Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

ut a basic practical requirement. His whole attitude to the employer-employee
relationship needed to change. He should manage and control situations, not leave it
to staff to determine their work as suited them. He was inconsistent, interfering with
some, not with others He was acting like a paternalistic squire, giving cash-in-hand
bonuses and salary increments outside the normal review dates and without
authority.
At a meeting of the Association on 15 February l988, I reported on the Working
Party's progress in investigating the l986/87 accounts and the problems raised by
staff about their employment conditions. By now we were becoming very concerned;
there had been six meetings with the Bursar present, and much work had been done
in between them, providing considerable evidence on the state of affairs which was
very damaging to the Bursar. The half-yearly accounts for December l987 showed a
continuing alarming trend. I emphasised the need for proper estimates and
budgetting in order to tighten up on expenditure and the need for vigilance and care
in accounting. Professional advice was being sought about working arrangements in
the Kitchen.
Matters continued to deteriorate; I invited Fellows to meet with me to talk about the
issues and between 23 February and 8 March I had five meetings with groups of
them and some correspondence. Then on 16 March, having taken legal advice, in the
light of Employment legislation I issued a warning letter to the Bursar. I had
consulted an eminent authority on employment law, and also had the advice of
Bernadette O'Flynn, who as a senior member of the University with responsibilities
for personnel, was well informed. I had acted procedurally as established by case
law and recommended in the -----(ACAS) Code of Practice in such cases. I had
myself some relevant experience from my time at BAS. I had done my best to help
John Holifield; I even asked two colleagues in the fellowship to take him out for a
drink - to attempt to remove possible feelings of lack of confidence.
The warning matterformally recorded the result of the enquiry by the Working Party
into the problems raised by staff and into the administration of the College. I
summarised the nature of his unsatisfactory performance. First concerning staff: the
failure to issue writen particulars of employment and job descriptions to staff,
despite repeated reminders, the failure to make annual salary reviews and making
various kinds of ad hoc additional payments to staff without authority; a lack of
regulation and control of overtime, particularly for the higher paid staff, resulting in
other staff feeling that a double standard was in operation; a twofold increase in the
cost of garden maintenance in l986/87, through using contractors instead of
appointing a gardener to replace the one who left. Second a lack of planning and
managerial control: no pproper budgets preopared; overspending on the garden; a
14% increase in staff wages over l985/86 and an increase in the Kitchen account costs
of 34% over the previous year; figures well in excess of agreed cost-of-living
increases paid to staff. Laxity on fee and bill collection had led to an increase of 53%
in debts owed by members of the college; a 130% increase in the bank overdraft
between the two years; unacceptably large fees paid to the architect for preliminary
338