More than $5000 spent on leaving gifts for Wellington City Council staff over past year

A $329 pounamu was among the leaving gifts given to staff from the Wellington City Council over 2016. Photo/file

A $300 pounamu was among the gifts handed out to staff leaving the Wellington City Council in the past year.

More than $5000 was forked out for cards, vouchers and gifts for departing staff from January 2016 to February this year, according to figures released by the council.

While the council's budget per staff member is generally $50, more can be spent on somebody with authorisation from a director or the chief executive.

In some cases, figures from $100-$200 were spent to thank long-serving staff members who had been there for 40 or 50 years.

Other gifts contributing to the council's roughly $12,500 annual spend were given for things such as the birth of a baby, bereavement, or as a celebration of a staff member's anniversary. There was also one plant given as a house-warming gift.

"It's not unreasonable to buy flowers and a card for a staff member who leaves the organisation and people who lose loved ones - it's what good, caring employers do," said chief executive Kevin Lavery.

"We also don't apologise for rewarding staff for doing an exceptional job - and there are hundreds who do.

With an annual operating budget of $480 million, the amount spent on gifts is only a smell dent in comparison, working out to about 6c per resident per day, Lavery said.

"The council delivers more than 400 services at a cost per resident per day of $6.03 - that is excellent value for money by any measure."

With a staff turnover rate of 22 per cent, it's a regular occurrence for an employee to resign or retire - the council has even bought farewell cards in bulk from time to time to keep up with demand.

"The turnover rates have been steadily dropping in recent years," Lavery said. "We typically have about 300 resignations each year, which is acceptable for a large organisation with about 1500 staff.

"We continue to work hard to reduce turnover but it is challenging - especially in a strong economy when we typically lose staff to employers who are able to offer better wages and salaries."

He stressed that council employed a "huge range" of staff and skilled workers to do everything from running recreation centres and swimming pools to maintaining roads, running a landfill, and digging graves.

"The city council has a lot of staff in casual or short-term employment - for example pool lifeguards or staff involved with events or short-term projects. There is always high turnover in these positions - so that tends to make it difficult to get our overall turnover below 20 per cent."

There were just over 270 gifts handed out to staff over the time period.