Somersfield Academy Students Urged by Alexis Herman to Pursue Advanced Degrees for Future Success
March 03, 2007 — The first African American to hold the office of US Labour Secretary has expressed optimism Bermuda can create a road map for educating and training its young people to secure fulfilling jobs, improve workplace diversity, and reduce the reliance on guest workers.
There are three critical challenges for the Island, according to Alexis Herman as she met a gathering of business leaders and politicians in Hamilton. The woman who served US presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter spelled out the challenges as investment in education and training, creating genuine workplace diversity, and having a workable immigration policy.
And the former US Labour Secretary does not believe a future US Democratic government would deliver a blow to offshore tax rules enjoyed by Island’s international business community and which stokes Bermuda’s billion-dollar economic engine.
She was guest speaker at the Bermuda International Business Association’s annual meeting at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel and has also met with a number of Government ministers during her stay on the Island.
With an extensive track record of championing the cause of empowerment for women and minorities in the US, Ms. Herman has cast her eye over Bermuda’s current landscape and identified what she believes are three of the most critical challenges.
She said that no country in the future will be a success unless it takes seriously the need to have a parallel investment in skilling and training its future workforce.
“Training for training’s sake no longer works. It has to be tied to the jobs of the future and it has to be laser-focused. It is too late to start thinking of starting this in high schools; it has to start much earlier—giving our young people the appreciation of what it is going to take in the future,” she said.
“There has to be a balance between where you issue work permits and how you engage in training your people for the jobs.”
Ms. Herman met a group from Somersfield Academy students in the past few days and told them of the importance of achieving an advanced degree to succeed because a high school certificate or bachelor’s degree is no longer enough in the global workplace.
Educating and training is not the responsibility of one sector alone, but shared between Government, business, and educational institutions, she said, adding: “Bermuda is uniquely positioned to take these issues on because you have a manageable workforce, you are very clear about where your needs are and the sectors that dominate, and so you can create the kind of road map for the future tied to real jobs.”
On diversity, she said a survey of Harvard University graduates who were asked what were the most important factors for them in selecting a company to work for put “a company that takes diversity seriously” third on their list next to decent income and promotion opportunities. “Young people today want to see themselves replicated in the organisation that they work for. They want to know that there are opportunities for them to grow,” said Ms. Herman.
“If you are going to be competitive, then it’s imperative to have workplace diversity. It is about breaking the cycle of sameness and making sure you are going to include and utilise the talents of all.”
The former US government high-flier applauded Premier Ewart Brown’s efforts in travelling to centres of learning in North America to encourage young Bermudians to get their college degrees and return to Bermuda with their “energy and excellence.”
She said: “That’s a very noble thing to do. It’s a noble calling to get your young people to come back and continue on this journey and write this magnificent history (of Bermuda). But you will not get the young people back if you do not take this issue very seriously, particularly in the financial sector.”
As for immigration policy, she said Bermuda was in a better position than the US because it had in place a policy that everyone understood—even if not everyone agreed with it.
“Your challenge is to be clear about the implementation of that policy, its impact, and how it is going to work for you. In order to get that kind of clarity and understanding, the business community is going to have to engage in constructive dialogue, and make sure you find ways collectively to sit together to work through these issues in a collective fashion.”
When questioned on the possible changing of US rules on offshore tax havens, something which has recently been raised in Congress by a number of Senators, including presidential hopeful Barack Obama, Ms. Herman replied it was not really an issue for Americans and was not one she felt Bermuda need worry too much about.
“The issues for Americans today as it relates to offshoring is really about the offshoring and outsourcing of jobs, and that is not an issue between the US and Bermuda.”
She added: “We have to do a better job of elevating the understanding of the nature of the partnership and importance of the work you do here and how it collectively benefits all of us. Not a lot of people in the US know that when 9/11 happened, Bermuda insurance companies stepped up to the plate right away and were there to settle claims. The same was true after (hurricane) Katrina.”