Senior executives at Service NSW will be made redundant as part of a government plan to cut about 125 jobs and move more services online.
The state opposition says the cuts will mean customers will spend more time on hold and there would be a longer wait for emergency cash for natural disasters, but the government insists face-to-face services would be maintained.
Senior executives will be among those facing redundancy at Service NSW.Credit: Oscar Colman
Customer Service Minister Jihad Dib said staffing levels had ballooned from 2860 employees to 4950 over the past five years.
“This is not sustainable ... Many of the programs developed in response to the pandemic and natural disasters no longer require this intensive crisis support,” Dib said.
Staff were informed on Monday about what Dib described as a “revised organisational structure”, which would affect contractors, temporary employees as well as other staff, through natural attrition. No service centres will be closed down.
A slide deck seen by the Herald included strategies such as “virtual hold”, whereby a customer is given a callback instead of waiting in a phone queue and “right sizing” parts of the business – corporate jargon for laying off employees and cutting costs.
Customer Service Minister Jihad Dib said Service NSW was operating with about 4950 staff, an extra 2000 people compared with 2019 levels. Credit: Peter Rae
The move to cut staff at the agency comes as the government offered public sector workers across the board a 9.5 per cent salary increase over three years. It has not yet been accepted.
Opposition Customer Service spokesman James Griffin said the move to axe jobs raised serious questions about the long-term direction of digital service delivery by the Minns government.
“When Chris Minns said during the election campaign, ‘We’ll end that exorbitant waste, we’ll find savings to make sure our public services run better,’ no one thought he meant putting a knife through Service NSW,” he said.
The union representing public sector workers, the Public Service Association, said on Wednesday it understood 125 roles would be lost in the first of “waves” of redundancy; there are expected to be two further rounds and the process to take 12 months.
Public Service Association general secretary Stewart Little said it would disproportionately affect regional communities because every job lost in a country town meant one person fewer whose salary was largely immune to natural disasters.
“This is a huge cut in essential frontline support for members of the community. Our members in Service NSW are embedded in every community across the state. Every town has a Service NSW office,” Little said.
“These workers are basically the front desk of the government and, when you cut them, you make it more difficult for the people of NSW to access welfare and support.
“So next time you go and get a fishing or driver’s licence or your child needs to sit their driver’s test expect to wait longer.”
Last financial year, Service NSW exceeded its approved budget by $179 million.
The government made an election commitment to reduce agency hire contractors by 25 per cent in the public service. It set a target of a 15 per cent reduction in senior executive roles.
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