An electronic time recording system, which would log hours worked of public sector employees, has been identified as a leading issue of mitigating overtime and time-in-lieu costs, the public accounts committee heard this evening.
The committee meeting reviewed health department recommendations penned by the Auditor General in a 2014 public accounts report. The issue being discussed was €500,000 which the report stated could have been saved had more workers been employed within Mount Carmel, rather than the amounts paid in overtime.
It was said that a common electronic time log system was to be implemented for all public sector jobs, but that pushback from certain departments has delayed progress. Committee chair Tonio Fenech said that consultants should not feel demeaned by an electronic palm reader, and suggested that the Prime Minister avail himself of such a system, and that all public sector workers should follow suit. He stressed that only through a top-down system will this be implemented properly.
In addition to this, the committee heard how through the system, whereby both time-in-lieu and overtime can be used, a number of abuses were occurring.
Permanent Secretary for Health Joseph Rapa stressed that recruiting more workers rather than paying overtime would be the best way of mitigating such high costs. In addition to this, he made note of how in certain cases, roughly 16 patients per day, a ratio of one nurse to one patient is required.
“This is a very demanding ratio,” he said.
The committee heard how employee declarations of time worked was lacking, and that many-a-time management needed to accept such declarations at face value.
Mr Rapa further explained that about 20% of the €500,000 which could have been saved is due to administrative costs. He said that “we do not exclude that we can go for increased efficiency in this area.”
He said that work is being carried out on a Standard Operating Procedure so that time off in lieu is used properly and no more abuse takes place. There could be a number of days which time off in lieu can be used until it expires, he added.
After Committee Dr Fenech suggested the removal of time time-off-in-lieu, it was said that the practice emerged during a period where overtime was banned.
“We have the over-time budget, and the management probably feels that when cash flow is low in the overtime budget, time in lieu is pushed. Time-in-lieu changes requires a culture change, discussed with unions, as it necessitates different conditions of work which people do not usually take lightly,” said Mr Rapa.