RHYS HURLEY: MBIE paying staff for daily waiata sessions

Rhys Hurley is Investigations Coordinator for the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Health New Zealand was holding compulsory "Karakia" sessions during work hours. Now, our own research has uncovered something even more absurd, this time at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

While Kiwi businesses are facing economic uncertainty, the Ministry supposedly responsible for helping businesses has been spending our money on Workplace Waiata – i.e. staff singing sessions in their Wellington offices. And this isn't just a one-off thing: At their swanky Wellington offices, MBIE were hosting 30 minute sessions every work day, every week!

MBIE employs 5,892 bureaucrats (it's grown from 4,676 in 2020), literally being paid to sing, clap, poi, and recite Māori proverbs and hymns.

MBIE bosses asked the staff to get back to work. But the bureaucrats said "NO".

According to documents we've unearthed, last year, MBIE bosses attempted to reduce these sessions from daily 30-minute sing-alongs across various floors, to "just" 20 minutes, twice a week. According to email correspondence (obtained under the Official Information Act) one of the reasons for the 'cut back' was concerns about the Workplace Waiata causing noise distraction for others in the office.

No kidding!

But here's where it gets even more ridiculous... The precious MBIE staffers weren't having a bar of it! They revolted at management for daring to cut back the entitlement.

We've unearthed internal emails, chats, strategy documents, and even formal negotiations. Staff wrote an eight page submission demanding that the waiata "entitlement" continue. Staff described the sessions as "taonga" (treasure) and insisted they were essential for "wellbeing" and "capability building." They produced lengthy documents arguing why three sessions per week was the "bare minimum".

Their suggestion to the senior leadership? To carry on doing everything they were already doing: 

The bureaucrats claimed that management's instruction to have the sessions during unpaid breaks was "colonial" and "culturally insensitive". 

They said even "relocating to enclosed rooms" (in order to avoid disrupting other staff in the open offices) was "viewed as symbolic marginalisation" and "hiding the kaupapa".

So MBIE's leadership teams were forced to hold crisis meetings. 

You read that right. The Ministry responsible for making sure New Zealand’s economy works, from businesses and jobs to housing, immigration, and energy, spent months arguing about singing schedules.

That's how woke self-entitled these MBIE staff have become.

The compromise reached

The final compromise and solution? Management eventually agreed through a "cultural negotiation" that the 30-minute sing-along sessions would not be abolished.

Instead, they were reduced from five to three 30-minute sessions per week. 

Only in the public service could something so ridiculous require this level of executive time, negotiation, and outcome.

This isn't about cultural respect, it's about the priorities of people who are funded by us, the taxpayer. Whether it is religious or cultural, you don't go to work to be paid to sing along. Let me be crystal clear: this isn't a criticism of waiata or Māori culture. This is about a Ministry that has lost sight of its purpose.

Does your employer pay you 30-minutes a day for a sing along or prayer?

If staff want to sing together, that's great – do it at lunchtime or after work. This MBIE workplace waiata shows what's wrong with Wellington, and what we thought this Government was elected to tackle.

Where is the focus on the core business? Instead, taxpayers are shelling out for endless navel-gazing and staff priorities trumping taxpayer value, all while management is unable or unwilling to make basic decisions to ensure value for your money.

Time and time again, we get stories and tips from supporters about waste that goes on within the public service. At this point, we aren't even surprised. 

Personal comment from admin: Last year I eventually wrote to Nicola Willis, one of the MBIE's ministers, when former tenants had not received an undisputed bond refund which should take 5 working days. At that point 32 days had passed. Perhaps my application got lost in a pile of waiata song sheets.

You can support the work of the Taxpayer Union here.

And if you have any examples of public service waste their Tipline is here.