PUBLIC SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 284, 29 August 1942, Page 8

PUBLIC SERVICE

Staff Problems Become

Acute

EMPLOYEES IN FORCES

Staffing problems in the Public' Service are discussed by the Public Service Commissioner, Mr. J. 11. Boyes, in his annual report, which has 'been presented to Parliament. These, he says, could not very well be more acute. He had followed the policy that no officer was to lie withheld from military service whose place could be filled or whose duties'.could be postponed or covered 'by some expedient. To tills end, the strictest investigation had been instituted, and continued, for the purpose of the eliminating of any work that in the light of the country’s danger could not be classed as positively essential.

The Service is stated by Mr. Boyes to be on a war footing. His report is dated July 1, and he states that at that time 0054 officers and employees were away in one or other of the armed forces. Over and above that figure, 623 officers had already returned from military duty, ' so that altogether 6677 were or had been in the uniformed services. ' When it was realized that at the outbreak of war there were not more than. 14,000 males in the Public Service (whether temporary or permanent staff), it would be readily understood not only that extreme endeavours had been' made to release men for the fighting forces, but also that there had been an'unprecedented difficulty in maintaining old and providing for new or developing ■ services. y - ' ' Pitiless Scrutiny, .

“Many forms of work that bad been hitherto regarded as indispensable to safe and prudent administration have been placed under a pitiless scrutiny, and either discarded altogether or postponed for the time being,” says Mr. Boyes. “It is plain, however, that the Public Service has reached the point where proposals for further personnel must be most anxiously scrutinized. War conditions have in some aspects of State services reduced what would have been essential work in normal times, but other aspects of work have' increased the need for staff. In the result, there is not much reduction in volume of work. “Public administration .is an integral part of a nation’s total war-effort. We have come to the stage in the New Zealand Public Service when the efficient administration of the State's civil business is threatened. Therefore, the commissioner will more frequently have to take the responsibility of asking tribunals . charged with the direction of manpower to retain public servants in their civil office.

' “Tile release of the very heavy proportion of the ■ male officers of the Public Service that has been indicated above has been made possible because of the impressive part played by women in carrying on the State service. Altogether, 3200 women have been employed for wartime duty. Very many of these women had never been in any regular form of employment or been occupied previously in any similar kind of work that they are now performing; ,yet, generally speaking, they have displayed remarkable adaptability, and certainly an anxiety to acquit themselves well and to fill as well as may be the places of the men who have gone to service, elsewhere. Influx of Women. “It will not'escape notice' that the influx of women far from balances even numerically the outflow of men to the armed forces. An unparalleled burden of , work has been thrown upon _ the remainder. The dispersal of staff in many centres and over 47 departments makes it impossible to distribute the work with entire equity, but much has been done to achieve that. An inevitable consequence is that large sections of the Public Service have a very long hour week. Protracted periods of overtime have been worked in many departments. “In the other departments where the volume of business does not* call for overtime,’ the staff have been employed at nights and during the weekends in war departments. Very effective co-ordina-tion has been brought about whereby the staff of one department or a group of departments cares for some phases of work in a war department by working overtime. What has to be guarded against is that overtime is not performed to an excessive degree. The incidence of strain has Ito be watched with the greatest care, because too heavy pressure to serve immediate ends may in the long run prove exceedingly expensive and detrimental to efficiency. Rehabilitation Problem. “Rehabilitation is the biggest personnel problem that confronts the Public bemce in the near future,” said Mr. Boyes. During nearly three years of war, over 6000 men have already left their positions and njanv others have been seconded to civilian ‘duties associated directly with the conduct of the war. Of these, some 3000 have left with five years’ service and some hundreds merely a few weeks or months in the Public Service. With the exception of the lamented number who will never return, the rest must be presumed to desire to return to their former civilian occupation, and preparation has accordingly to be made for their placement. Nut only do heavy staff adjustments have to be made to accommodate them again, but also means of bridging the gap in then official career have to be planned. Mr. Boyes said an outline scheme to be administered from the Commissioners office had already been drawn up. It envisaged: (a) The training or the completion of training of such public servants as have been away on war service; (b) Bringing each soldier ns nearly as may be to .the point of usefulness which lie would have reached if he had not gone away, and that without the extra strain of having to do the ordinary day s work; at the same time, enabling him to brine himself up to date in both his general education and his departmental knowle<"Ftesides our own men. thought has to be given to the men who were not public servants before entering the forces, but who will wish to find a career in the Public Service after demobilization, amt the services of whom will be required to meet the sluff needs of developing State services.” says the Commissioner. “These questions are now receiving attention, and it is intended that plans, having, as •heir purpose the assistance, of ex-service-men resuming or commencing a Public Service career, shall lie well settled and ready for operation when the time comes.