A Clear Example of Private vs Public Sector Accountability.

As many will know – Scott Robertson was sacked as All Blacks coach two years into a four year contract. According to David Kirk this was because “the team was not on track” – referencing the 2027 Rugby World Cup as the destination. It is more than rumour that some players were unhappy with the coaching set-up.

In 2025 there was a Public Service survey on job satisfaction. 44,000 employees (team members?) participated.

Results for some of the State entities in terms of job satisfaction appear positive:

“Ministry of Defence staff were the happiest, with 79.4% satisfied or very satisfied, followed by the new Ministry for Regulation, the Independent Children’s Monitor, the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, and the Crown Law Office, all of which sat above 75%.”

Others not so much:

“the Education Review Office had the highest share of dissatisfied or very dissatisfied staff, at 28.5%. It was followed by the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Māori Development Puni Kōkiri, and the Ministry for Women, all of which ranged from 26.4% to 19.4%.”

“Issues with management and leadership were a key issue for the five troubled departments, the Public Service Commission told the Herald.”

The article also suggests “widespread lay-offs” across the sector as a cause of dissatisfaction. This is clearly nonsense as:

June 2024 Public Sector FTEs: 63,537

Sept 2025 Public Sector FTEs: 63,162 (a decline of 0.6%)

Stanford/Seymour promised the Ministry of Education would come back to 2,700 FTEs – i.e. pre-Hipkins numbers. It Sept 2025 is was 3,939 and climbing. To get a full understanding of how Ministry of Education staff feel about their job – this is worth a read in full. Note; only 41% would recommend the MoE as a good workplace, 26% say they intend to leave within 12 months, only 62% believe the Ministry is able to give “free and frank advice” to the Minister.

“Just over 12% of public servants said they experienced bullying or harassment in the past year, including racial and sexual harassment.” … “The most common sources of inappropriate behaviour were workers’ managers and colleagues.” … “The most hopeless aspect of it all is that the ones charged with setting the tone, or dealing with the problems, are often the worst offenders.”

The level of response and anyone being held accountable is stark in comparison to the sporting example above. This from the worst organisation indicated by the survey:

“The Education Review Office (ERO), which had the highest share of dissatisfied staffers, admitted the results were “disappointing”.

A spokesman for the office said the findings “reflect a period of significant organisational change for ERO which brought some areas of pressure to the forefront”.

It had taken steps to improve the underlying issues, he said.”

I am sure the Public Service Commissioner and relevant Ministers are on top of this to ensure tax payers money is well spent in all ways to provide services of the highest quality for all New Zealanders – i.e. bringing about accountability to get the “team” on track.

alwyn.poole@gmail.com

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