Local cops have lowest morale at work: Survey

Eastern District recorded the most disengaged staff. Photo / File

Local police have the lowest workplace morale in the country, a survey shows.

Eastern District Police were once again at the wrong end of the statistics with 23.5 per cent of staff reporting that they felt disengaged in the 2015 Workplace Survey.

The regional results released this week revealed nearly three quarters of the national police force were either "disengaged" or "ambivalent" towards their job.

Eastern District which includes Hawke's Bay and Gisborne recorded the highest percentage of disengaged staff along with Northland. Both districts were a lot higher than the national average.

It continues an unhappy trend in the Bay with 19.5 per cent of the 371 respondents claiming to be disengaged last year.

Fewer staff completed the survey this year, with 324 taking the time to log their thoughts on the job.

The district performed significantly below the national performance index, the report states.

Less than half of staff have "favourable perceptions" of communication within the organisation and less than a quarter of people in Eastern District agree that the organisation is interested in their views.

Fewer police felt inspired to go the "extra mile" at work or felt that the police helped them do the best they could every day. And less than half of the respondents would recommend the police as a great place to work.

Eastern District Commander Superintendent Sandra Venables said the survey results were "not unexpected".

"Over the past year there have been several changes in the district that have been unsettling for some staff. We are making every endeavour to improve engagement rates in the future."

Ms Venables said work had already begun to improve communications, staff recognition and general staff engagement since the survey was undertaken.

"We have developed several initiatives around making sure staff are better acknowledged for the work they are doing, which includes wide distribution of good work stories amongst peers and nominating staff for awards or recognition where appropriate.

"We are also constantly encouraging staff to become involved more in decision-making and to play a more active part in the way we do our business."

Police Association president Greg O'Connor told Hawke's Bay Today's sister publication the Herald, the results showed how a stagnant police budget was putting pressure on staff. "With resourcing, people are working much harder and those constrictions are starting to show.

"My experience with police officers is they think they are doing a job for the public and they tend to be engaged if they think they are doing a good job, so it just goes to show the effect it has when you get to work and aren't able to do the job you want to do."