A government department hit back in a row with Enterprise Ireland over how long it was taking to hire new staff, saying much of it was outside of their control. It also said that one job had been offered to a candidate even though it was never sanctioned.
The Department of Enterprise was responding to a memo from Enterprise Ireland last autumn which said they were missing out on key hires due to the administrative burden involved in getting posts approved.
The department said relocation of a post, or any new budgetary cost, meant a business case had to be submitted. They said contracts could be turned around in just two to three days but not when they had new elements including “starting above minimum point on [salary] scale, additional allowances such as flights [etc]”.
Officials said that every new post had to be sent to human resources for review under strict government rules over the hiring of new staff.
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The Department of Enterprise said general contracts were being turned around within one week and that Enterprise Ireland could also provide more detail on new hires to speed up the process.
The department insisted that any post of sufficient seniority had to be cleared with the Department of Public Expenditure and that the “timeframe [was] outside [their] control”.
Responding to the Enterprise Ireland memo, human resources officials wrote: “The Department of Public Expenditure has always stated that at least two working weeks’ notice should be given to allow more time for processing and for any queries raised to be dealt with.”
In one specific case, Enterprise Ireland said they had lost out on a candidate for a job in Johannesburg with the person withdrawing after being offered the position.
The Department of Enterprise countered, saying: “No sanction existed for that post… therefore [a] business case was required. Sanction should have been sought in advance of the commencement of the recruitment process.”
In another case, Enterprise Ireland said it missed out on a recruit in Copenhagen due to a long delay in getting a contract approved. The Department of Enterprise responded: “On 29/08/2022, human resources requested [confirmation] that Enterprise Ireland could cover the additional funding for this post, a response was not received … until 15/09/2022.”
Internal emails in advance of a meeting between the two bodies also show department officials wanted to be “singing off the same hymn sheet” when they attended. One senior official wrote last September: “Nothing mad urgent, most of it has been discussed before. Could we get human resources comments on [the Enterprise Ireland memo]? We want to make sure we are not saying anything in contradiction.”
By December, Enterprise Ireland’s frustrations continued as they noted further delays in approval of funding for hires overseas. An email from their chief people officer to the department said: “I just wanted to flag that delaying the approval for the overseas roles in the interim is having a significant impact, including our ability to progress three important roles.”
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Two days later, she wrote again saying: “As you are aware, the failure to approve the posts for the overseas roles is resulting in a delay which may impact our ability to retain the candidates selected and I urgently request approval to proceed with these.”
Another problem was flagged in November over hiring a manager in London ahead of the imminent introduction of new border controls for exports from Ireland to the UK.
“Both [the department] and Enterprise Ireland are very exposed should the new import controls create major issues for our exporters next year,” said another email. The position – which the department said was a newly created role to replace a similar post in Moscow – was given approval on December 18th.
Asked about the records, a spokeswoman said: “The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment ensures that all posts are approved in line with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform delegated sanction.”
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