Work Ethic In A Developing Anguilla

For all of its history, the public service in Anguilla has been the yardstick by which employers in the private sector have measured, and continue to compare, their own employees. Further, the way the various ministries and departments have been functioning has also, by extension been, and continues to be, a measuring tool for the administering of private business establishments. This is understandable because it is the belief that the government service attracts the greater percentage of the brainy and best trained workforce and hence it is thought that their performance is second to none.

That perception however may now belong to the past. It is probably changing as the private sector, fuelled by the demands for high quality staff to service the up-market tourism industry, has become very selective about who they are employing and what abilities they possess. The point has been made by the Deputy Governor, however, that despite the excellent qualifications employees may have, this does not mean that they are good workers, leaders or managers in their area of employment.

Hence the need for training either at managerial level so that the leadership skills imparted may cascade down to the lower ranks of staff or for direct training of junior employees to be undertaken. One of the difficulties in the workforce everywhere these days is that a young breed of workers are on the jobs and, sadly, many of them are severely lacking in proper work ethic, decorum, customer relations, leadership skills and other qualities of service.

This is not good for a small, developing island like Anguilla. It is frightening to see how some workers behave on the job. There is a lack of respect for senior officers and many times the head of department is at fault for not enforcing discipline either because he is a weak leader or is simply afraid of offending some persons.

These workers seem to be interested only in earning a salary without really performing at their best. A concerned individual, observing the careless attitude and lack of commitment of some employees in a particular department, commented: “Some people only want a steady government job and then they don’t care too hoots.” It is believed that there are workers in the private sector who have a similar attitude.

There is an urgent need for the work ethic in Anguilla to change so that the island and its people can face up to the challenges of development and responsible leadership and management coming our way. There are many in-service training programmes now taking place in the public and private sectors. Certainly, there is a realisation that all is not well in the way much of the workforce is performing and we do not want the public, our visitors and investors to see this type of shortcoming. An up-market island must demonstrate a high level of performance in all areas of service. A small developing society like Anguilla must ensure that its human resources are also on a path of development.

If close attention is not paid to improving the work ethic in the public and private sectors, we will miss a golden opportunity to contribute an important human resource element to the development of Anguilla.