The Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology Mokoia Campus in Rotorua. Photo / Andrew Warner
Staff at a Bay of Plenty tertiary institution were “blindsided” after being told their roles were being disestablished and to apply for other positions, an employee believes.
RNZ reported on Friday it understood Te Pūkenga had proposed cutting 960 roles, with about half redeployed to new roles.
The national vocational education organisation had been briefing its 10,000 staff on a proposed overhaul to bring together its polytechnic and workplace training divisions, RNZ reported.
The institute refused to comment on the details of the proposal until it had finished talking to staff, but described the announcement as a “significant step forward,” RNZ reported.
In a statement on Thursday afternoon, Te Pūkenga chief executive Peter Winder said the proposal would create jobs and disestablish others, RNZ reported.
“Impacted kaimahi [employees] can apply for more than 550 new positions identified in the proposal. Many of the impacted positions are at management level, with the proposed structure reflecting a total net reduction of 404 FTEs [4.34 per cent of total kaimahi].”
Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology in the Bay of Plenty is one of Te Pūkenga’s institutes.
A Toi Ohomai employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said staff believed they had been “blindsided” by the proposal.
She said the staff knew a proposal had been coming “for several months” but were originally told changes to roles would be “minimal”.
The employee said staff found out about the proposal “on a Zoom-type meeting” and were told their roles were going to be established on Wednesday and there would be new roles to apply for. This was followed by an email.
She said, in her view, it was “pretty disappointing” considering they were originally told the changes would be “minimal”.
The employee said the consultation period would be five weeks. Following that, decisions would be made and there would be another recruitment process where they would apply and interview for other roles.
“It’s still a couple of months at least that we’re sort of left hanging.”
She believed: “Looking at the proposed structure, it looks as though the regions are going to be really under-resourced”.
In her view: “The staff that will be left in the role will be doing the work of about three people and the impact on students could be quite severe.”
The employee said staff were encouraged to make submissions on the proposal.
Te Pūkenga chief people officer Keri-Anne Tane said its plans to create a new operating structure had been “well signalled”.
“On January 1 this year, we brought together 24 institutes of technology and polytechnics, and industry training organisations to form Te Pūkenga, with the primary goal of enabling more learners to get the high standard of skills and qualifications they need, faster and with less debt.
“We realise times of transition are challenging and have followed a careful process in informing kaimahi about the change proposal and consultation process.”
Tane said kaimahi whose roles were potentially “significantly impacted” by the proposals were informed in kanohi ki te kanohi [face-to-face] meetings.
This was followed by several hui on Thursday and Friday that were open to all 10,000 kaimahi across the motu to give them an opportunity to hear about the proposals and the consultation process, Tane said.
All kaimahi had online access to documents outlining the full details of the proposal, Tane said.
“Kaimahi now have five weeks to provide their feedback on the proposals before any final decisions are made. Until that time, we are unable to confirm what the impacts in each region will be.”
Tane said the proposed new structure had a “strong focus” on regional leadership and local delivery.
“This is a requirement of our charter, and one we are committed to. Our change proposal outlines more than 550 new roles, available throughout the country, with several regional and local leadership positions.”
Tane said many of the impacted positions were at a management level as it aimed to “reduce duplication and create a more streamlined and efficient organisation.
“The change proposal does not impact the direct delivery of teaching and training and we are committed to ensuring that learners continue to receive high-quality skills and qualifications and a good experience with us.
“We will avoid redundancies as much as possible, by redeploying affected kaimahi into new roles, and managing vacancies.”