Nelson City Council is currently undergoing a restructure to make it more efficient, responsive, and customer-focused, but some staff are caught up in the changes.
Staff have been consulted on a proposal that would shake up a significant number of roles.
The Public Service Association said that “almost all” of its 160 members at the council were impacted in some way by the organisational changes that affected 19 of 22 business units.
The union told Local Democracy Reporting that the proposal would see 78 roles disestablished, though 21 were vacant.
Of the 57 people directly affected, 24 would be redeployed into different roles, leaving 33 staff without security, though the proposal would create several new roles they could apply for.
The union had 16 members whose jobs were being disestablished with five being redeployed.
“So we currently have 11 members who do not know if they will have a job at the end of this process,” a PSA representative said.
“We always have serious concerns where roles are proposed to be disestablished. Our members work day-in and day-out to deliver excellent services to their communities and it is not fair that some of those people are now wondering if they can get by if the changes are confirmed.”
The representative said the proposal had “an immediate and negative impact” on staff, particularly those who might be made redundant.
“The prospect of finding good work in a region that has already sustained several hundreds of job losses in a range of sectors is daunting to say the least.”
Potential changes to the environmental science and climate change staff were also a specific concern for the union, especially after climate change was initially left of a list of the council’s strategic priorities earlier in May.
Council chief executive Nigel Philpott said the council was “working carefully” with staff, elected members, and the PSA.
“We have had lots of good submissions and already considering changes.”
The council had been working towards the restructure for three years now, and the current proposal was the second phase of its “transformation”.
“It is quite a big change. We are disestablishing quite a few roles, but I want to be really clear, this is not a cost-saving exercise,” Philpott said.
“It’s going to make hopefully the council more efficient, effective, and responsive.”
Consultation closed last week and the submissions will be considered this month for a final decision in September.
“We want to get this right. We don’t want to rush it for the sake of it.”
Philpott thought staff understood the need for the changes, but acknowledged the uncertainty was “challenging” and that there may be some redundancies, “but I’m hoping not too many”.
“My desire is that we can that we can get as many people as possible into new roles.”
In the meantime, he said there was a support team that checked in with staff and a phone-line they could call, and applauded the support offered by the union.
Speaking to the restructure – known as Shaping Our Future – more generally, Philpott said the changes made thus far were already delivering results.
The senior leadership and reporting lines have been shaken up to enable greater staff oversight of council-wide activities with departments previously operating in a silo.
“The left hand wasn’t talking to the right hand,” he said.
“Classic councils rip up a road, two weeks later come back and rip it up for something else. We want to move away from that sort of stuff.”
Philpott also said the science and environment, climate change, and spatial planning teams would come together, with their head to sit on the senior leadership team.
“The experts from that team will then help guide our leaders to be thinking about that in terms of whatever we do.”
The changes made thus far enabled the council to attract “amazing talent”, such as in customer service, economic analysis, and contract-writing, lifting the organisation’s competence.
Though the local government sector was also being subjected to significant reform, Philpott added that the restructure made the council “change-ready” and flexible, and wouldn’t impact services for residents.
“I’m trying to make us the most responsible, responsive council in the in the country,” he said.
“We’re never going to be perfect… but we want to be value for money, and we want to serve the people of Nelson as best we can.”
