Airport denies new conflict
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Airport Authority has denied any conflict in the appointment of a new HR boss. Having been in the spotlight recently with several high profile dismissals, staff shake-ups, allegations of possible board interference with employees, questions over an alleged cover up and the termination of the agency’s former CEO, concerns have been raised again over the appointment of the Chief Human Resources Officer. The previous choice by the airport management team for the HR job was denied a work permit but employees at the authority – who have asked not to be named – have also told CNS about new concerns over the appointment of David Bailey, who served on an interview panel for the Authority only a year ago.
However, the authority's new Chief Executive Officer, Albert Anderson, denied that Bailey’s former association as an interview panelist for the CIAA played any role in him being chosen for the role of CHRO.
“There is certainly no conflict of interest now. I don’t see how that would hold water. He was not a part of the panel during the selection process for this position,” said Anderson. He added that the existing board was not involved in the new appointment.
“The entire hiring process was handled separately by Deloitte and Touche as a matter of transparency and because we were not staffed properly in Human Resources at the time. Bailey has years of experience in the area of Human Resources and after his appointment we will be reverting to using our internal resources for new hires.”
It is not uncommon for companies to use firms such as Deloitte and Touche to source and recruit new employees, which is another role such firms play in addition to the business of accounting. Several calls to Deloitte’s offices to enquire about Bailey’s appointment and some of the criteria that went into selecting candidates for the position were unsuccessful.
It is unclear if any Caymanians applied for the job this time around and whether their qualifications were on par with the native New Zealander’s credentials.
“I have had many years’ experience in Human Resources. In fact my career has been 20 odd years now. I also served in the Portfolio of the Services as a Human Resources Management Advisor before,” noted Bailey. He pointed out that he also has university level qualifications in the area of Human Resources from New Zealand.
When asked if he felt his appointment as CHRO had anything to with any bias as a result of his former roles an interview panelist for the CIAA nearly one year ago, Bailey said, “I have no comment to make at this point.”
He said he has been in his new role for just a couple of weeks and felt welcomed by the staff.
“There are challenges but things are going well,” he noted.
Last September the CIAA appointed an ex-pat HR boss from the Department of Tourism but this created a public outcry as the recruit was one of six people shortlisted for interview and the only non-Caymanian.
The airport defended its decision, stating that she was the best candidate and had agreed to recruit and mentor a Caymanian understudy to take the post before the end of her two year contract. An FOI request later revealed that there did not appear to be much between the selected ex-pat candidate and a local HR professional and soon after the work-permit application was refused.
See related articles on CNS:
Airport-denied-permit-new-hr-boss
Category: Local News
I can appreciate the concerns of an expat being hired; however, is anyone acknowledging the fact that a CAYMANIAN was in the role of CHRO at CIAA for a few years and with all the degrees and certificates she still couldn't do the job and resigned for "personal reasons". Accountability of all of the mistakes starts in HR and with the issues that have been ongoing at CIAA were do to the fact that HR did not want to be held accountable for thier actions and decision making becasue this one grew up with that one or that one went to school with mama or daddy! An unbiased party was the right move for the CIAA right, especially with all of the controversay occurring. IN order for the CIAA to be held accountable for any decisions or actions Deloitte needs to be released and the new CHRO needs to begin laying the law down, informing the Board of the correct way to handle employee matters without being related to any of them, give guidance and at the same time provide support to the staff instead of being influenced by those that related or due to intimidation of the board or their peers.
Please lets stop being so ignorant about the person not being Caymanian and lets be happy with the fact a qualified, unbiased individual is now seat to start fixing the mess along with Mr. Anderson at the CIAA and get ridof the rotten apples that continue to destroy the CIAA and allow those that are trying to make a difference, actually do thier jobs instead of looking for the next dagger to get in thier back.
Obviously Immigration realizes that an expat was truly the only choice. For those of you that don't know the process…a business applying for a work permit must show proof of the Caymanians that applied and to state why the individuals are not suitable candidates.
Good Luck Mr. Bailey! you have a long road ahead, but i think you are just what the CIAA needs right now.
Maybe someone should do some checking here…..is he on a work permit or on loan from another government department? Check it out. There's probably more to this than this article states.
Sure! Let's check with the fab people at the Ritz this week, the CIHRP (Cayman Islands Human Resource Professionals) the are living it up $$$ and recruiting expats for each and every job in the Cayman Islands. L(ocals need not apply.) Our HR experts only want expats and this is truly the fact Caymanians need to face. Don't worry, the Top employor awards are next week and they will all be patting themselves on the back for bringing in overseas fees. Until we enforce our laws or better yet, give thr recruiter the incentive to hire locally, we are certainly doomed. WHY would a recruited or HR Manager want to hire a local when an expat is so mush easier to control and brings in more money?
Anyone else see what little hope lies in store for our youth with this plan?
We need to fix education and get our children into these jobs, not hand outs and civil service as the only way of employment.
If, as suggested by another poster, he has PR with the right to work, then there would have been no legal requirement to advertise and no Immigration involvement in the appointment process. CIAA would be able to claim they had discharged their responsibility to appoint a meritorius candidate by instructing a head hunter, presumably with one of the criteria being either Caymanian status or PR. No doubt exactly what did happen will now come out, giventhe press attention this is going to attract in the wake of the last attempt.
Dear CNS,
Ask any qualified white collar Caymanian who has applied for a CI Government job in the past 2 years and they will tell you it is business as usual to interview degreed experienced (yes even MBAs with perfect references) locals only to be turned down and watch an expat fill the role?
Welcome NZ HR Manager, you have just sealed a job for 7 years and your path to PR. Welcome with your $$ airfare from Auckland, your family and freight $$ too, your full healthcare, your $$ housing allowances. So how $$ much does it really cost to displace a qualified Caymanian?
it is simple, if a Caymanian is good and can do the job, they should have the chance. Millions live in New Zealand, but only less than 30,000 locals have a shot at our jobs here. Is this really fair?
Read the story and he is already living here.
Therfore no airfare, no freight, his family already live here, no housing allowance, and I believe authourites dont get free health care.
We all know that most MBA's arn't worth the paper they are printed on.
07:57 My ,my how quickly we forget orjust change or minds. I remember just a few months ago when it was reported that It was difficult to fill the post of Collector of Customs because it required an applicant to have a Masters Degree;people were on this site saying that this requirement should not be removed.I guess commenters believed that removing it would have benefitted a Caymanian.Now that Caymanians are mentioned as having applied before for the HR position at CIAA, who have obtained Masters Degrees these people are now saying,and I quote "We all know that most MBA's arn't worth the paper they are printed on" .I guess we cannot let something as trivial as lack of a Masters Degree prevent the hiring of a 'good' expat.
19:19, Dave has been here for years, in fact I believe he already has permanent residency.
So what if a person has an MBA, that does no mean a) they can do the job or b) they are the right person for the job? No., it just means you have a degree.
I have a law degree, accounting degree and a STEP certification, and I have been turned down for jobs related to those more times than Quaker has oats, but I moved on, stopped bitching and found employment elsewhere.
The "silve spoon" bullsh*t is what is holding alot of Caymanians back, there is something called competition in this world, you should prepare for it, or else you get left behind.
Cayman is designed for a foreign workforce, without oneit cannot function, have you had your head in the sand your entire life?
If "foreigners" are taking our jobs, then you are not trying as hard as them, simple.
Life is hard, who ever told you it was easy?
A Caymanian.
He was already here.
If you'd read the article you would realise David Bailey is already living in Cayman and previously worked for the Portfolio of the Civil Service (according to a quick Google search, he has been working here since June 2010).
Welcome to the Cayman Islands in 2014 signs of the time….. don't shoot the messanger… read the message. Simply the best, better than all the rest.
This stinks to high heaven! Last time we had some many good qualified Caymanians and noe were hired..Now we hire Deloitte to employ someone..Guess what who do you think Deloitte or any of the other labor brokers are going to hire? you got it?
Cayman isn't for Caymaninas anymore. We may as well face it..Unfortunately it is our own people that are destroying us.
You got that right! Caymanians are destroying themselves. First, they sit and do nothing about the situation in their country.
When ever a few with the balls to do so, the majority cry out that the few are trouble makers.
You wil never see caymanians take action on job discremination, or equality, until the 3d generation of new expats/ caymanians blossom .
We have to kill that fishing village mentaity of Caymanians first, (black crab mentality) not by spilling blood, but by integration of other genes that comes with the expats mixing the genes.
I say that for what it is. look at the places they come from, they dont take no shit from their governments. They form unions, something the caymanians cant do. They protest, somethng only a minute bunch of caymanians can do.
We do not have the majority to make these stand. Live with it guys!, or grow balls!
It took about 10 years for the face of Cayman to change; in less than 5 years every one 20 years and older that is still here will be running to Hog Sty Bay to see the sea if that is still possible and talk about Remember the days… those were the days…. now I feel it to my heart…..being such a golden time had to part…… now there's hardly any safe place left to go… someone had to come and steal the show. People when you stand for nothing you will fall for anything.
We Caymanians sold this country out and now we all want to cry and complain, this situation was on the rise since the late 90's early 80's and now we want to complain; it is easier to sell-out than to buy back; we $h!T in our own nest for global-recgonition and the God-forsaken dollar!
lol..they were just waiting for things to cool down so they could hire their "expat". my oh my how things never cool down..Cayman is too small and you will get caught..There is no such thing as "under the radar" here to pun inteded particulalry since there is a big one over the CIAA's offices.
Let's hear what Moses and the rest of the Regressives have to say about this… If I were a betting person, I would bet a million dollars nothing wil be said.
Same old crap…Caymanians we are screwed!!!!!
Nothing will be said.
I guess you guys forget the old days, when certain people of certain race were looked up to be superior in these Islands.
They got the best cut of beef, the best part of the turtle meat, the best ocean going fish, the biggest yams, best casava, and they were given the land by their counter-parts.
This has not changed, these are the same people of the same genes, involved in this superiority mind set today.
Live with it caymanians, or get off your asses and do something about it! I guess that is asking you to jepordize your financial and social status you have with these same people, who is taking it all away from you.
Rascism is the word here, most of us think once we have paw paw skin we are part of the so-called superior race, and we look down on the other 75 % of the so-call inferior race.
Take the other caribbean Islands for instance, they run things! they are all equal in race, education and position.
"Take the other caribbean Islands for instance, they run things! they are all equal in race, education and position" – which islands exactly? Struggling to think of one in which that is true in relation to any one of the three. Even the Marxist paradise of Cuba only hits two of the three points.
At the end of the day, most HR staff on this island do not even have HR credentials from a university whether they are Caymanian or not. (paper or otherwise) They take a day off to go to a course offered by the Chamber of Commerce and that justifies their title of HR professional. When in all actuality, most are merely figureheads that sort out work permits and smooze with the placement agencies. They don't make hiring decisions and barely know how to manage staff issues. This is a factual statement based on firsthand knowledge and I have heard the same complaints from their own horse's mouth (an HR 'professionl').
Should I continue to fly caymanair with so much incompetence?
11:21 Caymanair? Maybe you are thinking of Cayman Airways.FYI CIAA is concerned with operating the local Airports and not the local airline.If there is incompetence in airportoperations then it could potentially affect all airlines using the airports and not just Cayman Airways.
I thought they are talking about consolidating all HRs into one HR.
Right,. We hired a good expat so please forget the laws, policies, and accountability. The Wild West at CIAA has not changed, we just changed cowboys.
10;30
Its just like changing the names of politicians. The changing of the guards. They all follow the same policies. Thats why im not voting anymore.
The CIAA needs all the help it can get. It is hanging on by a thread because of nepotism, unqualified managers and supervisors and dark alliances. I doubt the new CHRO will be able to break the “old boy” manner in which that Authority has been run for years, but I wish him luck. I hope he does not let himself be influenced (to be read manipulated) by egotistical and self-serving individuals, the way or one or more members of the current Board have been.
My Colonialize Island! They will never learn!
Colonialziation has nothing to do with it.
Stop fooling the people.
From the beginning of time we caymanians have been making these choices…. not England. We are so ready to blame the UK for our corrupt and dirty practices.
We have to face the truth, we are idiots, when it comes to choosing foreigners over or own people. Stop blaming it on England.
Clean up your act, get off your asses and do somthing abouit it. Your politicians are not going to, it's not in the best of their interest.
They wont tell you so, but you got to have enoughdamn common sense, by now to see that for yourselves, how long are we going to continue to be stupid?
Some say "blatant conflict", some say "utter incompetence", the Authority says "this is how we do things and look how succesful we have been so far, now we have to make some decisions that involve hiring our buddies and some contracts with companies owned by board members, so will you stop pestering us and let us get on with making monety, sorry, we meant running the Authority in a fair and proper manner".
Actually the best person wasn't hired. The best person was the ex-pat who was selected but denied a work permit. Keep striving for mediocrity Cayman.
So last time round there was a Caymanian candidate where
"there did not appear to be much between the selected ex-pat candidate and a local HR professional".
I will accept straight up that this does not tellus to whom there did not appear to be much but if that was a reflection of the authorities' views then unless the Ex Pat was barely qualified for the job it must surely follow that the Caymanian candiate was at suitably qualified for the job.
If that holds true then I hope that that previous applicant was given the opportunity to be considered again and – assuming the requirements of the role have not changed (and why should they have unless it was to model a job around a new expat applicant) – if they were still interested then as a suitably qualified local applicant they should have been given the job over any expat.
NB and to be clear that is not to suggest that Mr Bailey is not extremely well qualified – potentially more so than any Caymanian. The test however is not whether an expat is the best candidate for the job – rather whether there is a demonstrated absence of Caymanians who are good enough and willing to do the job before you offer any position to an expat.
Finally and again to be clear I am not Caymanian. The fact that you can be very good at a job and yield (ie lose) your job to a person who is not as good as you when you have done nothing wrong does not intuitively sit comfortably with me but it is what it is and we all have to accept that when we take up positions in Cayman.
The problem with most of these comments is that they are relative to other comments and the article itself which is highly speculative and skinny on facts in the first place. If we all knew the facts then the true picture might be entirely different than the assumed reality. One fact is that the Immigration Board approved the work permit and they do have the facts related to other applicants and their suitability for the position. If Caymanians had any faith in their own people, they would give the benefit of the doubt to 1) Immigration policies and procedues and the Caymanan only Work Permit Board, 2)The Caymanian CEO who sat in on all interviews and made the informed decision to hire this applicant to fill a critical vacancy in his team, 3) The Caymanian Board of Directors who hired the CEO an 4) The duly elected Caymanian Deputy Premier who is doing his best to help put the Country back on its feet after years of questionable practices.
Ah yes, the Deputy Premier. Hear there is some real enforcement of laws in the Brac!
Yeah, why is there no labour officer on Brac ?
After many years of incompetency at the top, XXXX, I am happy to see competent individuals with proven track records in management being put in place at CIAA.
Hopefully over the next year things will take a turn for the better and their appearances in the press will be positive ones.
To all my friends at CIAA, keep on plugging away at it, better days ahead now that you are getting proper support at the top, just a few more bad apples left to be kicked out of the box.
If i were you i wouldn't hold your breath on that, Cronyism and nepotism is in total control now but you know that, don't you???? thats why you can write such drivel on here my words to you writer is Corruption never has been compulsory!
The "conflict" would have been in hiring the obvious unqualified internal candidate who is making all the fuss. Never forget to "consider the source".
You have got to be kidding me? We went through the entire process of watching a US Army gal get the job (still a nutty choice) denued the permit as 3 qualified MBA HR Managers applied locally, and now hire a chap from New Zealand?!? WTF?
I dont care if D&T helped with the selection. WHAT KIND OF MESSAGE do we send to our kids??? Go ahead, get good grades, go to college, get good references, get an MBA, but NO NEED TO APPLY BACK HOME AS QUALIFIED CAYMANIANS ARE NOT going to get hired if an expat applies?
I am just sick over this.
We strive for locals to succeed and our own Albert Anderson chooses a Kiwi. I'm sorry, but there ARE qualified Caymania HR Managers and tis is a complete farce and a slap in the face.
By the way, I am a private sector ex-pat with status who has been here for 20 years. I am saddened that the recent era of "crabs in a bucket" is happening.
My children have status and were born here, but as "children of color and Caymanian" I fear their job chances are slim with this contnued hiring practice of FLOUTING AND SKIRTING THE IMMIGRATION LAW
I am not going to speak directly against the Authority because i really do not know the Board members, whether they are qualified to properly run the Board or not. But I could not agree with you more concerning the way qualified Caymanians- especially qualified Caymanian of colour are too often ignored, or pushed aside in this country. When are going to get a fair deal. Some of us Caymanians of colour worked ourselves ragged to give our children a good education, and find them still having to pick up the scraps. When will we as a people stand up tall and loud and let every one on this 2 X 4 island know that we are not going to take it any longer. We all know how hard it was to get them educated and now some of us parents still have to assist them with funds, food etc., because after we sent them to some of the best universities they are still scraping by. When will the Immigration Department and Labour Office get up off their Blessed Assurance and make a difference in this Country for our people. I know some of you will retort with your bi-line about "culture of entitlement" so iIwill save you the trouble and let your all know that yes, after we educate our children and they come back here they are dammed well entitled to get a decent job. I am longing for the day when all of our unfortunate educated Caymanians of Colour will get on the streets, disrupt the slumber that some of our Government Officials and top Cats civil servants, top Cats private sector owners and operators seem to be in and wake them up!! I am a senior citizen, who did not get a chance to attend university, but attended a good private school in the 60s, has worked all my life and am still working because my company was generous and kind enough to assist me with various courses on island. Back then it was very difficult to even get a scholarship if one was of colour no matter how bright one was. Mr. Truman opened up the scholarships so that all qualified Caymanians had a fair chance, no matter the skin hues.I ensured that all of my kids would be educated and the day that they cannot find decent employment everyone will know about it. We are now educating the grand children and my attitude is the same. They must be able to get their share of the pie. So stand up, speak up. No I am not racist, I do have non blacks in my family and we get on fine, and I have worked with non black folks all my life and have had no racial problems because they understand that I am just as entitled as they are and we have a mutual respect for each other.
"We strive for locals to succeed and our own Albert Anderson chooses a Kiwi." Wow… how positively rude. Your choice of words in 2014 is appalling and utterly disrespectful.
What exactly is rude and disrespectful in that comment?. If you are talkng about the term Kiwi pls check it out – it is perfectly aceptable to Kiws and what they frequently refer to themselves as – it is not – and has never been – a derogatory term.
It might not have been Mr. Anderson 's decision.
Remember the politicians have hidden behind the curtains while these decisions are being made. They give out the directives and people like Anderson has to obey or lose their jobs.
They are cruel to their own people.
Try New Zealand.
I have to agree with you. Young Caymanian men and women of colour regardless of how hard they work and what they achieve could be a PHD will not be given an opportunity to excel. People can deny that in Cayman no such racial and social prejudice exist it will never change I guess the best advice for young black men and women of this country is to look elsewhere to compete for employment Globalisation has taken over just the facts. Look around how many CEO’s, CFO’s, Managing Directors and ect are black men and women? If you can name more than 3 or 4 I would be shocked.
09;36
This is exactly what i said earlier. It will take the expats like you who intergrated in our society to change the corruption and the black crab mentality.
People like you who has no fear and will act against prejudice and fight for equal opportunity for the grass root and the new-come, caymanians.
The day will come when your kind will lead the people to that same corrupt Immigration building.
Glad you, as an expat, now "Caymanian", have stayed long enough to witness this for yourself !! When Caymanians complain about the unfairness in our own country, the expats seem to think we are all just a bunch of "ungrateful and uneducated people who seem to think the Government owes us all something". There are many qualified and hard working Caymainans here who are and have been dedicated to their jobs for years, however, there seems to be a trend of hiring best friends or acquaintances and this can easily be done through the temping agencies. I think its time for Government to take a look at these agencies. They can get "you, your husband or wife, your best friend" hired here in no time, secure a temporary work permit, then the company pays a huge fee to the temping agency to have that individual "taken over", then of course by that time, an ad for the job has been placed in the newspaper, Caymanians applied, interviewed just for the sake of complying with the immigration laws, only to be sent a letter a few months later, if in fact one was sent, informing them that they were not a suitable candidate for the job. The funny thing is, the person hired temporary through the agency, would probably sit in on the interviews and make the decision. Alot of crap we don't hear about happens on these Islands and its all a part of the fight to keep those who come here for theIsland life/experience, in a job, not Caymanians !!
Must be a simil-qualified Caymanian with political connections pushing a private agenda here. Get over it. The best person for the job was hired, otherwise the entire organization would have suffered. What is this….1 work permit out of 170+ employees? Why is a double standard held over certain CIG owned organizations? One of the root causes for CIG troubles is that job qualification pre-requisites are ignored in favor of giving high paying jobs to friends and associates. The result is that everyone underneath that position has to deal with the incompetence at the top. Good job CIAA! Your staff deserves a break after many years of incompetency at the top.
I say that the best man for the job is the right man. Dont worry where he is from. Some of us Caymanians are too self centered. We are like crabs and dont want to help our fellow Caymanians. Just remember that it all comes back to haunt us. We prefer to hire the unprofessional in fear of the professional out shining us. If we were smart we would close our mouths and learn from the professional.
Writtenlike an expat…
Before yago out and castigate Caymanians sah or Madame learn to spell "simi-qualified" does not make you any Shakespeare.
Funniest post on here 🙂
Hilarious ……. Funniest post on here
Good job work permit board too for making the correct decision
BULLsH*T….Hire Delloite to give the appearance of due dilligence, but we already know that 5 qualified MBA HR Managers applied that were local!?!
This is not brain surgery, this is HR.
Not cricket any way you spin it, period.
I know a pleasant Caymanian man who puts MBA after his name but the "university" and thus the "degree" do not exist as it was purchased online. There are also several people going around Cayman with a Masters in HR obtained locally and some of these characters are of very poor academic quality. The problem arises because the institutions granting these degrees have to give them out to inferior candidates just to keep the money flowing in so in the end quality suffers.
Are you one of those 5 applicants? Still bitter? Get over it! You were not qualified to hold the position. Simple.