Grant Robertson
State Services Spokesperson

3 June 2009 Media Statement

ACC Minister fails to take responsibility for gaff

ACC Minister Nick Smith’s refusal to apologise to staff at ACC after he revealed that jobs were to be cut at the Corporate Office, the day before the announcement was due to be made to staff, shows disrespect and a complete lack of responsibility, Grant Robertson Labour State Services Spokesperson says.

Dr Smith pre-empted the announcement of the loss of 70 jobs at the ACC Corporate Office by blurting out the information in Parliament. This led the Chief Executive to apologise to all staff and to express concern that this compromised her desire to treat staff with dignity and respect,” Grant Robertson said.

“Today in Parliament I gave Dr Smith the opportunity to apologise to ACC staff for his error. He chose not to do so. This shows contempt and disrespect for all the staff of ACC, in particular those who are losing their jobs as a result of the National Government’s cuts to the public service.

“Dr Smith also owes an apology to the Chief Executive Jan White who was caught unawares by the Minister’s. Her email to staff says ‘regrettably the proposals were unexpectedly signalled in the House’. Her planned approach to informing staff had been designed to ensure that ‘we treat people with dignity and respect’.

“In their election manifesto National promised to ‘promote an environment of professionalism and mutual respect’ in the public service. Their approach to the cutting of more than 1400 jobs has shown neither of these qualities.

“Ministers have attempted to wash their hands of the job losses, and now Dr Smith has failed to even show the most basic of courtesy to staff by announcing redundancies before they had been informed by the Chief Executive.

Dr Smith owes the staff of ACC an apology, and his refusal to do so smacks of arrogance and shows he is out of touch with the effects of job losses on staff and their families,” Grant Robertson said.

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Attached: copies of emails from Jan White CEO of ACC
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> Subject: Special edition of Insight 26 May 2009
>
> 26 May 2009
>
> Tēnā koutou.
>
>
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> Some of you may have heard that redundancies for ACC’s Corporate Office were unexpectedly signalled in the House late this afternoon.
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> We had a detailed process in place for tomorrow to honour people as People and ensure anyone potentially affected – either directly or indirectly – by proposed changes would be informed first and, wherever possible, in person.
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> I had planned to communicate with all of you late tomorrow to let you know about proposed changes in IMG, People & Business Services, Finance and Maori & Community Relations.
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> I sincerely apologise for the way in which you may have heard about this. We will continue to proceed with our planned approach tomorrow to ensure we treat people with dignity and respect.
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> I will have more information for you tomorrow.
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> Regards,
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> Jan White
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>

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> Subject: ACC Insight 27 May 2009 - Proposed changes in Corporate
> Office
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> 27 May 2009
>
> Tēnā koutou
>
>
>
> In my email to you yesterday, I advised that we had a detailed plan to communicate some proposed changes in Corporate Office to ensure we honour people as People in the process of formally consulting with you.
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> Regrettably, the proposals were unexpectedly signalled in the House yesterday. I do, however, want to share the details with you now.
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> Background
> In his video message to staff recently, our Chair John Judge talked about the Board’s determination to ensure ACC is financially sustainable so New Zealanders can continue to have a 24-hour, no fault accident compensation scheme.
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> He talked about the need to move more towards an insurance model and away from a welfare agency, to be innovative and act with urgency to address the financial challenges we face.
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> In my weekly Insight, I’ve kept you up to date with work that is being
> done to review our costs, and I signalled some weeks ago that, like all public sector agencies, this includes looking at staff numbers.
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> The Value for Money review that’s been taking place with an external oversight committee, will report its findings and recommendations to ELT next month. In addition, David Taylor of consulting firm Morrison Low & Associates is doing an independent review of staff numbers in Corporate Office.
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> Reasons for the Corporate Office review As part of the way we do
> business, we must always review the way we do things to ensure we are an efficient and effective organisation. However, our administrative costs are over budget, and we continue to be impacted by growing Scheme costs and liability.
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> We also have a clear responsibility to ensure we meet the expectations of the Government and the community in driving Value for Money, especially during this time of recession. And we must continue to meet the needs of our clients. We are putting more focus on the front line where we are adding another 100 roles.
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> Each general manager has reviewed their area of business in Corporate
> Office to identify where business requirements have changed, and where key programmes of work have been completed, been stopped or moved into a different phase. They have then identified where staffing efficiencies can be gained as a result of these changes to programmes of work.
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> Proposed changes in some corporate office areas The General Managers
> of People & Business Services, Information Management Group, Finance, and the Director, Maori & Community Relations have started the consultation process with people in their business groups about proposals for change in their areas of the business. Injury Prevention, Levy & Scheme Management and Strategic Policy and Research are not included in this review but we will look at these areas in the coming months.
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> The consultation documents for business groups reviewing their
> structures now will be on the intranet this afternoon and we welcome feedback from all staff on these proposals. Consultation will end on 11 June and, once ELT has considered the feedback we anticipate making a final decision about the structure around 16 June.
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> We have already removed around 150 contractor roles from the business. In addition to this, about 180 roles are affected by the proposed changes and, the reality is, should the proposals proceed, there would be a reduction of around 70 roles in Corporate Office.
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> Managing through change
> This is not an easy time. For those people whose roles are directly affected, it is really, really tough, and I give you my commitment that we will do everything possible to support you. It’s also tough for colleagues whose roles aren’t directly affected.
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> I know that we’re all aware of similar changes happening in both the public and private sector across New Zealand and indeed the world. But that doesn’t really make it any easier when it impacts us.
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> As the Board develops a clear view of the future shape of the organisation over the next couple of months, we are likely to need to make further changes to ensure our structure supports that strategy.
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> What I can commit to, is that we will treat everyone with dignity and respect. We are providing support through on site counsellors and access to EAP, and we will do our best to find roles for people in other parts of the business where possible. But the stark reality is we will be reducing our staff numbers.
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> For an organisation that cares for people at challenging times in their lives, people here are by nature empathetic. I know you will extend this empathy to colleagues affected directly or indirectly by these changes.
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> Regards,
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> Jan White
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ENDS

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