. Guess same reasoning goes here, but highly doubt that is what the UK had in mind.
Wow a whole 360 jobs by 2018. Brutal cutbacks!
What is sad is that these budget cut moves, totally ignore the huge big-ticket expenditure items in the budget which could easily be cut and not lead to these job losses – i.e. the nation building fund.
There is also such massive scope for saving money elsewhere which does not involve job losses (i.e. Gasboy) yet here we are, cutting salary and jobs from the low end of the scale.
WAY TO GO!
Not before time.There are many if not most civil servants who truly work hard at their jobs but too many times one goes to various departments and you are made to wait for quite some time BEFORE someone asks are you needing help?Many times I have left messages and none have been returned and those are the ones that need to be weeded out.Sorry if I offended anyone but facts are facts.
Left messages and no response, wrote emails, no response … i can jus timagine which department you are referring to!
Government should cut the CS of all expat non professional staff this would be much more that 350 persons. Why is the CS so afraid of taking this action? Government should lower the cost of doing business and the high fees that the financial industry have to pay.
Why are expats so expendable? Are they somehow second class citizens in your eyes?
Not as 2nd class as "paper" Caymanians.
They are not citizens at all.
You ask why, 8:53? Who is going to, for example, pick up the garbage? Caymanians?
cuts should be based on ability and performance…..not nationality!
which might be a problem for some 'sectors'……….
who would do all the work?
Yes the CS needs cutting and by far more than 360, it needs to look hard at its management structure, bloated with those that do nothing at high cost, but beware of simply sending home the expats. in my experience of employment in Cayman, so many of the local staff genuinely believed they had a right to a wage without doing too much work, many others did everything you could ask and earned their money. The expats were the ones that made the difference, not in every case, but those that didnt were out! The same could not be the solution for local staff! What the CS needs is a complete overhaul, a proper look at function and structure, a proper appraisal of the people, and then a realistic slimming down to ensure you end up with a lean and efficient………………..
I often post asking people to "get real", and now I read the above and know its all too ridiculous for words so I will get real myself and waste no more time!
But what if you did the sensible thing, yes a load of unemployables needing support, but using the CS as a dumping ground means you hide the problem, and get even worse service, see Mr Milburns comments.
will will pick up the gargage?
Who will be the teachers aids?
the list goes on
Hopefully not too many teachers have aids.
The government need to clear the way for Caymanians, young and old to stay employed. There are too many persons who are employed with the Government civil service who are not Caymanians. Representatives of all districts need to realize that this will bite them in the face come election time.
Oh yes, I totally agree. Caymanians should be protected and coddled so they do not have to compete with anybody for a job. That way the existing low standard of the CS can continue onwards forever.
Whether or not an employee is Caymanian should only be a consideration for an employer upon hiring. Caymanians should and must be given the first opportunty to be employed if they have the skills and experience necessary to do the job.
Once hired the situation is different.
In a job reduction situation the employer should be free to consider letting go the least valuable member of the team on a cost versus production basis.
No person who values their job, Caymanian or not, should ever allow themselves to fall within the second category.
A person's nationality ought to be irrelevant to the decision maker when its firing time.
I disagree. I think that instead of "The government need to clear the way for Caymanians, young and old to stay employed", this should be the national objective and sentiment:
The government need to clear the way for QUALIFIED, MOTIVATED and AMBITIOUS Caymanians, young and old to stay employed.
Ok now do everyone a favor and start the cuts from the top where they'll have the most effect with the least impact.
The shape of an efficient organization chart ought to be a triangle.
In a job reduction exercise, if you cut off the top, to maximise cost reduction for least head count, there will be no leadership. If you cut off the bottom, to maximise the head count reduction, you loose production personnel and their will be too many chiefs and not enough indians.
One should therefore look first for the bulges in the org chart at middle management level then, if really serious, take a proportional slice off a whole side of the organization from top to bottom.
I whole heartedly agree. In this case, all cuts should be non-performers, preferably redundant upper management to have the greatest cost savings for the least amount of impact (none at all) to the function of the business. Take the case of two hypothetical employees, a filing clerk who does no work but talk on their cell phone all day but only makes $1500 a month and a director or manager that also is not productive but instead runs their own personal business from inside their office while 'earning' $7500+ a month. Because neither employee is productive laying off the employee who has the larger salary make more sense from a business perspective. Hence start the cuts from the top and work your way down.
Yup. Start with the all of the Chief Financial Officers who have not produced any books that are auditable.
The Minister of Finance and the Financial Secreatry should lead the walk off the plank.
They are all incompentence personfified.