With work permit term limits, a chronic skills shortage and the controversial Workforce Equity Act to contend with, new Bermuda Employers Council president Graham Redford certainly has his work cut out for him.

But he hopes roundtable talks with Government and unions will help ease some of the problems putting a squeeze on business.

The Total Research Associates CEO, who has been involved with the BEC for ten years, was elected late last year.

In his first major interview he told The Royal Gazette that too many school leavers were turning up for jobs patently ill-equipped to succeed.

"There is a huge issue with education and workplace readiness," he said.

Mr. Redford, 45, said the problem had got far worse in his 20-plus years as an employer. "The basic pool available to employers is basically deteriorating.

It is of immediate concern but has very serious long-term ramifications for the economy of Bermuda."

Problems with punctuality, appropriate dress and social interaction were all causing headaches for industry chiefs. "Before you train an employee there has to be a base level in order for them to be trained," he said.

While employers the world over were struggling with skills shortages, Mr. Redford pledged Bermuda's bosses were not about to shirk their duty to help improve the situation.

"We have a huge role to be able to influence that in a positive nature.

"There are some programmes we hope to be able to release in the next two to three months which will see more than us just talking about the issue.

"We will be going out into the schools hopefully with positive programmes."

Employers want jobseekers to be more work ready and prepared by their experience at school, said Mr. Redford.

"An employer wants an employee who is able to walk into the organisation and be able to competently do the job — this is blue and white collar.

"If you have a student coming out of the educational system who is not able to read and write — it is as basic as that sometimes — then we as a society have already hampered that student's ability to succeed."

The limited labour pool available to Bermuda's employers faces further pressure from Government's term limit policy which restricts most expatriates to six-years stays — unless extensions or exemptions have been granted.

Recently Chamber of Commerce head Philip Barnett raised concerns about the policy, saying Bermuda was losing skilled people needed to help businesses grow.

And Mr. Redford said any legislation which hampered business was detrimental to the economy.

But he hopes concerns can be dealt with in meetings with Government.

So far employers applying for extensions have had mixed results, said Mr. Redford.

And he said there was also an unintended consequence as staff left in limbo shipped out to other countries where they don't have to fret about whether they can stay.

"While an employer may have an application in for an extension or a key person status there's an individual who's sitting there and in essence being asked to put his life on hold."

He said employees with families needed to know where they stood.

"Perhaps you are being courted by ten other companies who may require you to move to Cayman or Jersey or Guernsey or Hong Kong and there you are as an individual wondering what's gong on with your life," he said.

"Certainly with a skilled person that person is not necessarily going to be comfortable, willing or happy to sit and wait. It is a very serious issue."

While some companies are getting quick decisions others are having long waits although there seemed to be no pattern on who was dealt with early, said Mr. Redford.

Talks with Government over amendments to the policy have been in abeyance since the election but Mr. Redford said he hoped they would resume, although he is not about to publicly reveal the options.

But, unadjusted, the policy could result in more jobs being outsourced, said Mr. Redford.

"If employers are not able to run businesses the way they want — and obviously one of the key facets of a business is the ability to hire a suitably qualified employee regardless of where that employee is from — then it impacts on business and business owners are going to look at any and every option of how they can run that business more profitably.

"They have a responsibility to their shareholders."

With a worldwide shortage of skilled employees there wasn't an unlimited well on which to draw to find replacements for people leaving before they or their companies wanted them to go, said Mr. Redford.

"We are trying to find a solution which keeps all partners in this — employers, unions and Government — in a comfortable position.

"I don't think there is a single business owner on this Island who isn't concerned about it. Employees on work permits themselves are concerned about it. Every business organisation is concerned about it."

He fears Bermuda's long boom might have bred some complacency.

But Mr. Redford said he was keen to find common solutions with Government and unions on issues threatening the economy. Quarterly working lunches with the trade unions have been set up.

He also wants more frequent meetings of the Labour Advisory Council and hopes the BEC can be involved with the Council of Economic Advisors set up recently by Premier Ewart Brown.

Also likely to be on the agenda in talks with Government is the controversial Workforce Equity bill which will fine companies who don't put plans in place to allow black Bermudians to be represented in at all levels in proportion to their numbers in the wider workforce.

The BEC has taken issue with the plan and has submitted detailed responses to the draft bill tabled late last year.

Again the BEC will be doing their talking with Government rather than through the media but Mr. Redford did say: "Any legislation that increases the administration costs or the burden to do business in Bermuda is concerning to us.

"There is a concern that some of the data that's being used to justify the draft legislation is challengeable. We are looking at gathering and analysing more data on that."

Information gathering is a key theme for Mr. Redford.

He said the BEC is beefing up its statistics gathering function to better able it to lobby on policy.

Information will be gathered on benefits and conditions employers give staff along and this time the survey will go beyond the BEC membership which represents around 400 companies covering about 50 percent of the workforce in Bermuda.

The organisation wants information on what companies offer staff needing time off to take care of sick family members which Mr. Redford said has become a huge issue.

That includes coping with sick children, sick spouses and sick parents which, with an ageing population, is going to become a bigger problem.

"We are taking this outside the membership because we think it is a national issue."

The information will go to insurance companies, the health council, the Council on Ageing and the hospital board to help formulate policy changes.

It will also help companies budget better and make sure they are not massively out of line with other firms as Mr. Redford reported an increase in calls from bosses not knowing what to do.

Sometimes employees needed to go off island for months at a time with a relative needing treatment overseas.

Stats will also be gathered on what companies are doing in order to recruit and hang on to qualified staff when they were so hard to come by.

"At the end of the day any cost associated with that is going to be passed on to a customer somewhere."

And if all this wasn't enough Mr. Redford worries Bermuda might be hurt by world wide economic trends.

While Bermuda can do nothing about the root problem it will still have to cope with the fallout as well as absorb already spiralling energy costs.

"There is a potential of a recession in the US which is of great concern. We are a piece of the puzzle."