High staff turnover in works

Press, 31 August 1977, Page 11

High staff turnover in works

Wellington reporter The high rate of staff turnover (22.6 per cent) in the Ministry of Works and Development during 197677 is causing some concern. Many of these were casual labourers, but resignations of permament and temporary staff numbered 877 (12.3 per cent) with the trades and draughting groups suffering the highest losses. Staff shortages were a major problem in specialist areas such as building services design and building supervisory staff, said the Commissioner of Works (Mr N. C. McLeod) in the Ministry’s annual report to Parliament. The number of experienced architects at the middle and senior levels was still below the desirable strength. While there had been a steady decrease m the number of civil engineers employed as a result of the lower workload, efforts had been made to continue placing and train* ing a number of graduate and junior engineers. The experience and skills required for tomorrow's needs took many years to acquire, and without a core of trainee engineers the department would be hard pressed to meet future requirements, Mr McLeod said.