Chaos over Govt cuts: MBIE staff

Public servants at the centre of the massive cuts announced this week say the Government doesn’t understand the impact of what departments are looking at cutting.

The officials, whom the Weekend Herald has agreed not to name so they might discuss sensitive internal matters, described chaotic scenes on Thursday as Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) bosses presented restructure plans, but could not provide answers about whether staff from merged parts of the ministry would have a job or not.

A staffer from MBIE described indecision from the ministry, which is looking to find savings of 7.5 per cent as part of a broader public service savings exercise.

MBIE has already shed 188 staff, 111 leaving as part of an earlier exercise in which staff were asked whether they would take voluntary redundancy.

One staffer told the Herald that exercise was unnecessarily chaotic as some staff who put their hands up for redundancy were told their jobs were too critical and asked to stay.

“Everyone I know who took them up on the scheme had their submissions rejected, they were told ‘your jobs are far too valuable to lose’,” the staffer said.

Some staff resigned anyway, exasperated, costing the ministry decades of experience in areas it did not want to shed jobs.

The new Government has been keen to pull into line what it sees as excessive growth in the number of public servants. MBIE employed

3600 staff in the second quarter of

2018, a little over half the 6200 staff at the end of last year.

People working inside the ministry warn the Government does not understand what is being cut. The MBIE staffer described the ministry as a “Frankenstein” of a department, constructed under the last National Government by merging a handful of other departments and ministries.

MBIE deputy secretary corporate services, finance and enablement Richard Griffiths told the Herald ina statement this week staff at the ministry were told about a “number of change processes” this week.

“This has included a further voluntary redundancy process that will be opened to areas of our organisation not part of the initial process.”