Public Service Staff Problem Becomes Acute

Taranaki Daily News, 31 August 1942, Page 6

Public Service Staff Problem Becomes Acute

Staffing problems in the Public Service are 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 be 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 July 1, 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 outbre^k 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 ha ti 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 developins services. Pitiless Scrutiny. i "Many forms of work that had been 1 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 poinl where proposals for further personrwl must be more anxiously scrutinised. War conditions have in some aspects oi 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 afficien! administration of the State 's civil business is threatened. Therefore, the commissioner will more frequently have to take the responsibility of askirg triBtmals charged with the dircetion of manpower to retain pubiic servants in their civil office. "The release of the very heayy 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 oc'cupied previously in any similar kind of work that they are now performing: yet, generally speaking. they have frsplaye-l remarkable adaptability, and certainly an anxiety to acquit themselves well and to fill as well as may be the piaces 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 Ihe armed forces. An unparalleled hurdon of work has been thrown upon the jemainder. 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 oonsequence is that large sections of the Public Service have a very long-hour week. Protracted periods of overtime have been worked in mffny 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 week-ends in wai departments. Very effective co-ordina-tion has ben brought about whereby the staff of one department or a group of departments cares for some phases ot work in a war department by working overtime. What has to be guardcd against is that overtime is not performed to an excessive degree. The .ncidence of strain has to be watched with the greatest caYe, because too heavy pressure to serve immediate ends may in the long run prove excedingly 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 already left their positions and many others have been seconded to civilian duties associated directly with the conduct qf 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. Not only do heavy staff adjustments have to be made to accommodate them again, but also means of bridging the gap in their official career have to be planned." Mr. Boyes said an outline scheme to be administered from the Commissio ter'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; (b) bringing each soldier as nearly as may be to the point of usefulness which he would have reached if he had not gone away, and that without the extra strain of having to do the ordinary clav's work; at the same time, enabling him to bring himseli up to date in bolh his general education and his departmental knowledge. "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 to find a career in the Public Service after demobilisation, and the services of whom will be required to meet the staff needs of developing State services," says the Commissioner. "These questions are now receiving attention, and it is intended that plans, having as their purpose the assistance of exservicemen resuming or commencing a Public Service career, shall be well settled and ready for operation when the time comes."