Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has raised concerns at the council group's recruitment expenses. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Auckland Council says it has applied "extreme prudence" to it's hiring process over the last few years, despite spending $7.4 million on recruitment over the past 12 months.
Council staff have come under fire from mayor Wayne Brown this week, who raised concerns at the group's recruitment expenses.
Documents provided to RNZ from council show in the year ending November, Auckland Council Group hired 3049 staff including about 1742 new staff.
External recruitment providers accounted for two percent of the hires during that time.
The total cost to the organisation includes $3.9 million spent on council's internal talent acquisition team (e.g. salaries), $1.7 million from external recruiters across council, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, and Eke Panuku, $950,000 from Auckland Transport, and $750,000 from Watercare.
The figure also includes advertising, probity checks like drug tests and police checks, supporting diversity of recruitment and the issuing of employment contracts.
Councillor Chris Darby has defended the spending, saying recruitment was a vital chore for the group.
"We're a big organisation, around about 7000 people, that's excluding Watercare and Auckland Transport," he said.
"We deliver hundreds of services everyday, real core services, to Aucklanders that they expect to have work when they demand them, everyday of the year."
Councillor Chris Darby says council has an efficient recruitment team. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Darby said council had suffered serious financial pressures after the Covid-19 pandemic, including a long period of restructuring.
He hundreds of jobs at council had been dis-established, with some reconstructed to merge multiple roles into one.
"When you do that, you have to go out and re-advertise that position," he said.
He said council had an efficient recruitment team, performing to the standard Aucklanders expected.
"I'm actually confident that we're on the right track," he said.
"The dividends are showing up, we've got a much more efficient recruitment team."
Darby described council's in-house recruitment unit as a vital cog in the organisation.
Council said it had improvements to its recruitment processes underway, expected to come into effect by the end of June 2024.
It said the improvements would reduce the number of steps in its process by half, saving 18 days in the time it takes to hire, and delivering $600,000 in savings per annum.