Trustee and Guardian Restructure

Trustee and Guardian Restructure – 7 September 2016 (PDF Version)

As members are aware NSW Trustee and Guardian has released its proposed Implementation Plan to New Operating Model.

The PSA met with NSW Trustee and Guardian Management on 31 August 2016 and 1 September 2016 to discuss the proposed Implementation Plan, and expressed concerns about the proposal to commence roll out of the new structure as soon as 11 November 2016.

The PSA also sought additional time beyond the proposed nine days to enable proper consultation with members at all NSW Trustee and Guardian offices, and this request was refused.

NSW Trustee and Guardian also advised that, in spite of ongoing serious staff workload issues, there will be no additional staff appointed, except within the transformation team.

The PSA notes that the Price Waterhouse Coopers Report highlighted concerns about estates management, and recommended Resource Planning using workload data and analysis before referring estates management files to the new Service Delivery model.  This Resource Planning has not been done and the PSA has strong concerns about the capacity of the new Service Centres to deal with the estates management files, particularly in the context of a large scale reduction of staff.

NSW Trustee and Guardian has acknowledged concerns about Financial Administration in the Pilot, and Price Waterhouse Coopers will be preparing a further report on Financial Administration before these matters are fully transitioned to the Service Centres. Again the Price Waterhouse Coopers Report recommends using workload data to model future resource requirements and to monitor and test the most effective model.

The Price Waterhouse Coopers Report also identifies key challenges that affected the Pilot, including the following:

• High workload and pressure on the Pilot teams, which left employees overworked and taking stress leave, causing staff to be overworked and depressed.

• The amount of time being spent on the phones which limited the ability to complete other work.

• Numerous technology problems and issues affecting staff and service deliveries.

• Lack of Preparation and Training

• Senior staff doing basic administrative work.

• Managing staff leave.

• Miscellaneous Change Management Issues.

The PSA has very serious concerns about the Implementation Model as suggested by NSW Trustee and Guardian, especially noting the following:

• Our members have consistently advised that workload is a serious issue affecting the organisation, particularly for our members in the Pilot team. Price Waterhouse Coopers has confirmed this as an issue, but Trustee and Guardian have no plan to deal with the workload when one third of the organisation is declared excess.

• The ability of staff to take their Award leave entitlements is being seriously compromised, particularly by members in the Pilot team, and this situation can only get worse if Trustee and Guardian continues to disregard workload as an issue.

• The much anticipated TAGS system, which was supposed to underpin the restructure, has been delayed, and technology issues continue to affect productivity. It is now eight years since the merger and Trustee and Guardian still does not have a uniform computer system.

• The Pilot has not included work performed by Specialist units in the organisation, such as Property, Disability Advisory Services and Legal, and the ability of the Service Centres to perform these functions has not been tested.
• There appears to be an absence of Change Management expertise guiding this restructure, and the PSA has no confidence that this situation will improve in the future.

• There is simply not enough staff to do the work, and NSW Trustee and Guardian are dealing with this situation by reducing staff by one third, and by deleting most of the Clerk 1-2 and general scale positions from the organisation.

The PSA and Trustee and Guardian will be returning to the Industrial Relations Commission on 19 September 2016, and will continue to support and seek feedback from members during this process.  We will continue to pursue a longer consultation period and to fight these mean-spirited cuts.

What YOU CAN DO

Provide feedback to your delegates –

Paul Gavin

Christine Edmondson

Robin Turnham

Peter Edgtton

Martin Armstrong

Heather Stephenson

Richard Falkowski.