Senior Labour Standards Officer

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

The Senior Labour Standards Officer is a senior member of the team who provides assistance, advice, education and information to clients of the Labour Inspectorate in order to enable them to meet their legislative requirements relating to minimum employment standards.

The Senior Labour Standards Officer is responsible for:

• Ensuring that the Labour Standards Officers carry out their functions to a high standard and in accordance with nationally consistent practice, operational policy and business process frameworks. This includes responsibility for all planning, monitoring and other management functions including coaching and professional development.
• Ensuring quality and consistency in the assessment and allocation of complaints.
• Ensuring quality and consistency in the facilitation of employment parties to achieve early resolution
• Managing compliance checks on behalf of the Strategy Holders.
• Ensuring timeliness and quality measures are met and reported on accurately.
• The maintenance and development of operational processes and systems including the development of quality practice documentation and guides.
• Supporting the manager to ensure quality and consistency of advice and practices is provided by the team by championing consistency in terms of best practice and actively work to develop and improve practice as required.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Personal specifications

This role is to be technically competent and able to undertake evidenced assessment and decision making. If a candidate does not already hold the necessary skills to delivery this, they must have the demonstrated ability to obtain these in an agreed timeframe.  Within this context, the position holder must demonstrate skills, knowledge and experience in the following areas:

• A proven track record of experience in developing and/or operating front line response, triage and/or allocation functions, complaint management, case management or similar.
• Good knowledge of the relevant legislation, operational policy, practice frameworks and business processes and how these should be applied to effectively undertake assessment and allocation.
• Knowledge of the Employment Relations Act and its related regulations and codes (or an ability to gain such knowledge quickly)
• Strong analytical ability and sound judgment to ensure effective and evidenced decisions are made regarding allocation of work across the branch.
• Listening empathetically to people’s needs and concerns while remaining firm and professional as an impartial regulator, including managing conflict and aggression.
• Strong written communication, specifically writing clear and complete reports and recommendations with robust analysis, sound conclusions and effective recommendations.
• Experience supporting a geographically dispersed team and proven leadership skills including demonstrated ability to engage and motivate staff.
• Managing conflicting priorities and ensuring that commitments, complaints or requests are addresses within efficient and acceptable timeframes.
• Demonstrated ability to establish, engage and motivate team members.
• Experience in coaching, training and /or mentoring others.
• Ability to quickly establish and build strong working relationships with a wide range of people.
• Well organised, have a high degree of initiative and excellent interpersonal, analytical and communication skills with the ability to multitask, prioritise and escalate where necessary.
• Understanding of the implications of and commitment to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
• Must have the legal right to live and work in New Zealand.

Key Relationships

• Managers and team members within Employment Services.
• Managers and staff in other MBIE Groups as required.
• Members of the public and those utilising our services.
• Staff in other Government agencies.
• Industry, professional and community groups associated with workplace and employment relations issues.

Takohanga tuhinga o mua – Key accountabilities and deliverables

Critical Areas of Success

• Support the manager in the effective assessment and allocation of complaints, enquiries and requests for support to the appropriate team member.
• Supports the wider team in ensuring consistent and high quality practice and appropriate technical / specialist expertise is applied to all assessments.
• Work with the Triage Team to adopt consistent approaches and service offerings aligning with the appropriate triage of matters within Employment Services.
• Integrating service delivery with practice ensuring a customer focused culture across the team.
• Undertake consistent and high quality assessment of complaints allocate to actively support and contribute to the achievement of the Ministry’s outcomes and that deliver to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
• Upholding agreed quality and timeliness standards in all aspects of enquiry and complaint management.
• Support the Manager in the development of practice, guidance and training material to the Labour Standards Team.
• Creating records and managing information, documents, records in a manner consistent with MBIEs systems and information management requirements, including recognising and managing risks associated with the management of personal information in accordance with MBIEs policies and processes.
• Assisting with responses to Official Information Act and supporting the team and wider branch to manage privacy breaches.
• Work with the Practice Leader to ensure processes are fit for purpose, up to date and circulated amongst the team.

Personal Leadership

• Engages and motivates people to participate and makes things happen.
• Fosters an open, collaborative environment that encourages quality, innovation, ongoing learning and knowledge sharing within the team.
• Models positive management and leadership behaviours.
• Models the desired values and culture of the organisation and leads this across the team.
• Tells it as it is, providing direct, specific feedback, both motivational and developmental. Is prepared to take action on tough issues.
• Is aware of their personal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and limits. Is open to feedback and learns from experience and mistakes.

Relationship Management

• Participates as an active team member and contributes knowledge and expertise needed to achieve MBIE’s outcomes.
• Establishes sound and effective external relationships with key stakeholders and suppliers to enable effective delivery of pastoral case components through the case management function within the team to exploited migrant workers.
• Develops effective working relationships with other MBIE managers and staff in order to transfer knowledge and learning from the team to the wider organisation.
• Builds an effective relationship with the relevant managers and branches within Employment Services.
• Represents whole-of-Ministry views and protects its reputation in any external interactions.

Wellbeing, health & safety

• Displays commitment through actively supporting all safety and wellbeing initiatives.
• Ensures own and others safety at all times.
• Complies with relevant safety and wellbeing policies, procedures, safe systems of work and event reporting.
• Reports all incidents/accidents, including near misses in a timely fashion.
• Is involved in health and safety through participation and consultation.

Tō tūranga i roto i te Manatū – Your place in the Ministry

The Senior Labour Standards Officer position reports into the Manager within the Employment Services branch. The branch sits within the Te Whakatairanga Service Delivery group.

More information about MBIE’s structure

To mātou aronga – What we do for Aotearoa New Zealand

Hīkina Whakatutuki is the te reo Māori name for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Hīkina means to uplift. Whakatutuki means to move forward, to make successful. Our name speaks to our purpose, Grow Aotearoa New Zealand for All.

To Grow Aotearoa New Zealand for All, we put people at the heart of our mahi. Based on the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi / The Treaty of Waitangi, we are committed to upholding authentic partnerships with Māori.

As agile public service leaders, we use our breadth and experience to navigate the ever-changing world. We are service providers, policy makers, investors and regulators. We engage with diverse communities, businesses and regions. Our work touches on the daily lives of New Zealanders. We grow opportunities (Puāwai), guard and protect (Kaihāpai) and innovate and navigate towards a better future (Auaha).

Ngā matatau – Our competencies

Cultivates innovation We create new and better ways for the organisation to be successful by challenging the status quo generating new and creative ideas and translating them into workable solutions.

Nimble learning We are curious and actively learn through experimentation when tackling new problems by learning as we go when facing new situations and challenges.

Customer focus We build strong customer relationships and deliver customer-centric solutions by listening and gaining insights into the needs of the communities we serve and actively seeking and responding to feedback.

Decision quality We make quality and timely decisions that shape the future for our communities and keep the organisation moving forward by relying on an appropriate mix of analysis, wisdom, experience, and judgement to make valid and reliable decisions.

Action oriented We step up, taking on new opportunities and tough challenges with purpose, urgency and discipline by taking responsibility, ownership and action on challenges, and being accountable for the results.

Collaborates We connect, working together to build partnerships with our communities, working collaboratively to meet shared objectives by gaining trust and support of others; actively seeking the views, experiences, and opinions of others and by working co-operatively with others across MBIE, the public sector and external stakeholder groups.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi

As an agency of the public service, MBIE has a responsibility to contribute to the Crown meeting its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Te Tiriti). Meeting our commitment to Te Tiriti will contribute towards us realising the overall aims of Te Ara Amiorangi – Our Path, Our Direction, and achieve the outcome of Growing New Zealand for All. The principles of Te Tiriti - including partnership, good faith, and active protection – are at the core of our work. MBIE is committed to delivering on our obligations as a Treaty partner with authenticity and integrity and to enable Māori interests. We are committed to ensuring that MBIE is well placed to meet our obligations under the Public Service Act 2020 (Te Ao Tūmatanui) to support the Crown in strengthening the Māori/Crown Relationship under the Treaty and to build MBIE’s capability, capacity and cultural intelligence to deliver this.

Mahi i roto i te Ratonga Tūmatanui – Working in the public service

Ka mahitahi mātou o te ratonga tūmatanui kia hei painga mō ngā tāngata o Aotearoa i āianei, ā, hei ngā rā ki tua hoki. He kawenga tino whaitake tā mātou hei tautoko i te Karauna i runga i āna hononga ki a ngāi Māori i raro i te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ka tautoko mātou i te kāwanatanga manapori. Ka whakakotahingia mātou e te wairua whakarato ki ō mātou hapori, ā, e arahina ana mātou e ngā mātāpono me ngā tikanga matua o te ratonga tūmatanui i roto i ā mātou mahi.

In the public service we work collectively to make a meaningful difference for New Zealanders now and in the future. We have an important role in supporting the Crown in its relationships with Māori under the Treaty of Waitangi. We support democratic government. We are unified by a spirit of service to our communities and guided by the core principles and values of the public service in our work.

What does it mean to work in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Public Service?(external link) — Te Kawa Mataaho The Public Service Commission