A meeting held on Wednesday by unionised members of the Department of Works and Engineering had been scheduled to discuss “performance appraisals, outside employment and statements of employment”, according to division president Keith Bean.

Workers also met to discuss an employee self-service system, which will include the creation of an online profile at the Bermuda Government’s website, and which will be mandatory across government.

Such profiles will be open to the Department of Human Resources to view as well as the employee, and eventually direct line managers or supervisors as well. The profiles will be set up for staff to “share their career plans and aspirations with management”, according to a flyer shared with staff.

Mr Bean described the meeting as lively, but said it had not been “heated” as reported at the time by this newspaper. Staff questioned Works and Engineering management over the new initiatives.

Performance appraisals are supported by the Bermuda Industrial Union, president Chris Furbert said, as long as they are carried out “correctly”.

He said: “Performance appraisals are already being used by some of our social partners. Added to that, the union is having talks with other managers about instituting performance appraisals for their staff.”

• To view the distributed flyer on employee self-service, click on the PDF file under “Related Media”.