OAG Recommends Vacation Bonuses for Good Attendance

The Office of the Auditor General has called for the establishment of a comprehensive HR Information System.

The OAG made the call in a report on Absenteeism in the Montserrat Service, which found that Non-vacation absences exceeded 18,000 days in 2017, an increase of 25% since the year 2015.

Although it found that most Departments sent the required Absence-Monitoring Reports to HR monthly, the HRMU had no central and integrated Human Resources Information System to process and to report the data.

The OAG says such a system would improve the quality of records, and the frequency and usefulness of reports to, within, and between Departments, and to the public.

It recommends the promotion of health and safety, prevention,  implementation of ergonomic workplaces and wellness-programmes for all employees, and reward high attendance with bonus vacation-days.

The report also suggests promotion of personal and professional development by re-training employees to raise service-standards and improving recruitment and retention to minimise the number and the duration of vacancies.

According to the OAG improved compensation, succession-planning, and career-planning across the public service should also be given consideration.

It says the implementation of these recommendations will bring significant improvements in health & safety within workplaces, level of service to the public, productivity, and quality of life to civil servants and, by extension, the wider society.