Gov’t Strengthening Public-Sector Employees’ Competencies

The Public Sector Modernisation Division (PSMD) in the Office of the Cabinet is working on strengthening the competencies of government employees to promote service excellence.

Since the launch of the Government’s Service Excellence Policy in July 2022, the PSMD has been collaborating with ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to implement the Service Excellence Programme throughout the public sector.

Speaking during a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’ at the Agency’s head office in Kingston, Senior Director of the PSMD, Danielle Jones Cox, said the Division is formalising a group in the public sector called ‘Customer Experience Professionals’.

She said the Government has recognised the social and economic importance of service excellence in a modernised public sector, hence the need for competent personnel.

“We have recognised that because service excellence is so important in what we do, we have worked with the Management Institute for National Development (MIND) as part of the Public Sector Learning Framework (PSLF) project to develop a professional group called Customer Experience Professionals,” she said.

The PSLF’s implementation is being led by MIND in its role as the Government’s training organisation and leadership development institute, with support from key strategic stakeholders.

Mrs. Cox said the group is one of 22 professions whose members will be trained in technical competencies by MIND in conjunction with the Cabinet Office.

“We know that systems are important, technology is important, business processes and the digitalisation of records [are] also important. But one of the critical pieces that we know we haven’t paid enough attention to is our people, and we are working at building that core,” she added.