Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has unveiled a new directive for the public service, outlining costs - including worker pay increases - are to be kept within budget baselines.
Willis' Government Workforce Statement unveiled on Wednesday afternoon lays out expectations "for an effective employment relations environment in the public sector that will support the delivery of high performing, trusted, and efficient public services".
It sets four priority areas for agencies to focus on, including:
- 1. Employment outcomes are fiscally sustainable and respond to the current fiscal context and any current budget advice
- 2. Employment conditions and remuneration settings support a high performing public sector and delivery of effective, efficient, and responsive services
- 3. Have a workforce that is responsive to the needs of all New Zealanders
- 4. Agencies manage their workforce size and composition, including to reduce expenditure on consultants and contractors
The statement emphasised the need for government departments and agencies to take business' lead when it came to negotiating pay, terms and conditions.
A bullet point under the first item calls on agencies to "ensure that all workforce costs, including the outcomes of remuneration reviews and collective bargaining are affordable within an agency's baseline, and sustainable in the long term".
"Any increases or changes in terms and conditions should not lead labour market movements and trends".
Adjustments to pay and conditions should also not be backdated, she wrote.
Another point said chief executives should receive bonuses based on how well the agency was performing.
"Remuneration strategies that provide for the pay of public sector chief executives and deputies to be linked to outcomes to encourage high performance and ensure accountability."
The directive also called for employees to receive additional allowances, but only "in limited circumstances, for example, to recognise skills or duties which are occasional, rather than core to the role".
However, it clarifies that "payment of allowances can be justified where the agency can demonstrate that payment of that allowance will be an effective way for the Crown to uphold its obligations including under Te Ture mō Te Reo Māori 2016/the Māori Language Act 2016 or any other Act or obligations".
This follows Willis' statements in December that she was opposed to bonuses paid to Māori Language Commission employees with te reo Māori proficiency.
The document also called for "active management" of remote work to "focus on productivity improvement within the public sector".
Finally, agencies should "be active in managing workforce composition to meet expectations on the size of the Public Service" while also reducing the use of contractors and consultants.
The final two pages of the four-page document set out the roles and responsibilities of the Public Service Commission in line with the Public Service Act 2020.
This includes the scope of the missive, which covers all public service agencies, independent Crown entities, school boards of trustees, Crown entity companies, police, Defence Force, Parliamentary Counsel Office, and tertiary education institutes like universities and polytechs.