61557 (2024). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills

61557 (2024). Francisco Hernandez to the Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills: Prior to 16 September, what work, if any, has the Minister's departments, if any, done to scope or evaluate work from home policies?

Hon Penny Simmonds: The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) updated the Flexible Working Policy, guidelines and procedures in March 2024. This was to align these documents with the Public Service Commission |Te Kawa Mataaho (PSC) two comprehensive guidance documents: • Flexible-Work-By-Default (2020), and • Hybrid Working (2022). TEC also updated its Working from Home – Health and Safety Checklist. This is to assess the suitability of the home environment for working at home. TEC meets monthly to review operational delivery at its Organisational Performance Management meeting. TEC are in general satisfied with staff productivity and delivery on our agreed outcomes and functions. The TEC’s annual employee engagement survey results show staff engagement has gone up. I am advised by Education New Zealand (ENZ) that prior to 16 September 2024, it has not undertaken any work to scope or evaluate work from home policies. ENZ’s flexible working and flexible leave policy is due to be reviewed in September 2025 as part of a regular policy review cycle. For the Ministry of Education, I refer the Member to Minister Stanford’s response to 61633 (2024).