Andrew Slater: Health New Zealand Chief People Officer on recruitment freeze for non-frontline workers

Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora has implemented a freeze on hiring for all non-frontline roles – to bring down spending.  

This will include all hospital roles that are not patient-facing, and all public health roles that are not community-facing. 

Health New Zealand Chief People Officer, Andrew Slater, told Heather du Plessis-Allan “That pause is likely to be on as we enter July-August as well.” 

Slater said “This pause will move the recruitment process back down to local hands.” 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Together do for cl Health New Zealand has ordered a
hiring freeze on all non frontline roles. In an internal email,
the chief executive Marji Upper told staff that Health New
Zealand had to reduce spending because it's already over budget
for the financial year. Andrew Slater is Health New Zealand's
Chief People Officer. High Andrew, Hey, Heather, Okay, how long
are you pausing recruitment?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yeah, look, we're just pausing recruitment while we make sure
that we get the frontline moving. We've had a national
approval process on those roles for the last few months,
and then we'll be looking at the non frontline roles
been on pause while we set our budgets for the
coming financial year.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
When does your financial year start?

Speaker 2 (00:42):
The financial year starts in a couple of weeks. That
pauses likely to be on just as we enter July
August as well.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Why into August as well?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yes, So, look, what we need to do is just
make sure that we get the frontline recruit truitment moving,
and then while we do that, the non frontline related
roles are paused while we have a national review, make
sure roles are still needed and go from there.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Okay, that sounds fine, but they the Association of Salary
Medical Specialists says this is affecting the front line. They
say they've got members who've not been able to recruit pedatricians, cardiologist, obstetricians, gynecologists,
cancer specials specialists, and public health physicians. So why can't
they get people?

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, so, look what we've had in place over the
last couple of months as an approval process, that was
approving recruitment on our frontline hospital roles. What this pause
does that we're doing at the moment while we regroup
is moving those recruitment decisions back down to local hands.
And we're putting the pause and the other approval processes

(01:52):
on our non non hospital, non frontline roles.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Okay, when are the people going to be able to
themselves approve hiring somebody like a cardiologist?

Speaker 2 (02:00):
All right, Look, that will occur as we get our
budgets in place. But those decisions to do that local
recruitment for our hospitals and things will start being made
locally from next week.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Oh good, nobody can complain about that, Andrew, Thank you
very much. Andrew Slater, Chief People Office the Health New
Zealand so hopefully all those jobs will be able to
be filled from next week when they're basically able to
do it again. For more from Hither duplessy Alan Drive,
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