The Commerce Commission has been tasked with finding 7.5 per cent cost savings.
A cost-cutting proposal sent to Commerce Commission staff, seen by the Herald, shows a number of roles are on the line and the agency is looking to employ a deputy chief executive.
Thousands of jobs across the public sector are facing the axe, in response to the
Earlier this month, Commerce Commission Chief Executive Adrienne Meikle confirmed a change proposal, under consultation, would result in “37 fewer people in the organisation.”
Analysis of the “organisational change proposals” document, for employees at the commission, shows a net 55 roles are set to be axed, some of which are vacant. Seventy nine full-time equivalent roles are proposed to go, with plans to add 24 new jobs in different teams.
“The Commission has been holding vacancies, reduced discretionary spending including travel, and reduced expenditure on contractors and consultants,” Meikle said in a prior statement.
Consultation on the proposal closed yesterday evening. Final decisions will be communicated to staff by June 13, with the implementation date depending on what gets decided.
The commission, an independent Crown entity, administers and enforces rules relating to a competitive market and fair trading. It looks at disparities in supermarket prices and monitors petrol pricing, and often issues ‘please explain’ notices to companies, and can give clearance to corporations seeking to acquire shares and assets.
It describes itself as playing a “crucial role” in ensuring competitive markets, protection for consumers, and regulation for sectors with little to no competition.
Roles in regulation, including in teams that look at the so-called crucial roles described above, are on the chopping block, according to the document, as the axe looms over the heads of public servants.
Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Andrew Bayly wrote to the commission with expectations for its future, setting out the Government’s economic priorities. They include driving and promoting competition, supporting resilient and sustainable infrastructure, and being a “brave, efficient and effective regulator”.
Bayly has previously backed a “strong focus” on using enforcement and litigation to crack down on companies accused of breaching the law.
Across ComCom’s competition, credit, fair trading, legal services, market regulation, and infrastructure regulation teams, 50.5 full-time equivalent roles are on the line, out of the total 79 proposed to go.
A Commerce Commission staffer, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the Herald: “I understand the cost cuts are unavoidable but the current proposal has been applied disproportionately across the Commission and would definitely affect our ability to perform our core roles as a regulator.”
The in-confidence context provided to staff from the commission states it has a “strong platform,” pointing to investments, focus, and funding in the last five years setting it up for the next “phase” of work.
“We can achieve some efficiencies by bringing together similar functions, ensuring we remove duplication, and putting in place a structure that is cost-efficient and appropriate for our adjusted size,” the document rationalised, with a promise to continue to focus on its core regulatory responsibilities.
The commission would not be able to do all of the work it currently is with less staff, the document warned.
“We will continue to focus on our core regulatory responsibilities and obligations,” staff were told. “We are not however going to be able to continue our current work,” it reads, further stating that “robust prioritisation” needs to be agreed upon by its board.
In the foreword to the change proposal document, Meikle outlines the rationale behind the cuts to staff as “a new way of organising ourselves so that we can sustainably deliver on our statutory obligations and priorities.”
Meikle promised the way the commission has approached the process has been “with our values framework front of mind and our people at the centre.”
“The change proposal has been guided by principles based on organising ourselves so we can operate in a more fiscally constrained environment,” she vowed, reminding staff that decisions were not final, and everything in the document was open to feedback.
The document further goes on to state the proposals would change organisation and resourcing “in a more fiscally constrained environment” and confirms the development of the proposals.
The document confirms who had been consulted on the proposal, saying, “Given the potential impact on people right across the organisation there was only able to be limited engagement with senior leaders on the proposed design.” Staff had been surveyed by the commission on how it could free up capacity in its cost-cutting round.
All branches of the Commerce Commission were in scope of the change proposal, which suggests moving from eight to five branches. The Herald understands the proposal includes merging the fair trading, competition and credit branches, creating a ‘competition and consumer protection’ branch.
“We propose to bring together all consumer and competition-related insights,” the change proposal states, defining the team as being responsible for regulatory issues and whether or not enforcement should take place.
The commission suggests the merge will be positive, saying it “would go some way to alleviating current challenges with fragmented responsibility for the commission’s intelligence across different systems.”
Under the subheading ‘market regulation,’ the commission admits it needs to make some changes.
“We are proposing changes that ensure we can deliver all of our responsibilities within our funding envelope. We are not proposing to move to a ‘minimum viable product’ but we do need to make some reductions.”
Product management resourcing would be slimmed down, with a number of managerial positions set to be disestablished.
“We will continue to be a credible regulator for groceries but with a reduction in resourcing,” the document vows, confirming a proposal to disestablish a groceries compliance manager.
In the Commerce Commission’s specialist legal counsel, three senior positions on the counsel would go, alongside two standard legal counsel members.
Staff have been told preference for new positions, across the organisation, will be given to “affected employees” of the proposal. A number of roles that are set to be created as part of the process will be advertised both internally and externally.
Crunching the numbers shows nine roles are proposed to be added under strategy and performance, eight in competition and consumer protection, three in legal services, two in the senior leadership team, and one each in market regulation and ‘cross-organisation’.
Five roles are proposed to be disestablished from the commission’s senior leadership team, and there are plans to add two new ones. One of those includes the role of deputy chief executive, according to the all-staff document.
A new 2IC would come under the central branch titled ‘Strategy and Performance,’ suggesting teams had “benefited from more senior leadership focus” through a prior growth scheme.
The Deputy Chief Executive would effectively be seen as a ‘Chief Operating Officer’ for the commission, and would be supported by an executive assistant.
“It is a large, senior position,” the proposal states; it confirms two general manager positions would be disestablished with this.
The commission’s senior leadership team has experienced recent growth through its ‘Fit for the Future’ scheme. A prior statement of intent published for 2020-2024 stated it expects staff numbers “to grow further” through the years. It said the commission at the time had around 250 staff, up from 180 five years ago.
The Commerce Commission now describes itself as having around 400 staff, on its website.
Fit for the Future looked at how well the commission was positioned to deliver on its “vision”. At the time, during an apparent growth phase, the commission pointed out a need to have the infrastructure to operate “as a larger and more complex organisation.” Strengthening the commission’s corporate services and capabilities was a key area of focus under the recent scheme.
The commission had vowed to enhance “systems, structures and processes to ensure the organisation’s support needs and the expectations of our stakeholders are met,” just years ago.
Now, the recent change proposal states it is going to be “a smaller organisation,” due to the Government’s directive combined with the fact its credit function is being moved to the Financial Markets Authority, a public financial regulator.
Under the heading ‘Senior Leadership Team,’ the cutting document outlines how the senior leadership team has grown over time, a “conscious decision” through the aforementioned Fit for the Future scheme.
The change proposal backs the decision to bolster senior leadership numbers in recent years, saying it expanded its number of branches to “strengthen our leadership capability, provide more diversity of thought at the senior level, and enable end-to-end regulatory accountability.”
“We now require a more streamlined membership [of the senior leadership team] in order to get things done effectively and efficiently,” the document went on to state.
As the current general manager of credit is proposed to leave, there is not set to be a senior leadership team member based in Auckland, something the commission is proposing to counter by having members of the team “regularly” base themselves in the supercity “for short periods of time.”
Azaria Howell is a Wellington-based multimedia reporter with an eye across the region. She joined NZME in 2022 and has a keen interest in city council decisions, public service agency reform and transport.
A selection of cartoons from Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson over the past year