Labour Department staffing

Press, 9 November 1984, Page 12

Labour Department staffing

Sir,—For some time the Labour Department in Christchurch has been saying that some of its functions have not been done properly because of staff shortages. Various projects qualifying for sponsorship have sat for months because staff did not have time to process, them. People have not been referred to approved vacancies on schemes. We now hear that unemployed people registered at satellite offices of the department have to. report fortnightly instead of the long-established monthly pattern. This does not improve job matching efficiency and increases the control on the unemployed. The only benefit seems to be to keep the satellite office staff fully occupied as their work load has temporarily dropped. Surely the department would be better off redistributing some of its tasks than creating negative work for its own staff and additional transport cost for the unemployed. With the imminent influx of school leavers now must be the time for getting the work backlog up to date. — Yours, TERRY HILL. October 26, 1984.

[Mr W. T. Holland, District Superintendent of the Department of Labour, Christchurch replies, “I am surprised that Mr Hill, as a sub-committee member of the Christchurch District Employment and Training Advisory Committee, is unaware of the department’s policies and philosophies relating to helping the unemployed. Fortnightly reporting is a policy of the department aimed at maintaining personal contact with those job seekers requiring our assistance. Longer reporting periods have

proved unsatisfactory in this respect. Mr Hill might also be interested to know that many job seekers voluntarily make personal contact daily with employment and vocational guidance staff.”]