NO DEGREE, NO PROBLEM

The Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) has been castigated for the lack of transparency in its employment practices and breaches of its own human resource management policy.

Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis, who conducted a project management and governance arrangements audit of the company, flagged executives who have been recruited without the requisite minimum qualifications.

For example, TPDCo’s destination assurance manager for Kingston was employed on June 1, 2020, with a basic pay of $3,168,053 and travelling allowance of $1,697,148, but the officer only has three CXCs and a GCE pass, while holding a position that requires a minimum qualification of a master’s degree in tourism.

The auditor general was subsequently told that the officer has now been enrolled in a bachelor’s programme. However, this would still not allow the officer to meet the minimum required qualification.

The destination assurance managers for Falmouth, the south coast, and Portland and St Thomas - who are all being paid basic salaries of more than $3 million, in addition to travelling of more than a million dollars - do not have the required qualification of a master’s degree. All three officers have bachelor’s degrees.

However, the assurance manager for St Thomas and Portland subsequently obtained a master’s degree in management studies on July 16, 2021, from The University of the West Indies, Mona.

The chief information officer, who has been employed to TPDCo since 2005, is now being paid more than $3 million in basic pay in addition to a travelling allowance of $1.6 million. However, the officer does not have a bachelor’s degree for the post, which requires a master’s degree.

Further, the budget officer, the project accounting officer, and the operations manager for attractions have all fallen short of the qualification requirements for their respective jobs.

In a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the auditor general said her department found no evidence that TPDCo engaged a transparent process for the selection of 11 of the 24 executive-level staff, including senior positions such as the then executive director, contrary to the company’s own human resource management and development policy manual.

Monroe Ellis said that TPDCo engaged eight employees for substantive positions, including five executive-level staff, with annual emoluments totalling $31.3 million, who did not possess the required minimum education qualification.

In her recommendation, the auditor general said that TPDCo must immediately take steps to ensure compliance with its human resource policy and best practice.

Outlining other breaches, the auditor general reported that the then executive director was engaged on a contract and interviewed for the job. However, there was no evidence that the post was advertised.

The director of product development and community tourism was recruited on a fixed-term contract and was interviewed, but the auditor general could not find any evidence that the job was advertised.

An acting director of projects was hired on a fixed-term contract, but there was no evidence that the officer was interviewed or the job advertised internally.

The director of corporate services was employed full time, but there is no evidence that the officer was interviewed for the position or that the job was advertised internally.

There is no evidence to show that the director of product quality and training, the executive tourism training manager, the technical services manager, the company secretary, and the chief information officer were interviewed for their jobs and that the positions were advertised among staff.

While the director of public procurement, who is on a fixed-term contract, was interviewed for the job, there is no evidence that the post was advertised.

TPDCo recruited a financial controller on a fixed-term contract, but there is no evidence that the officer was interviewed or that the post was advertised internally.

The human resource management and development policy manual of TPDCo states: “Selective use of psychometric evaluations, simulation assessments and other appropriate testing, as well as a panel interview, may be used in search of the best available talent.”

Monroe Ellis said that TPDCo’s records did not cite justification for the deviation from the human resource policy.

She said that the tourism promotional body is yet to present evidence of the selection process for eight of the 24 officers promoted and advertisements for three of the posts recruited.

Responding to concerns raised by the auditor general, the management of TPDCo said, “We have several instances wherein capable and experienced team members were assigned to act in senior roles which were vacant, as is permitted by the TPDCo Personnel Policy Manual.”

According to TPDCo, the process of identifying candidates for the posts is done “justly based on seniority of tenure, the team member’s capabilities, track record of exceeding objectives, and knowledge of the role. The team members, in some cases, were assigned to the position after carrying out the duties efficiently and after mastering the learning curve”.

editorial@gleanerjm.com