The first and most prevailing opinion of Dominica is that we are beautiful, nature filled, easy going island. The other which some Challenge, is that we are a desperately poor island which Dominicans are trying their best to escape from. No matter how much we can successfully dispute the meaning of ‘poor’ we cannot escape the reason why this perception is out there.
The main reason is the large and growing migrant worker workers communities of Dominicans in places like Antigua, Guadeloupe, USVI, and Anguilla. Strangely enough, the one perception you will not perception you will not get is that Dominicans are lazy. In fact the work ethic of Dominicans in those islands strengthens the reasoning that Dominica is poor. After all, why else would these hard Working people not stay home and work?
This is often at conflict with our own vision our-selves Dominicans frequently complain about the lack of work ethic on island. The trend is to employ Haitians and patronize the so-called hard working Chinese because we have lost the respect for the Dominican worker and business place.
The truth is that our workers are some of the best and most diligent in the Caribbean. In other islands, Dominicans are sought after for everything from menial work to the highest professional levels because in comparison with other nationalities, we excel, in many of the same areas we seem to fail at in our own island.
A Wal-mart employee in the US does not treat their job as an opportunity to remind people that they are not there to contribute to the Walton family’s billions. Yet in Dominica, even where the atmosphere is relatively good, the attitude is always, ‘not my company, not my problem’. Yet the same people will die for larger and more disconnected employers elsewhere.
The need for more dialogue between employers and workers is clear. Most employees in the average Dominican Company do not understand the business in Dominica. Ironically through it is often the employers who are in a position to foster positive worker relationships who continue to invest very little both in the workplace and the workers. Unfortunately it is those employers who have cornered the market on conscience-free profit whilst they continue to have little respect for their workers and people who patronize their businesses. They can usually be easily spotted.
However the majority of Dominica employers are scratching for corn in the relative ability to create revenue and to generate better lifestyles for their employees (if that is a priority). We must never forget that the evidence we have from abroad. We simply need to be prepared to polish very hard to help them reap benefits for themselves and the companies they work for.
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