Submitted by Catrena R. Prescod
The Cost of Handpicking in Barbados: When Favouritism Replaces Fairness
The recent industrial action at the Barbados Community College (BCC) is all too familiar to employees across Barbados. The frustration stems from a pattern that many have seen before — an employee who has been performing in an acting capacity for years is suddenly replaced when interviews are finally held, and someone from outside the organization is chosen instead.
This recurring trend reflects a broader culture of handpicking in recruitment and selection, where personal bias, friendships, and informal networks outweigh merit and proven competence.
Handpicking may appear efficient or convenient, but over time it weakens organizational integrity. Employees who are selected because of favouritism rather than ability often struggle to command respect. They may face challenges when enforcing discipline or implementing change, since colleagues recognize that their authority is based on personal connection rather than professional merit.
The result is predictable: policies are ignored, discipline fades, and dysfunction spreads. Over time, the organization begins to look mismanaged and inefficient, both internally and to the wider society. Strikes become frequent, service standards fall, and public confidence erodes.
Moreover, when individuals are elevated for the wrong reasons, the truly competent and qualified staff — often with long tenure and formal education — feel devalued. They are sometimes victimized by those placed above them, facing ridicule or hostility simply because their knowledge and experience expose the weaknesses of those handpicked. This victimization creates toxic work environments filled with tension, insecurity, and abuse.
Internally, the consequences are just as damaging. Employees selected through favouritism often lack motivation and show disrespect toward the public. Many fail to deliver quality service, becoming dismissive or even abusive to customers, knowing their position is secure through connections rather than performance. Such attitudes further destroy public trust in state institutions.
This practice also fuels financial inefficiency — wage overruns, waste of materials, and the repeated cost of retraining under-qualified staff. The government must continually inject funds into systems that underperform because of poor management decisions.
Frustrated by the unfairness, many qualified professionals quietly create exit plans, taking their skills and experience abroad. Barbados — like much of the Caribbean — continues to suffer a brain drain as some of its best-trained people migrate to build other economies. Ironically, the same Caribbean that once supplied forced labour to build European wealth now sends its most educated citizens to strengthen those same economies, while having to borrow from them to sustain our own.
If Barbados is to strengthen its public institutions, there must be a return to merit, transparency, and accountability in recruitment and promotion. Handpicking undermines fairness, weakens morale, and damages national development.
Until employment decisions are made on the basis of competence rather than connection, we will continue to lose our brightest minds, our institutional credibility, and our moral authority as a nation.
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