The Bermudian work ethic is coming under scrutiny following Government action now apparently reversed to secure jobs for Bermudians.News that employers of foreign pot washers had been told that their workers must stop working by the end of the week and leave the island shortly thereafter is not sitting too well with hospitality bosses.Many are saying that Bermudians don’t want the jobs, don’t last in them and don’t take them seriously enough.But there are some notable exceptions. Chris Garland, one of the owners of Front Street establishment Flanagan’s, said that the vast majority of his staff are Bermudian.Five years ago the new owners made a conscious decision to hire as many Bermudians as possible. Today they have just four non Bermudian waiters, down from 13 when they took over. All four of their managers are Bermudian as are all seven bartenders and eight out of 12 waiters. One of the restaurant’s kitchen porters, 64 year old Glenda Steede, has been working there for 16 years. “She’s old school. Very strong work ethic,” gushed Mr Garland.The other comes in an hour early everyday, puts in a full eight hours and leaves at 1 a.m. with the bartender, also an owner, six nights a week.What’s more, the entire team is a high performing, happy team, he says. “I’ve got a team here that people would die to have working for them,” Mr Garland said.“There are so many, many good people working in the industry that are Bermudian.”He put down his success to leadership. The owners are working partners and so lead by example.But serious concerns are shared by bosses in other industries targeted by Government with work permit restrictions.One Bermudian employee of an established cleaning company contacted this newspaper to say that similar moves in her industry could kill off some companies and in the long run be bad for Bermudians.“If all these foreigners leave, the Bermudians are going to lose their jobs as well because the companies will fold,” said the woman who works in Human Resources.Companies will be jeopardised by what she says are unrealistic expectations and poor work ethics of Bermudians. And, she says, contrary to conventional wisdom, cleaner jobs are not necessarily entry level jobs but often require handling heavy equipment.Our HR worker, a Bermudian in her early thirties, said she had interviewed 13 Bermudians for cleaning positions , over the last three months, and could only hire one.“I was actually quite shocked. I would have thought that cleaning would be something anybody can do, but after doing those interviews my whole mindset has changed.”The sole Bermudian, out of the 13 interviewed, was placed in a different capacity because they showed promise.She said the company’s cleaning contracts are often jeopardised because many of its Bermudian staff don’t want to work the unsociable hours that some contracts demand.“We do have a few that work out but the majority of them - they don’t last,” she told The Royal Gazette.“Out of the 13 that I’ve interviewed, not one of them want to do the job. Once they’ve found a job that they want to do they leave the company and the company has to recruit again. That’s a tedious thing and it jeopardises the company.”She also found the quality and preparedness of the candidates appalling. “It’s one thing to not know how to do the job. But they don’t know anything about the job at all. One person did not even know what position he came in for.”Unrealistic compensation expectations is another issue that frequently comes up with Bermudian applicants, she said, with people turning down work because of the pay.“These people would rather stay on financial assistance and do nothing, than work for a little.”While cautioning that not all Bermudian hires were alike, hospitality industry bosses shared similar stories illustrating difficulties with hiring locals as pot washers.One restaurateur said that in his first year of business he went through 30 Bermudian pot washers.“I’ve had them start in the morning and before they even get to lunch, they’ve walked out. Because the job’s too much for them,” he said.“I’ve always tried to employ Bermudians. I always called Labour and Training. They’ve sent me people but they haven’t lasted. I got to a point where I was desperate to get someone who would treat it as a proper job.” That someone was a non-Bermudian. He woke up yesterday, after two years as a model employee to learn from this newspaper that the Government had given him a week’s notice.Economy Minister Patrice Minors has now agreed to "revisit the timeline" saying that a Friday quit deadline was "somewhat aggressive".