BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, May 04.2018 – PREMIER Hon. Mark Brantley has stated that the Social Media policy has been enforced to curb the issue of government workers cursing the ministers and employers on social media.
He made this statement on Monday (Apr. 30) at his monthly press conference while responding to a question.
Brantley told the media representatives that in St. Kitts and Nevis, people expect a lower standard of service from the government employees simply because there is a stigma where it is felt the workers spend their time doing everything but their actual job.
“What it seems has happened in our country is that everybody expects the government to have a lower standard than the private sector. I don’t know why. Everybody feel that when you work for government you come late, you do as little work as possible, you spend your time ordering the latest fashion and sneakers and shoes and [spend time] on social media,” he said.
The Premier questioned why such behaviour should be tolerated by the government but is not expected to be tolerated by the private sector.
“How is it you can’t do it at Four Seasons or TDC? How is it that a worker at TDC cannot go on Social Media and curse TDC and say TDC is the worst company in the world? But that same worker in government can curse their minister and say he is incompetent. Somehow we seem to feel that because you work for government you have more freedom and less responsibility than those who are in the private sector and I am saying no, people need service,” Brantley explained.
He said that government employees have to provide the necessary service to the members of the public and anyone who is not met with excellent customer service is telling the government that it is not doing its job.
“The social media policy was not meant to shut up anybody or quiet anybody, it’s not meant to do that at all. Who wants to support whomsoever, they do that and that is a matter for them and in fact I encourage them to support who they want to support. But at the end of the day, we have to have some accountability.”
Giving an example, Brantley stated that he received a call from someone requesting the time the government employees are expected to begin their work day and after responding, the individual stated that the workers usually are not present until long after such time.
Giving another example, the Premier explained that he was approached by someone who claimed they were seeking to be employed by the government because their current place of work required them to work “too hard” and “if I just reach five minutes late, they want to write me up”.
“We need to stop it and all of us should be on the same page,” he exclaimed.
He went on to say that the policy was already in place and all his government was doing was enforcing it, noting that “a lot of things people were doing and getting away with are improper and contrary to”.
He stated that the Social Media policy is already in place and his government is enforcing it with no intentions of backing down from it, adding that any government employee who does not want to abide by it will simply have to find employment elsewhere.
