PUBLIC SERVICE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 31 August 1942, Page 3

PUBLIC SERVICE

STAFF PROBLEM BECOMES ACUTE

EMPLOYEES IN FORCES Stalling problems in the Public Service arc discussed by the Public Service Commissioner, Mr J. H. Boyes, in his annual report, which has been presented to Parliament. These, he says, could not very well Ibe more acute. He had followed the policy that no officer was to be withheld from military service whose place could be filled or whose duties could be postponed or covered by some expedient. To this 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 Ist July, and he states that at that time 6054 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 realised 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. PITILESS SCRUTINY

“Many forms of work that had 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 )3oint where proposals for further personnel must be most anxiously scrutinised. 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.

“The 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 \york 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.

I “ Tn 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-ordination has been broug about wherisby the staff of one department or a group of departments cares for some phases of work m 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 to 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 Service in the near future ” said Mr Boyes. “During nearly three years of war, over 6000 men have alieady left their positions and many others have been seconded to civilian duties associated directly with the conduct of the war. Of the=e some 3000 have left with five years’ service and some hundreds merely a lew weeks or months in the Public Service. With the exception of ihrlamented 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. Not only do heavy staff adjustments have to be made to'accommodate them again, but also means- of bridging the gap in their ° ™ a „ career have t 0 be Planned” Mr Boyes said an outline scheme to be administered from ihe Commissioner’s 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; (p) Bringing each soldier as nearly . s may be to the point of isetulness which ne 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 th» same time, enabling him to bring himself up to date in both nis general education and his departmental knowledge. I

Besides our own men, thought has to be given to the men who were not public servants before entering the forces, but who will wish ,o find a career m the Public Service aft-r demobilisation, and tile services of whom will be required to meet the staff needs of developing State sersa Y s , the Commissioner, ‘these questions are now receiving attention, and it is intended that plans, having as their purpose the assistance of ex-servicemen resuming or commencing a Public Service career, shall be well settled and ready for operation when the time comes.”