Performance
Source: Department of Human Resources
Represented in the above charts: Leaders: Thirty-seven Heads of Department, Permanent Secretaries and Assistant Cabinet Secretaries. The posts of Finance Secretary and Secretary to the Cabinet are not subject to performance appraisals. Clearly, many of the other post holders at this level have not had their job performance appraised. Civil Service: 1,640 employees represented by the Bermuda Public Services Union (BPSU). Note that, as agreed in their Collective Bargaining Agreement, the approximately 1,200 employees represented by the Bermuda Industrial Union are not required to have performance appraisals.
Recommendations • •
The Human Resources Information System (HRIS) must be upgraded to allow for online entry of information. This would significantly improve the process for recording performance reviews and allow for easy retrieval of such information by authorised Department personnel. Aggregated statistics on performance appraisal ratings by Government Ministry, similar to the bar charts above, must be published publicly each year. This would ensure that leaders take the ratings they give to employees more seriously. • Supervisors must be trained in effective performance management, which should be based upon objective, not subjective, criteria. As noted in the 2011 Civil Service Review, “Elsewhere we refer to a culture in the Bermudian Public Service in which good behavior goes unrewarded and poor performance unremarked. Nowhere is this more manifest – and nowhere are the effects more corrosive – than in performance appraisal… Managing performance is the most important function of managers. All else – including organisational performance and the efficient and effective delivery of services – depends on it”. • A centralised Talent Management Database must be created. Any employee consistently rated a ‘1’ (the highest rating) should be flagged for professional development that includes cross-Ministry training.
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