The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

STATE Public Service Minister Pia Glover-Rolle announced a public service wide promotional exercise for all public servants who have already met the standard but did not receive promotions.

She noted on Thursday that the persons that are currently pending promotions total “a couple of hundred people” which equates to approximately a little under $4 million.

“This exercise speaks to clerical level which is the vast majority of the public service. If you look at the pyramid, the bottom and the middle is a little wider than the top. This affects mostly those persons like we say that should be moving up to the middle level,” Mrs Glover-Rolle said.

“Of course, they have to qualify, the suitability, their academic qualifications, all of these things will be still taken into consideration.”

The state minister emphasised the exercise has been halted since 2014. Despite meeting the standard, she added many were not promoted for a number of years.

“It has been so long since the last promotional exercise that a good majority of public servants being promoted will receive two promotions. Many of them were already performing work that was far beyond their current titles. The work needed to be done, they stepped in and filled in the gaps.”

The $4 million is a part of the budget for the new fiscal year.

“This will take effect the next fiscal year because as we start today an announcement, circular will go out, calling for recommendations from all ministries, a workforce audit will happen simultaneously and then we have to begin the processing.”

Mrs Glover-Rolle also assured that promotions will not happen through political connections.

“So we've been working our special HR special task force has been working and doing an analysis of the public service. This is the workforce audit that we are engaging and continue to engage. So the Ministry of Public Service does have nominal registers. We do our pay sheets. We understand who are the employees of the various ministries.”

“We always also understand who should be up next or who should qualify for promotions. So while we await for the ministry’s recommendations to come in there is a mechanism in place where we have accountability, because we have the nominal register and we know who is up next, who is due, and we will wait.

“But we still have to wait for the ministries to recommend. Where ministries may not recommend those persons then the Public Service has a mechanism in which we request those recommendations.