Taituarā is pleased to be partnering with AskYourTeam to launch an annual health, safety and wellbeing survey to enable Councils to measure staff wellbeing. For the first time, a sector-wide snapshot on the wellbeing of the local government workforce will be generated through the collective insights the high-level data will provide.
The local government workforce continues to be bombarded, placing already stretched staff at risk of burnout and fatigue. The continuing impact and recovery from COVID-19, multiple reforms, a tight labour market, and local government elections in 2022 are all contributing to a workforce under strain.
Supporting high-performing, resilient staff is really important
“We’re really worried about the workforce in local government in New Zealand” says Karen Thomas, Chief Executive of Taituarā — Local Government Professionals Aotearoa. “Recruitment and retention of staff is consistently highlighted by Chief Executives during forums run by Taituarā. This partnership with AskYourTeam will enable us to quantify this anecdotal evidence and enable us to take an evidence-based approach to supporting the sector become further resilient. We don’t expect the impact on the workforce to decrease any time soon, so creating an environment in local government that supports high-performing, resilient staff is really important. Measuring the need is our first step to achieve this.”
Nationwide snapshot of local government kaimahi
The survey will be open for all Councils to utilise, regardless of whether they are existing AskYourTeam customers or not. Councils will be supported through an onboarding process and once completed, staff will receive a link to complete the survey. Councils retain all their own data, with only anonymised, high-level data being provided to Taituarā to create a sector-wide view, the first of which is likely to be released in June 2023.
“It is really important to us that we’re able to get a better sense of how our workers are faring” say Louise Miller, Chief Executive of Kaipara District Council and Chair of the Taituarā Workforce Committee. “I know that my Council is not alone in having to be creative in how we recruit staff. Once we have them we need to ensure that our environment is a positive one that they want to continue to be a part of. We can do part of that locally, but everyone is so connected so we also need to have a better grasp of the impact overall so that we can put plans in place to lift the standard nationally at the same time”.
Flexible delivery options
Councils will be able to deliver their survey at any time in the year, enabling Councils to time its delivery to their existing staff engagement surveys, removing the issue of survey fatigue. To remove the financial barrier for Councils to participate, Taituarā and AskYourTeam have leveraged their strong relationship to provide this service to the sector for free.
Mike Russell, Manager Public Sector and Local Government for AskYourTeam says that they are extremely proud of their partnership with Taituarā. “As an organisation we are committed to supporting the local government sector and our council customers in delivering great outcomes for their communities. So, it’s a privilege to work alongside Taituarā with our shared desire to lift council performance and create excellence and innovation across a sector that is so important to the businesses, families and people of Aotearoa New Zealand”.
Get in touch
Councils interested in participating in the initiative can contact AskYourTeam directly to discuss the survey and when they would like the survey delivered. Contact Mike Russell.