Finding talent no longer easy

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Dear Sir:

The edict of David Ritch, Chairman of the Immigration Review Team, that there is "No alternative" to the rollover policy must have the business community focusing more on what services can reasonably be outsourced to different locations, rather than on "succession planning" as Mr. Ritch hopes.

No argument, "succession planning" is good business practice, however, this assumes that there are sufficient numbers of native born Caymanians waiting in the wings ready to advance.

The debate suggests otherwise. One fact everyone seems to agree on is that Cayman does not have the workforce needed to continue "business as usual" and that it will always be dependent on an expatriate workforce - commonsense seems to dictate that the best option is to select the best from the current, long-term expatriate workforce and allow them to become full partners in the future.

Over time this strategy would eliminate the dependency on foreign workers as the new citizens and their offspring would now, to use a Jamaican phase, "bi one ov wi."

At this point I must confess that I am a Professional Recruiter who sees a potentially lucrative business opportunity; a Jamaican with solid connections in the Toronto business community I am confident I can offer a valuable service to companies in Cayman who need to recruit large numbers from abroad.

The task, however, of finding top talent from Canada and some of Cayman's other traditional sources of foreign professionals, might not be as easy as it was in the past. Consider a few facts:

How does one sell potential candidates on an opportunity which is limited? A professional on the "fast track" has little to gain by short-tracking his/her career at home to spend a few years in a place where there is no possibility of a future.

The extraordinarily high cost of living in Cayman and a general lack of services when compared to home makes the tax free hook not as appealing as it was 10 years ago, especially as personal income taxes here are on the decline, the currency is strong and the economy is booming; Canada currently has a 31-year low unemployment rate and is experiencing a labour shortage in the service sector.

No doubt the Island will survive all of this current controversy, but in what shape?  Termination packages to long-term employees plus the cyclical costs of; recruitment; work permits; and relocation will no doubt drive up the already high costs of businesses and erode Cayman's competitive edge in an increasingly global economy where boundaries are disappearing and many jobs in the service sector are being outsourced to countries where labour is plentiful and cheap.

With so much at stake the Caymanian leadership would do well to pause, reflect and reconsider. All the best!

Suzanne Swaby Hague

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