Andrew Little
ACC Spokesperson

13 August 2012

Gold stars not for ACC Minister to dish out

Judith Collins’ plans for an ACC employee of the month award is probably at odds with state sector rules about the relationship between ministers and department employees, and has all the rigour of an episode of Undercover Boss, Labour’s ACC spokesman Andrew Little says.

Media reports say the ACC minister will next month confer a “minister’s excellence” award on an ACC employee based on “good news” reports she gets from ACC management and letters from satisfied ACC claimants.

“It’s right that staff doing good things should get positive feedback, but that’s the role of management not the minister.

“Staff need to know that they work for the Corporation, not the minister because, as a general rule, ministers come and go with much greater frequency than board members and senior managers.

“The last thing ACC needs right now is a culture in which staff feel they have to second guess the wishes of the minister of the day.”

Mr Little said he would take the issue up with the State Services Commission, given “it seems contrary to their rules about employment relationships in government departments.

“Ms Collins’ ‘employee contest’ resembles some tawdry episode of Undercover Boss where failing management and systems are overlooked in favour of singling out those who achieve against impossible odds so it appears the organisation’s problems are really with the staff rather than the systems that desperately need fixing,” Andrew Little said.

A letter to Iain Rennie, State Services Commission is available here.

ENDS

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