Civil service bosses face performance targets
(CNS): The deputy governor is understood to have now completed all of the Performance Agreements that senior civil servants will now face. According to the latest minutes from Franz Manderson’s weekly meeting with chief officers released by his office, the civil service boss had planned to complete these new agreements by the end of last month. Chief officers, he said, will be expected to meet commitments set out in the Crime Reduction Strategy and the Review of the Public Service, all of which will be included in the senior public sector workers' performance agreements.
The review of how civil servants are paid and monitored has gone on for some time but the finalization of these agreements heralds a new era of accountability in the public sector
The minutes also reveal the limited progress made on an internal review of the Public Service Management Law, which covers the management of the entire civil service, that was conducted in 2008 by a subcommittee of Chief Officers. The report was reviewed earlier this year by the portfolio of the civil service which found that ofthe 53 recommendations contained in the report only 18 had been implemented or were in the process of being implemented while 16 recommendations have not been agreed, 14 require further clarification and nine had been facilitated through other provisions in the Law.
The issue of how the civil service is managed, held accountable and reduced has become a critical focus for government given the increase in the cost of public service in the face of dwindling government revenue. The reviews, reports, assessments and analysis are all expected to help government cut costs.
At the same meeting the minutes also revealed that following a meeting with Robert Lewis, the Director of the Policy Coordination Unit and his colleague Jason Webster the Deputy Governor has suggested that a workshop on policy development would be beneficial to all senior Civil Servants, especially those involved in policy development.
The monthly analysis of key HR data across the civil service, the comp time policy audited accounts and the need of intern placements were some of the other issues on the agenda at the top level government meeting held on 24 September.
See released minutes below
Category: Politics
Maybe some of you civil servants on the Brac should research the fact that your Grand Cayman counterparts make considerably more than you while doing the same job. I heard that the civil servants in Grand got a 3% raise to go along with the 3.2% that was taken away from them. I don’t think that the Brac civil servants got the additional 3% increase.
Shhhhhh……I think I hear theGrand civil servants scrambling to defend their higher salaries and raises.
Can we have the plalstic dolls in the photograph as civil servants to replace some of our existing ones? They would be as helpful and useful as we have grown to expect and it would save on expenditure on gas, blackberrys (or is it blackberries – the trade mark confuses me) and donuts.
Civil service bosses wouldn’t know a performance target if it jumped up and bit them in the ass.
The buck(s) stops with the Chief Officers.
The buck actually stops with the Deputy Governor who is the Head of the Civil Service and to whom the Chief Officers report. He should bloody well be held accountable and made to do his job by holding them accountable! They, including Franz, are being paid handsomely and must be made to perform or replace them. This country can no longer afford fluff and hot air, we need and want tangible evidence of top performance.
The Civil service already took a 3.2% salary cut, What did we in the private sector do? complain?.Well it may get worse if the hard working and qualified civil service look for jobs in the private sector leaving the other civil servants who are not as mobile.
Maybe we in the private sector should come up with some solutions instead of complaining all the time. If you want to make a change you should start with yourself.. If you start thinking positive and acting positive and stop complaining I am sure positive things will happen. ie continue your education.
97.2% of intelligent people once employed by the Civil Service have already left.
The annual cost of the CI Government is close to CI$750 million per year, which is almost US$1 billion.
Can anyone imagine a budget this large for a small US city with about 55,000 residents? Do you
realize that the cost would be about $18,000 per man, woman and child ?
It is this tremendous cost of government which is wrecking Cayman's economy.
There are any number of signs of this, including closed restaurants, closed businesses,
rental vacancies, etc.
However, when it comes to cutting the cost of government, the civil service seems to be blind
to what is happening to their foundation, which is the money it extracts from the private sector.
It should be asking itself what would happen to their salaries, benefits, and pensions if the
private sector collapses and its income dries up?
But instead, it is raising fees again, which is exactly the wrong thing to do. If the civil service
cares for the country at all, it should be reducing its size and expense.
A series of annual cuts of 10% or more should do the trick, and get the economy moving again.
One cannot compare apples and oranges and expect to have a useful comparrison.
A small islands economy has numerous additional ares of expenditure and Government funded entities that must be staffed and managed, that small towns will NEVER have need for.
The problem here is CURRUPTION and the GROSS MIS-MANAGEMENT of our revenue stream, to the point tht there is almost ZERO accountability by the Public service and Government.
Who is to be blamed for this? Who can fix the problem?
WE, THE PEOPLE.
What’s more interesting is what he DIDN’T say in this fluffy release… Specifically, what is the penalty for failing to meet these so-called targets? Will they be fired, demoted, no pay increase, cut in pay, what?
The silence on this point suggests nada ill happen …. As usual…. So thanks for nothing Franz…zzzzz
First this is not a release you are reading minutes of a meeting. I know minutes of meeting is a foreign concept in the private sector but common in Government. I must say that I feel sorry for the jealous private sector workers who share their frustrations and negative attitude with CNS. They are jealous because we have a Deputy Governor who cares about Civil Servants and is working hard to improve the Service. Their bosses don’t even tell them good morning. I don’t hear the private sector complaining of their bonus which they will soon receive and their annual raise. Both of those are foreign concepts in Government but I am confident Mr Manderson will change that. So go on and be ungrateful to the civil servants who grant your work permits, keel you safe at night, protect our borders and pick up your trash. You jealous comments will never deter us. Try being positive for s change you might like it.
Well how wonderful! You claim Franz is so caring … really? zzzz LOL!! Ok, so that I'm up off the floor laughing. Now let me enlighten you … I don't care if Franz cares for, loves, or hates you, what I want is for him and you to do your jobs! He is paid very handsomely and I expect him to earn his salary as do I expect you to earn whatever measley amount he has endorsed you being paid. It has nothing to do with emotions and all the caring, loving, hating crap that you all have going on there in the civil service. It is about performance. Simple.
As regards the new "transparency" culture he has adopted let me say that transparency come in different forms and the so called minutes of meetings that I have read online is a joke! If those minutes are reflecting what the various Chief Officers and Franz are doing on the regular then we are really being ripped off and their salaries need to be docked. I would be ashamed to sign off on those and call them minutes of such a high office. Come on guys! Do better and don't buy us all for fools.
A sad mes.
And if they fail to meet the targets in their Performance Agreements they will be fired and lose all their government perks right? Ha ha ha just kidding, nothing will happen and they'll still get a bonus.
Or what? Any of the many ever been fired, demoted, layed off or blacklisted for any other reason than speaking out against the regime? No right? Maybe its time to put accountability on the table. There can be no discipline without some DISCIPLINE! Try something new for a change or NO change.
Targets? In Cayman?
I bet the targets are really big with big bulls-eyes and the fault line is 3 feet from the target.
Franz has a great future in stand up comedy. This is his funniest routine yet. The "accountability" punchline is priceless. He is doing a lot of talking and writing, but as far as I can see from the reports so far absolutely nothing of any impact is being done.
Robert Lewis was a splendid member of the Planning Dept but in order to get promotion and more money he had to get himself into the Cabinet Office which is a useless non-office (eg what does Tim Hubbell do on a permanent secretary's salary after Chuckie got rid of him??). He's right in saying there is a need for policy development in the civil service. But will he deliver it? Where did he get that training? Or, more likely, will they bring in a person from overseas? To train people who don't even know what the term "policy" let alone "policy development" is.? It's all words. Wings flapping but no birds flying.
whatever….zzzzzzzzzzzzzz