We have many positive employment practices in the community sector of which we can be rightfully proud – family-friendly workplaces,

A Workplace Wellbeing Workshop in action in Blenheim.

flexible working hours and meaningful work, just to name a few. 

But there are other aspects that we would all like to see improve. Inadequate levels of remuneration and lack of job security, for instance, mean that we continue to lose skilled and experienced staff to other sectors. While they bring a range of other skills and experience, board members also often come to their governance roles with limited experience in employing staff.

Workplace Wellbeing is a collaborative, sector-driven project which seeks to promote and support more effective employment practices and relationships in our sector. The project partners – NZFVWO, NZ Council of Social Services, Social Services Waikato – first came together in 2005, and in 2007 the Service and Food Workers’ Union Nga Ringa Tota joined us a formal partner.

Late last year, we received funding from the Department of Labour to continue with the project. As a result we have been able to offer a new series of workshops on employment relations to community organisations around New Zealand.

Developed specifically for board members, trustees and managers, these workshops focus on some of the specific challenges facing employers in our sector.  Department of Labour Mediators co-facilitate the workshop along with one or more of our project team.

Topics covered include the Employment Relations Act, governance and management issues in employment situations, managing workplace conflict and performance issues, and what is involved in going to mediation.  We also look at remuneration and funding issues as they affect employment in the sector.

Six months on, the project is really humming. The workshops, which cost a maximum of $20, have been really well attended and participant feedback is consistently very positive:

“Congratulations - this kind of workshop is so necessary and basic and practical. It's just what's needed in our sector. :)”

“Amazingly full day for amazingly little cost!”

“Thank you for a positive day. I feel there is little recognition/understanding of the value ($, hours, expertise) of volunteers and how these aspects are recognised in the contracting process.”

Participants come from a wide range of community organisations and include some of the smallest, most localised and poorly resourced community groups through to some of the largest. We hope to be able to begin planning for the next round of workshops very soon.

As well as running the workshops, we are working to produce a series of online and hard copy employment resources for community organisations.

A range of other strategic work is also under way, including looking at ways in which we can strengthen the use of sector-specific remuneration surveys to highlight pay issues, and promoting the uptake of pay and employment equity evaluation processes in our sector.

For more information about the Workplace Wellbeing Project or the workshops contact ere.project@gmail.com, jane@ssw.org.nz or marketing@nzfvwo.org.nz

Forthcoming workshop dates –

April 15                 Palmerston North

May 9                    Invercargill

May 12                  Dunedin

May 20                  Timaru

May 23                  Whangarei

June 9                   Tokoroa

June 10                 Taupo

June11                  Hamilton

October 20            Hawera

October 21            New Plymouth