FOR islanders, two words would have leapt off the page in the letter send by the States of Guernsey’s chief executive to all employee representatives urging them to exercise pay restraint in their claims for next year.

The first was where he explained how unusual his request was and the second was the justification for that: Guernsey’s ‘unprecedented’ financial position.

In the UK, the offshore islands and elsewhere, of course, many CEOs will have written similar letters. Abysmal trading conditions, credit shortages and incomes drying up mean that redundancies, pay freezes, pay cuts and/or reduced working weeks are distressingly commonplace.

The difference for the man in charge of Guernsey’s administrative function, compared to his contemporaries in the private sector, is that he has to ask for restraint rather than setting out what the savings will be.

That is one reason why business groups here are so adamant that the priority is to work through the problems highlighted by the Wales Audit Office report on the island’s corporate governance, or lack of it.

No organisation can operate effectively if mission critical decisions cannot be implemented in a timely manner and the WAO report highlighted parallel problems: the way the States functions politically and at a bureaucratic level. Specifically, Guernsey has a chief executive who’s not in charge of his team.

What now remains to be seen is what response the plea for pay restraint – made on behalf of the taxpayer – has on the negotiations.

In particular, it will be revealing to see how many other chief officers follow the example of their CEO and head of HR and organisational development and accept a pay freeze themselves.

With the top senior grade pay ranging from £75,000 to £130,000, there are many islanders and taxpayers who believe that not only should the civil service top brass lead by example, they should also share the pain so many in the private sector are experiencing.

And with 305 senior officers – 16.5% of all civil servants – that should be a tidy saving.