Finance Minister Grant Robertson doesn’t have “any concern at all” about a raft of staffing changes underway at the Reserve Bank (RBNZ) at a time it faces a tricky battle with rising inflation.
Deputy Governor Geoff Bascand and Chief Economist Yuong Ha have resigned and will leave the organisation in January and February respectively. Both sit on the seven-member Monetary Policy Committee, which influences interest rates.
The RBNZ is also expanding its senior leadership team, and consulting on a proposal to change some senior management roles and reporting lines.
All up at the highest levels, it needs to recruit up to five board members, a chief economist, five assistant governors and two external Monetary Policy Committee members - assuming no existing contracts are renewed.
Robertson recognised the RBNZ has received more government funding to increase its capability, particularly as it’s being required to take a more hands-on approach towards regulating banks, insurers and non-bank deposit-takers.
Asked whether he was worried about the amount of change underway, as the RBNZ faces the challenge of removing monetary support from the economy, Robertson said, “From time-to-time in institutions, you get change. But I think both Geoff and Yuong have done great jobs, and I know they’re leaving still very committed to the organisation.
“I think the Governor’s done an excellent job through very, very challenging times. Everybody knows Adrian - he wears his heart on his sleeve.”
Governor Adrian Orr has responded facetiously over the past few days to questions related to senior staff leaving the Bank.
“Slavery has been abolished and people can choose to do what they wish,” Orr told National MP Stuart Smith when he appeared before the Finance and Expenditure Committee to talk about the RBNZ’s Monetary Policy Statement on Thursday.
When Smith asked whether there was a cultural issue at the Bank driving turnover and whether exit interviews were being done by an independent body, Orr responded, “Wow, pointed question…
“We have the deputy governor Geoff Bascand retiring, so that’s great news. Thank you, Geoffrey. And Geoffrey will be available to all in due course to chat about everything that he’s experienced here…
“Yuong Ha, our chief economist, has chosen to go into a far more challenging role. What are you going to be doing?”
Ha, who was sitting next to Orr, responded, “Coaching my son’s cricket team, taking a break.”
Orr then said, “And meanwhile we are well versed in attracting and retaining very very high-quality talent and staff and I’m very proud to have our deputy governor-anointed beside me here, Christian Hawkesby. I can leave the room if you want to talk to him about the culture.”
Orr answered a question about staffing from a journalist on Wednesday in a similar tone (see video above).
Asked whether he was committed to being at the helm of the bank during the entirety of this unusual period, Orr responded, “I can answer for myself - I have a continued term. But I can’t tell you when this period of uncertainty finishes, so I’m not sure how to fully answer that question.”
He said the “global search” for staff was “well advanced”.
Annual staff turnover at the RBNZ sits at 13.5% - only just above the 20-year average of 13.0%. It was 19.3% in 2018 (the year leadership changed), 16.5% in 2019, and 11.4% in 2020.
The Bank has increased its staffing levels from 274 full time equivalents in 2019, to 349 in 2020, and 411 in 2021.
Accordingly, the average length of time RBNZ employees have been at the bank has been falling. At 5.2 years, it’s below the 20-year average of 7.9 years.
For more on the policy and staffing changes underway at the RBNZ, see this opinion piece.
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