Not all staff at the Bermuda Tourism Authority feel “bullied” and “siloed” and some are dismayed at the suspension of chief executive Tracy Berkeley, a source insisted yesterday.

The person, who has knowledge of the situation and asked not to be identified, spoke to The Royal Gazette after the quango’s board told staff at a meeting on Monday that Ms Berkeley had been placed on administrative leave, along with a fellow executive, understood to be Tashae Thompson.

The source said they were not alone in feeling that Ms Berkeley ― whom they described as a “CEO who is very vocal and stands up, does the right thing” ― had been made a scapegoat by the board, after a recent external review found the culture of the authority was viewed by employees as unprofessional, domineering and lacking accountability and trust.

“It just feels like an unfortunate witch-hunt to destroy our CEO,” claimed the source. “The CEO and just a small group of the leadership team who fight for stuff.”

The source said Ms Berkeley, who has been in charge of the publicly funded organisation since June 2022, during which time there has been an exodus of staff, was a strong female boss and not everyone appreciated that.

“There are egos involved,” they said. “It seems personal, more than anything.”

The source added: “We don’t hear the stories of the other side, of how the CEO supports and fights for staff.”

The source also spoke highly of Ms Thompson, the vice-president of experiences, whom they described as “passionate, always fighting for people, always fighting for staff”.

They added: “She is somebody that embodies everything that Bermuda needs. She knows so many stakeholders. That’s a hard hit for us.

“She’s been doing this for a long time; she’s innovative. She always puts Bermuda first.”

Thirty staff have left the BTA in little more than 2½ years, including 23 employees who resigned or left through mutual separation between June 1, 2022 and January 8 this year.

The culture review was commissioned by the quango’s board after allegations that people were quitting because of a toxic workplace culture.

It found the leadership of the BTA was seen as not supportive of the organisation’s values, while gossip was identified as the primary trait that staff wanted to see stopped.

The executive summary stated: “Mistrust, unprofessional, domineering and siloed were [the words] consistently used when interviewees described the current culture at the BTA.

“Additionally, respondents indicated that there is a lack of accountability within the organisation, both at a work-performance level and from behaviours that were seen as unprofessional and domineering.”

After the report was released, the board, led by interim chairman William Griffith, said the BTA had got a “disappointing failing grade” and “decisive correction action” was needed.

The source insisted some people left the BTA to go on to further education or other opportunities and not because of internal problems. They claimed staff attrition, and the review itself, didn’t paint a full picture.

“It’s difficult because not all of us feel like this. This is not something that’s happening to all of us.

“It’s a place where we know we have issues, but we know we can fix them. We are people that just want to do the work.”

They claimed “bullying” had become a frequent claim at the BTA but was being applied when managers were simply holding team members accountable.

The source accused tourism minister Owen Darrell of destabilising the BTA by meddling, particularly by inviting staff to share grievances with him personally, and claimed the board was now doing his bidding.

“The board is speaking to staff as if it is a fait accompli. They are not listening to what we are saying.”

The source said after Monday’s meeting the “mood in the office was sombre. It was a weird energy. You could just sense the tension”.

A spokesman for the tourism ministry said yesterday that allegations of meddling by the minister were "false and an attempted deflection from the issues“.

He added: “The facts are that faced with a series of complaints from former employees, the minster spoke to the board, inviting them to act in accordance with their remit.

“It is a matter of public record that the minister wrote to the board to investigate.”

The spokesman said: “The Government has ensured that the public service has a robust bullying and harassment policy, agreed with our union partners, and these principles cannot be ignored when complaints arise within an entity funded by the taxpayer.”

He added: “The BTA receives almost $20 million in taxpayer funding annually and it would be a dereliction of duty for the Government not to ensure that its investment is protected, and the money is well spent.”

A BTA spokeswoman said last night that as this was an internal personnel matter, there would be no further comment “at this time”.

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