JAMAICAN Customs officers suspected of unacceptable behaviour are usually sent home with pay, while those who carry out their duties well, such as finding contraband, may need to protect themselves and their families from threats, without assistance.
That was one of the observations made by a team of Canadian consultants from the Centre for Strategic Manage-ment, who carried out a study of the Customs Department and made recommendations for its modernisation.
Against the background of a need to improve the human resource management of Customs, the team, led by Dr. Jim Armstrong, argued that in performance management, "today's system works directly against the modernisation goals" set out in their report.
According to the team, "unwanted behaviour too often results in rewards, while desired behaviour can have severely negative implications." For instance, they said, "employees who are suspected of unacceptable behaviour are sent home with pay, while customs officers who carry out their duties well (e.g., discover contraband) may need to protect themselves and their families against real or perceived threats, without assistance." In addition, measures that should encourage good performance are deficient.
The team said few sanctions are available if general productivity or performance falls below acceptable levels, and the performance standards that do exist are seldom applied. "These problems are compounded by a workforce culture that expects employees to do little more than exactly what they are told to do," the consultants said.
Delegation of responsibility is also unclear, and day-to-day decisions are often transferred upward to higher management.
Managers are frustrated by the staffing system, said the consultants, noting that almost half the department's positions have been filled through acting appointments, or are vacant. "To a large extent," they said, "staffing and appointments, like discipline, are controlled outside the department, leaving little discretion to line managers."
They also noted suggestions from private sector leaders and the authors of recent compensation studies and reviews, that Jamaica Customs' remuneration levels fell short of those needed to attract and retain employees with the experience and skill to operate a modernised customs service.
"Overall, today's human resource management regime works against the vision and mission that the department is attempting to achieve, and needs a major overhaul," the consultants suggested. "Successful reform and modernisation depend on this overhaul," they added.
The modernisation plan, submitted to the Public Sector Modernisation Project in the Office of the Prime Minister in July 1999, provides detailed strategies for developing the qualified workforce and leadership necessary to build and maintain a modernised Customs operation.
It also sets out the elements of a supportive, change-oriented human resource management regime, founded on two prerequisites to sound human resource management - departmental authority over human resource management functions, and a thoroughly designed human resource management system.
According to the consultants, the redesigned system should include the following: redesigned organisational structure and jobs, a supportive classification system, a salary and benefits package that will attract and retain desirable employees, a comprehensive training and development plan that will equip employees with the needed skills, an aggressive performance management system that will reward desired behaviour and punish undesirable behaviour, a set of supporting human resource policies, and a strategic approach to human resource change management.
