The Free National Movement’s 2017 election victory came with some professional perks for the wife of party chairman Carl Culmer.
Mrs. Sheena Culmer went from being a junior clerk, performing monotonous filing and data entry tasks in the Government treasury, to a Human Resources Specialist Consultant at the National Insurance Board.
HR specialist consultants typically specialize in compensation, industrial relations and performance management and have many years experience in Human Resources.
Madam Culmer has zero experience in HR.
Before her career boost, Culmer’s wife was making under $30,000 a year. Now she enjoys a cushy salary at NIB of over $60,000. Angry insiders say her salary was doubled so she could sit and do nothing all day as she knows nothing about HR and doesn’t mix with other employees.
In order to circumvent NIB’s hiring process, Madam Culmer was brought in as a consultant along with Sigrid Bain, who also landed a high-paying position in HR. Unlike Madam Culmer though, Bain actually worked in HR in Public Service before her political appointment at NIB.
Employees in HR informed the Gallery that both women sit in the Human Resources office upstairs with nothing to do as NIB staffers refuse to train them.
Their rationale is they will not train political appointees who were brought in over them in high-paying positions they did not earn.
As a result, Madam Culmer and Bain don’t speak to other staff in HR and only communicate with each other.
The lack of career growth has been a huge concern for NIB employees who have been on the job for years but are still stuck in the same position and virtually the same salary while watching others swoop in at senior levels because of who they know, or in this case, who they married.
Employees say they are working around the clock to process and distribute millions of dollars in benefit cheques for thousands of Bahamians who have lost their jobs during the COVID-19 crisis.
However, the powers-that-be are only promoting their political cronies and have hired dozens of people since elections, even though they claim that NIB is overstaffed.
They fear NIB is being used as the government’s slush fund and Board members are interfering with the day to day management of the organization.