Gov’t will be monitoring persons hired under ‘1000 jobs in 1000 days’ initiative
Government will be monitoring the performances of persons who land jobs under its ‘1,000 jobs in 1,000 Days’ programme.
Premier Andrew Fahie said this will be done to ensure persons don’t squander their job opportunities and, more importantly, develop themselves within these jobs.
Addressing jobseekers at the recent launch of the programme, Fahie said: “When you go to work, work … Persons places through this and other initiatives must show real commitment. They must make the effort to perform according to expectations. This is why they will be monitoring of the performance of employees and employers in the programme.”
He also said the various private businesses that are a part of the programme should have the necessary mechanisms in place to assess these employees.
“There should be regular performance reviews; as is a normal human resource management practice. There should be periodic verbal feedback and written feedback on performance along with advice on how the employee can improve,” Premier Fahie added.
Fahie, who is also the Minister of Finance, said government will be paying a total 1,000 rebates to the employers involved in the programme.
He said: “In the case of employees who are retained for one year or more, government will be paying a one-off rebate to the employee of 10 percent of the employee’s annual salary up to a ceiling. [This will be done] at the end of the first year of the employee’s engagement as an incentive for the businesses to look [and] hire all Virgin Islander and Belongers.”
He also said each job applicants will participate in a one-week boot camp, which will, among other things, provide training to equip them for the world of work.
“I expect that employers will provide some more measure of on-the-job training where possible and where applicable. I also expect that employers will play a supporting role in helping their charges to succeed and not just for the sake of having them complete the job for one year,” the Premier said.
Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
When I saw the hundreds of Virgin Islanders turn out looking for employment is when I became a believer in this initiative.
SOMETHING IS WRONG WHEN YOU HAVE HUNDREDS OF BVISLANDERS LOOKING JOBS WHILE ALL EXPATS ARE HIRED/WORKING…..SOMETHING AIN’T RIGHT WITH THIS PICTURE…. WE NEED TO CHANGE THE SYSTEM OR WE WILL HAVE TO GET A GOVERNMENT THAT WILL LOOK OUT FOR US FIRST
it’s a shame what is happening now in the BVI. We are now importing cashiers from Asia. Some jobs do require certain skills that BVIslanders and belongers may not have but now it seem like employers are hiring based on who will accept less money to do more. The excuse they people don’t want to work is a myth. A lot of times they don’t get the opportunity and many times when you see a job ad and send your application the job is already filled. Employers have become experts at beating the system. Expats recommend their friends in advance when they are leaving the country are interviewed and come to terms with the Employer before the vacancy exist. Vacancies are only advertised to comply with law but nobody stood a chance at getting the job. Law firms and Trust Companies are masters of exploiting this. The labor dept. is failing because they do not properly or thoroughly investigate what is happening. Over a decade a certain position being filled by people from overseas and the position is one of the popular career choice for BVIslanders yet they approve work permit after work permit doesn’t a light bulb go off in their head that something is wrong.
How many locals do you know that want to be cashiers, cleaners, bartenders, servers, dish washers etc? Businesses need persons to show up consistently and be genuinely interested. Business is extremely hard these days and employers will not hire people just because theyre from here. There are many hard working locals but we have too many that want to pick and choose which jobs they want then still complain when permits are issued. If hwe are not careful this initiative may well backfire as businesses may chose to put a freeze on hiring or just pack up and leave.
There are people that are “local” that didn’t graduate and dont have a diploma. There are some that actually prefer a technical field so dont use that BS stereotype. Some people know their limits and know that they are not accountants or doctors and they know that they need a job to pay their bills. This talk about locals dont want to do this and that is bogus. Locals come in all shapes and sizes. There are quite a few young strong men from here that work on the garbage trucks,long ago they would never do that. People will do anything once they are paid a reasonable salary with certain benefits.
Start a business and see how quickly that mindset will change. Lets keep the blinders on and see what will happen to this place.
@ Blah,I take my hat off to you I could not of said it better. Somebody is getting a $ cut in there
“Son of the Soil”, I am in total agreement!
We are counting on you, Premier Fahie, to put BVIslanders FIRST in ALL AREAS OF ECONOMIC ENDEAVORS in this country!
as an example has a lot of Spanish people on tills and stocking shelves, perfect entry jobs.
well there is job and work. expat goes to work. locals go to a job.
For decades, we have suffered the same fate as the African American, where we are the last to be hired and first to be fired.
And the major reason is the Afro expat has always been exploited with minimum to slave wages, where the local, nine times out of ten, will simply not contribute to the wealth generation of others for a slave wage.
None of them care about upholding the law. They are just there to process work permits. They bend rules for people like crabbe, adams,romneys etc. They are allowing a lot of east indians into the country to work for slave wages. And just like the other expats they are now starting their own businesses. The rich bvislanders think they are hurting the regular bvislanders. They don’t know that they are hurting themselves in the long run. LOL BVIslanders have become the minority in their own country. What you think will happen? Majority rules..
Advertise for an office job in a nice air conditioned room with vague duties you will get plenty of applicants. Advertise for a real job , digging, lifting, cleaning , kitchen work, etc etc and you will only get ex pats.
@ Blah,I take my hat off to you I could not of said it better. Somebody is getting a $ cut in there