While Kiwi businesses are facing economic uncertainty, the Ministry supposedly responsible for helping businesses has been spending our money on Workplace Waiata – i.e. staff singing sessions in their Wellington offices.
And this isn’t just a one-off thing: At their swanky Wellington offices, MBIE were hosting 30 minute sessions every work day, every week!
MBIE employs 5,892 bureaucrats (it’s grown from 4,676 in 2020), literally being paid to sing, clap, poi, and recite Māori proverbs and hymns.
According to documents we’ve unearthed, last year, MBIE bosses attempted to reduce these sessions from daily 30-minute sing-alongs across various floors, to “just” 20 minutes, twice a week.
According to email correspondence (obtained under the Official Information Act) one of the reasons for the ‘cut back’ was concerns about the Workplace Waiata causing noise distraction for others in the office.
No kidding!
But here’s where it gets even more ridiculous…
The precious MBIE staffers weren’t having a bar of it!
They revolted at management for daring to cut back the entitlement.
This reminds me of how MBIE staff went on strike a few years ago. A former Beehive senior staffer quipped that the impact on the Government of this strike would be the equivalent of the Dom Post running a second daily quiz!
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition
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