If you own a business, employ 15 or more people who require work permits and haven’t given a second thought to chiselling a Business Staff Plan, you’d better pay attention to Sophia Harris.
She’s the Business Staff Plan Board chairwoman and has put such businesses as the one outlined above on notice.
Businesses that are required to file such plans have until the last day of December to do so.
And folks, December isn’t that far away – just a few short weeks.
Those who refuse to comply with the Immigration Law on this matter will face consequences so dire that they could ultimately lose their businesses.
You don’t comply; you don’t get work permits approved.
Without work permits you lose your staff. Lose your staff and there’s no one to run your business.
Business Staffing Plans aren’t just silly exercises required by the Government.
They are warranted and necessary.
On the subject of work permits, having a plan means businesses will get work permits granted in a timely manner.
Staffing Plans are also necessary so businesses can show a good faith effort in hiring and training Caymanians to take over rolls filled now by expats.
That’s the whole idea behind the issuance of work permits for people who aren’t from the Cayman Islands.
Businesses are expected to take the expats’ expertise and train Caymanians to do those jobs. Expats given the courtesy and right to come here to work should be happy and willing to comply.
Even if a business isn’t required to file a Business Staffing Plan, it makes good sense to have one anyway.
The plans are a good way to look to the future and plan, not only for staffing, but for potential growth.
How can you honestly run a business without some forward thinking?
The Business Staffing Plan initiative isn’t new; it’s been around since 1 January, 2004.
So business owners shouldn’t have a look of surprise or plead ignorance to the Immigration Law requirement.
If you haven’t already begun working on the required plan, you’d better get busy.
The deadline is a short 12 weeks away.
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