Fact Sheet: Employment Relations Review EXG Reviews Information Release

What was the main purpose of the review?#

1. Articulate the principles and practice governing the respective roles of ministers, central agencies, and employers within the current statutory framework.
2. Identify appropriate opportunities to improve the level of support, advice and information provided to key ministers and state agencies on the operation of the employment relations framework, and recommend changes that may be made to more effectively manage potential and actual risks, outcomes and effectiveness.
3. Identify appropriate opportunities to enhance the role of central agencies in supporting effective employment relations arrangements.
4. Identify appropriate opportunities (in addition to those set out in above) to improve the operation of the current employment relations system to improve its effectiveness in the context of the current and changing employment relations environment.

What were the main findings of the review?#

The employment relations environment in the New Zealand state sector cannot be viewed in isolation from the accountability arrangements put in place in the late 1980s and early 1990s and which in our analysis remain sound.

The statutory framework supporting this, with its strong focus on accountability, remains essentially unchanged. It allows for employment relations settings to be tight or loose without necessarily changing the framework itself and may therefore accommodate changes in policy approach and or responses to the economic or political or operating environment according to need or priority.

There is a reasonably straightforward statutory allocation of roles and responsibilities under current arrangements. What is less straightforward are the interrelationships and the way the roles play out in a practical sense.

Core public service employers are subjected to a greater degree of control/scrutiny by the centre (i.e. SSC, Treasury, ministers) generally than State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and Crown entities outside Health and Education.

Crown entities and SOEs generally operate outside the State Services Commission’s direct sphere of influence in relation to employment relations, but with important areas of crown entity such as School Boards of Trustees and District Health Boards (DHBs) and other Health Employers operating under other influences and controls.

The overall operation of the framework may be improved by some relatively minor adjustments to the operation of the current arrangements appropriate to the overall objectives being pursued.

What changes will be made as a result?#

Feedback from ministers as part of the review indicated that they may not be confident that they are getting an overview of what is happening across the state sector, with timely analysis and advice on how to manage emerging risks and opportunities. The recommendations are intended to address those and other issues identified. Three broad areas for improvement were identified:

• Enhanced support for ministers and state employers - enriching the quality of the information and analysis provided to ministers and employers in the ways foreshadowed in the recommendations, and
• Increased collaboration and co-ordination - improving the degree of collaboration at three levels – of and between State employers, of and between central agencies, and of and between members of the Executive, and
• Enhanced risk management and monitoring - placing greater focus back on the accountability framework to provide greater assurance as to accountability for employment relations outcomes.

What will be the benefits?#

Through the above SSC will provide a significantly improved foundation for the development and implementation of an integrated employment relations strategy. This is intended to improve both employment relations outcomes and the levels of confidence that ministers and employers have as to the way in which the current arrangements are operating.

What are the next steps?#

Some work is already underway as part of the current work programme. Other areas have interdependencies with other agencies and work-streams. A final implementation/work programme will be determined early in the new year.