THERE ARE STILL too many complaints about late payments of salaries and wages, delayed processing of pensions and gratuities, late or non-acknowledgement of correspondence and bad attitudes shown by public officers.

That observation came yesterday from the Director of the Office of Public Sector Reform, Michael Archer, when he addressed a two-day seminar
on flexitime hosted by his office in collaboration with the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) at Almond Bay, Hastings, Christ Church.

"[Public officers] need to develop a sense of urgency about how they approach their tasks," he commented.

"On the matter of payments, when officers go on leave they must not leave files, forms or required actions which affect payment of salaries, pensions, etc., unattended until they return.

"Information required affecting payment of salaries, etc., must be given priority, and systems must be put in place to expedite such submissions
in a timely manner."

Archer urged department heads to monitor and address these critical activities "which may cause embarrassment to the individual,
the department and the public service in general". He added that such submissions should then be passed on to a supervisor or an officer who could take over for a continuation of action.

He said implementing a flexitime programme may "go a long way" in promoting the level of productivity as well as addressing workers getting
to work on time and combating absenteeism.

Hugh Gregory Burke, who presented the seminar, called flexitime a "quantum leap" for the work culture in Barbados, as it would "reduce the number of people on the road, because when you work at a time when you want to, you are going to be more productive".

He said a flexitime agreement between employers and employees would help employees renew their energies since they would be able to credit (carry-over) or debit (owe) hours onto the next month, which if not repaid when owed, the employer could deduct.

He also suggested that with flexitime, employers should find a way to measure the work done by employees so there would be no redundancy in job details and as a means to gauge the progress of workers.

Burke, however, warned that "for Government to make a sweeping statement saying that we all will have flexi-hours, just will not work", since some jobs required standard mandatory hours.

* tracymoore@nationnews.com