HR officer crowned CIG Employee of the Year
(CNS): Strategic Human Resources Officer in the Portfolio of the Civil Service (PoCS) Lareta Mack has become the Cayman Islands Government’s 2021 Employee of the Year for delivering an outstanding customer experience, officials have said. She received the award from Deputy Governor Franz Manderson on Tuesday night, beating out eleven of her colleagues across the civil service who were recipients of the Deputy Governor’s Employee of the Month Award. Manderson said the civil service would not be world-class “without our amazing civil servants”.
Created a decade ago, the Deputy Governor’s Award Programme recognises civil servants “who embody the vision, purpose, mission and values of the Cayman Islands Government, and whose activities help to advance the goals of the Civil Service’s 5-Year Strategic Plan”, according to a press release.
The twelve finalists were all initially nominated by a colleague, endorsed by their chief officer and ultimately selected as Employee of the Month by the deputy governor. All finalists as well as Chief Officer’s Choice Award recipients were recognised at the ceremony. PoCS Chief Officer Gloria McField-Nixon said Mack was chosen because of “the amazing customer service that she delivers each and every day”.
Mack’s work involves payroll processing and data analytics for over 4,000 civil servants, and she is often called upon to provide guidance to HR personnel across departments. She said she was driven by knowing that what she does affects the lives of government workers.
“It doesn’t matter where I am, whether I’m sick or on vacation or at the dentist,” she said. “If I can stop to help, I’m going to stop. If it’s something that I can action, then I’m going to do it. I think just getting it done can benefit them sooner than later.”
Manderson said the civil service’s push to be world-class depended on its people. “We won’t be world-class without our amazing civil servants. It is not the laws and policies and procedures that make us world-class; it is our staff,” he said. “We are here to serve the government of the day and I have seen so many amazing civil servants who go out of their way to do just that. I walk around and talk to civil servants and I hear their enthusiasm; I hear their commitment, and it makes me very proud.”
The other 2021 Employee of the Year finalists were:
· Sharelle Clarke, Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports, Agriculture and Lands;
· Lenford Wilks, Department of Communications;
· Kim Berry, Department of Tourism;
· Ileana Marin, Department of Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman (WORC);
· Estina Hamil, Department of Customs and Border Control;
· Michael Ebanks, WORC
· Denise Anderson, Royal Cayman Islands Police Service;
· Erika Bodden, Department of Customs and Border Control;
· Hugh Bush, Cayman Islands Coast Guard;
· Kacey Mobley, Ministry of Home Affairs:
· Olsie Jackson, WORC.
In addition to the individual awards, four teams were presented with Moments of Magic awards for outstanding work: the Ministry of Border Control and Labour for the work their HR team did in facilitating and managing staffing for the smooth operation of Travel Cayman; the Civil Service College for their rollout and support of the LinkedIn Learning platform and for piloting the ILM City & Guilds Young Leaders Award at Clifton Hunter High School; John Gray and Layman Scott high schools for moving from a Schools Inspectorate rating of ‘Satisfactory’ to ‘Good’, and the Lighthouse School for maintaining their ‘Good’ rating in 2021; and the PoCS HR team for Pursuing Excellence in Talent Development.
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Category: Local News
This a very well-deserved award for an EXCELLENT civil servant. Congratulations Lareta. I hope this award encourages other civil servants to excel!
until v recently i worked closely with 1 of the “world class” finalists and they spent the majority of their messing around with their colleagues or watching films on their phone. although there are some very good civil servants, it serves primarily to provide people who otherwise would never be employed in the private sector, the opportunity to earn a good living with no scrutiny and asked to produce very little. this isn’t trying to be hateful to any individual just being realistic of why the CIG CS employs so many and spends so much money. it is a charitable organisation in all but name.
Sorry you had that experience with one of the other finalists. I can however confirm from first-hand knowledge that Ms Mack is not like that. She truly works very hard, is dedicated, and deserved this commendation.
Some of these comments are so hateful and unhappy! It is unfortunate that there are people so dissatisfied with their own lives that they cannot be happy for others who have reached some sort of accomplishment in theirs. What a crabs-in-the-bucket, wicked mindset some people have!
The real issue is when government pats themselves on the back and the public does not see the service level that is being celebrated. It’s like having to call MPs honorable when they often aren’t.
Ok. Hands up all those satisfied with the performance of Lands & Survey/Land Registry?
This “world class” phrase has become trite, Mr Manderson uses it so often. Can he not be mre realistic and amend it to “third world class”.
Hear next one they’re going to give out $10,000 to the winner. 🤮
Is this person responsible for developing overly specific Jon descriptions to ensure there are no eligible Caymanians? or maybe just ignoring Caymanian applications. CIG is no different at abusing immigration regulations than the entitled private sector the greedy Aldumb created and Simple Saunders continued.
I watched the CIG Oscars on YouTube last evening. it was truly an amazing and inspiring event.
The transformation of our civil service over the past 5 years has been truly amazing. Of course there are areas of improvement but there some pockets of world class performance.
Can anyone, anyone please advise why not one private sector entity has followed the civil service lead and installed Happy or Not terminals. Is it only the civil service that cares about how their customers feel?
In the private sector your happy or not metric is money driven. if you are doing good you will make money. in the public sector you will get money regardless of how you perform. incompetence is often rewarded with paid administrative leave
I can’t decide if this post is a wind-up or not.
I doubt it. Lot of self deluded CS and family members – remember that we have THOUSANDS of civil servants in a country with only 70000 people.
it is only them that have to ask.
Can anyone, anyone please advise why not one private sector entity has followed the civil service lead and installed Happy or Not terminals. Is it only the civil service that cares about how their customers feel?
Think about it Oscar Watcher 7:40 – , you’re a private sector shoe store owner, I decide to come in to your particular store to purchase some shoes. The service is awful, I get ignored by the shop assistants and when I do get the attention from one they are rude and not particularly helpful. Besides not being able to press the ‘not very happy button’ on the way out, what else is most likely to happen ? 👠💸
Conversely I am a private citizen who needs a service that is only supplied by the civil service, and I have no choice in supplier. Anything from getting a driving licence to police assistance. It doesn’t really make any difference which button I press – I can’t get the service anywhere else, and there are no consequences for the public employee providing lousy service. See the difference?
‘See the difference ?’
I do 12:46 and appreciate the response, keeping in mind however the OP was asking why not one entity in the private sector has the ‘happy buttons’. In relation to your counter I’ll concede my ignorance and instead channel it to that of being blessed by the happy buttons driving and maintaining our CS as ‘World Class’ 👍
Hahaha…are we kids to press buttons! If not happy will speak and say so, which will then be ignored or securuty called for being viewed as bad behaviour and put in the naughty corner.
Every time I walk through Customs with my suitcase full of electronics having paid no duty and not been searched, I press the smiley face.
Another Manderson created photo opportunity for self.
There’s that word “strategic” again. Meaningless in the civil service but it gets extra points in the Hay job evaluation system which then means more money for the employee.
I would have voted for Mr Manderson !!!
no I wouldn’t 🤩
5:09 our DG is focused on making your life better and all you can do is post stupid comments.
Says alot about your character.
congrats Lareta and the other 11 finalist. We are very proud of you.
Thank you for your post 7:44, and thank you for acknowledging ‘stupidity’ because that’s exactly what it is.
Here you have a guy beaming a smile of duty after having been in the headlines more than his fair share with a compromised investigation that cleared his brethren when presenting after the fact justification and yet preaches encouragement for everyone else to call out misconduct.
From my perspective it’s stupid to have a polluted official handing out awards which might unfortunately blot the semblance of the very deserved achievement of the awardee, – It does for me and I wish there was someone else to present it to Ms Mack with praise for her achievement. Call it shallow if you like but it all starts at the top.
With that said job well done Ms Mack, let’s hope she is the influence
Congratulations Lareta. Keep up the good works.
It might not be important to you but I am sure it means a lot to the recipient. Congratulations! Sometimes expressing appreciation goes a long way in a persons career. Too close to the Christmas season of good cheer for a grinch.
Appreciation for what?
What does Christmas have to do with anything..
Maybe they’ve started winding down for Christmas!
What is a grinch?
You
It is 4 November, not December.
The irony of 2021 performance awards presented in Q4 2022.
#worldclass
Can her level of customer service please rub off at the General Registry?
And Worc
And PWD
And ….the whole Government
Is this all necessary..nothing else of importance?
Backslapping capital of the world
Also, lack of true performance recognition capital of the world. Think about it. All most people do is whinge about their *terrible* lives here. When is the last time you heard a favourable word posed toward anyone in Civil Service?
I give praise where I see it applicable, and often. People need to know that their efforts above the mundane response is noticed and appreciated.
The common narrative is that Civil Service doesn’t work hard enough, but I can tell you, I wouldn’t want the stress and grief of most positions.
Compliment those who you observe making an extra effort. These folk are not rare.
I used to stand in line to relicence my car. Now it is completely on-line. Big improvement – sincere thank you.
World-class ??????