An Auckland Council manager is working remotely from the Gold Coast in Queensland under flexible employment policies. 

“This staff member has worked for Auckland Council for nearly eight years. They are a valued member of our events team,” regional services and strategy general manager Justine Haves said. 

“When their personal circumstances required them to relocate to Australia, it was appropriate for us to consider a way to retain them at the council.” 

Haves said flexible, hybrid, and overseas remote working are all covered by the council’s employment policies, and this approach enables the council to retain fantastic staff and allows staff to balance work with life, family, and wellbeing. 

“Technology allows this to be relatively seamless, via online meetings and direct network access.” 

Haves said the manager’s case is an exception rather than the norm, saying during a six-month arrangement from January this year, the staff member returns to Auckland regularly at their own expense. After six months, there will be conversations to determine the next steps, she said. 

“They will be in Auckland for three weeks leading up to Anzac Day commemoration services. 

“This also came at a time when our newly appointed head of events was starting at the council, and ahead of our peak events season, so maintaining consistency for our staff and community partners, and retaining corporate knowledge during this transition period has been essential,” Haves said. 

A council spokesperson said a quick look at recent raw data for offshore logins to the council’s network in the peak months of January and February found fewer than 10 staff working overseas for up to two months, saying this coincides with a time when some people return to their home countries. 

“There are a variety of circumstances that would require someone to log in or work while abroad. 

Auckland Council has flexible employment policies that allow staff to work offshore. 

“Examples might be someone getting stuck overseas while on a personal trip (global Covid lockdown was an extreme example of this); a staff member with a role that might require them to be contactable at all times, even when travelling; someone travelling for work purposes; or personal circumstances like supporting unwell relatives or professional development,” the spokesperson said. 

In early 2015, the council’s economic development arm created a special contract in London for one of its senior executives, Grant Jenkins, for $230,000, including nearly $20,000 to relocate his family to England. He quit later in the year. 

Around the same time, the development arm, Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (Ateed) based a senior staffer Pam Ford at the America’s Cup in San Francisco for 12 months for a joint role with New Zealand Foreign Affairs and Trade as a VIP programme manager. 

Bernard Orsman is an Auckland-based reporter who has been covering local government and transport since 1998. He joined the Herald in 1990 and worked in the parliamentary press gallery for six years. 

This article was originally published on the NZ Herald here.