20 Sep 2023

Te Pūkenga halves the number of jobs it plans to cut

7:22 pm on 20 September 2023
Te Pūkenga

Photo: supplied

Te Pūkenga will axe 450 jobs and let a further 350 fixed-term contracts expire, under its revised restructure plan.

Chief executive Peter Winder said the national technology institute would also create 600 new roles, which it hoped would be filled by redeployed staff, and 50 of the positions being disestablished were already vacant.

It follows consultation with the organisation's 10,000 staff, and more than 8000 pieces of feedback. The original proposal in June suggested a net total of 400 job cuts, while the revised plan would see half that.

"We've listened very carefully to the feedback we received from our kaimahi, we have thought long and hard about the risks associated with the steps that we are taking and have, in a number of places, put roles back in and/or changed our approach," Winder said.

The cuts were necessary to keep the organisation afloat, he said, and would save about $18 million annually. However, further cost-cutting would also be needed.

Tertiary Education Union organiser Daniel Benson-Guiu said employees who had received redundancy notices were still interested in working for the organisation, and it was important for the sector to retain skilled staff.

"Many of our members I've talked to in the last couple of days, who have been told that their role is going to be disestablished, with a very long notice period ... are keen to see what opportunities exist for them right now," he said.

"Our members are very keen to continue working within Te Pūkenga."

The workers had been given an April 2024 termination date, Benson-Guiu said.

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