Food bank ‘hero’ accused of poor pay, spycam use
Staff hesitated to speak out because of Darryl Evans’ profile and connections
A high-profile advocate for the downtrodden, Darryl Evans presided over “a poor workplace culture” at the Mangere Budgeting Service, where he “appeared to monitor staff through security cameras”.
Evans also employed three close family members, including his son — who lived at the food bank for more than a year, in an apparent breach of the charity’s lease arrangements.
Evans resigned in March after RNZ put detailed allegations made by six former staff to him and to the board of the budgeting service, chaired by former lawyer Alistaire Hall.
Evans refused to respond to the allegations at the time and Hall said Evans had stepped down because of poor health, but that the allegations would be investigated.
A report by barristers Kingi Snelgar and Danielle Kelly, released yesterday, found that the budgeting service “had many features of a poor workplace culture”.
“The reported conduct towards at least one employee had all the characteristics of bullying”.
The barristers who wrote the report were unable to contact Evans, who has also not responded to messages left by RNZ.
Workers at the food bank and charity told the inquiry Evans “criticised or reprimanded staff and others in public and made disparaging comments to and about staff that undermined their confidence”.
The report says that Evans “appeared to monitor staff through security cameras” and on one occasion warned staff social media use at work was being monitored.
“Staff felt fearful about requesting leave or being late, even when this was due to a death or medical emergency of someone close. Overall, staff did not feel valued and had little flexibility, autonomy or trust.”
The report says it appeared “these aspects of the work culture existed, unchecked” for years. “Many staff were stressed . . . and burned out.”
The report also confirms Evans hired family members and that those conflicts “were not appropriately managed”.
Evans employed three close family, including his husband and his son.
The report says all contributed time, effort, and skill to the trust.
“However, the former CEO had a conflict of interest in decisions to hire these family members, and in later decisions to increase their wages and manage their employment.”
The report says he sought board approval for the appointments but didn’t manage the conflicts and became involved in their day-to-day management.
“This failure led to an inevitable perception that family members received preferential treatment in their employment and the management of their employment, including pay increases, payment for overtime, and flexibility in their employment.”
Evans also allowed his son, a food bank assistant, to live at the food bank between early 2021 and April 2022.
The report said the charity did not receive any income from the arrangement, which “appeared to be contrary to the trust’s lease of the foodbank premises”.
There was also “allegedly a physical altercation” at the food bank in April 2021 between family members employed by the charity, with police called.
“There is no record of the former CEO or any other person taking any investigative or disciplinary action in relation to this alleged incident between employees,” the report says. “Staff described being told by the former CEO not to take any action.”
The report found there was a risk decisions Evans made in relation to these matters were “influenced by his own personal interests”.
The report says the board, chaired by Alistaire Hall, who has been with the charity since 1994, had a high level of trust in Evans and was not closely monitoring his actions as CEO.
“In our view, the board should have taken a more active role to assure itself that adequate steps were taken to respond to these conflicts.”
Hall told RNZ he would now stand down as chairman, although he said that was not related to these troubles and he had signalled his intention to resign some time ago.
Staff had also complained to RNZ that while supporting others struggling financially, they were struggling too because wages were so low.
While the charity had met legal obligations to pay at least the minimum wage, some staff employed for years in positions of responsibility, “remained on the lowest or nearlowest rates”. It said the pay for Evans was “more generous” but not significantly out of step with other CEOs, including in the not-for-profit sector.
“However, the trust did not have transparent processes, either for assessing the CEO’s salary and bonus, or for reviewing wages of employees,” the report says. “This contributed to a perception of unfairness among staff, and to discrepancies in rates of pay between employees with no recorded justification.”
In 2020, Evans received the ASB Good as Gold award for his service to the south Auckland community and was also voted Westfield Manukau “Local Hero of The Year” in 2020.
The report said it was hard to verify the number of food parcels distributed because the trust did not keep thorough records.
“However, the records indicated that the number of food parcels given out in the year ending June 2020 was significantly lower than the numbers quoted in the media at that time,” it said.
Among recommendations in the report is for the trust to “develop and implement a strong policy about bullying and workplace culture”.
Evans, who joined the Mangere Budgeting Service in 2004 and spent many of the intervening years as CEO, has been a high-profile advocate for people in poverty and politically wellconnected.
The patron of the budgeting service is former Prime Minister Helen Clark, although she told RNZ she hadn’t engaged with the trust recently as she was busy.
One former staffer, who RNZ has agreed to call Maia, said staff had been scared to speak out because of Evans’ profile and political connections.
“He is a public figure,” she said. “The little fish like myself and the five other people would have not had a chance.”
Maia said she went to work for the service after seeing Evans on TV.
“I’m a Mangere girl. This is my community. To find that he wasn’t serving them the best that he could have. It’s disappointing. It’s heartbreaking.”
The Mangere Budgeting Service board said it had not known about the workplace culture problems but “accepts it can and must take a more active and visible role to ensure no problems arise in the future”.