NZSA CEO’s May Report

In this update, NZSA CEO Gary Morrison talks NZ Security Awards online, wage subsidy audit, good practice guideline, virtual reality CoA training platform, work broker programme, and International Security Officers’ Day (24/7).

It is amazing how our world can change so dramatically and within such a short time span!

The Covid-19 crisis continues to have a major and long-lasting effect on almost every aspect of our personal and professional lives. People and businesses are hurting, and even though security providers are recognised as an essential service, our members have not been immune to the impacts and many security providers have experienced a significant downturn in business and profitability.

Gary Morrison NZSA CEO

The focus for the NZSA during this time has been to support our members as far as possible, be it through working with government to ensure the best possible outcomes for our members, providing timely and effective communications and advice, or maintaining and establishing member benefit programmes that provide necessary support and value.

The good news for the security industry is that our businesses are in a far stronger position than many other industry sectors and we are well positioned to maximise business opportunities as the government works to kick-start the economy for the remainder of this year and years ahead.

It is also apparent that many of our members have taken the opportunity to review and tweak their way of doing business and how they can operate more smartly and effectively.

For our training providers this will see the move to greater online delivery accessibility and capability and for the NZSA, a more permanent shift to working remotely and without the need for traditional office accommodation. These changes can only be viewed positively and will assist the industry going forward.

We appreciate that we have issued a significant number of member communications and updates over the last two months but hopefully this newsletter will provide a more general update on our activity and issues affecting our members.

Business continuity support for NZSA members As conveyed within earlier updates, the NZSA has formalised an agreement with leading financial advisors Smetric to provide Cash flow Management and Business Support services to its members free of charge under a government support package for business continuity.

Smetric will provide funded advice that covers: • Actions to stabilise cash flow during lockdown and in following months • Scenario planning for the business post lockdown and developing strategies • Review of customer base to ensure customer retention • Review operational and capacity requirements post lockdown

For more information please refer to the Smetric website or contact Warwick Russell on warwick@ smetric.co.nz.

Wage subsidy audit Our Covid-19 survey [refer to Covid-19 survey article in this issue of NZSM] indicates that approximately 80 percent of members accessed the Government Wage Subsidy payment scheme.

Whilst the survey responses confirm that most members have suffered a significant drop in their turnover consistent with the government criteria for accessing the subsidy payments, there have been anecdotal claims that several providers may in fact struggle to

meet the claim threshold of 30% of turnover.

We remind members that the MSD is conducting data matching between various government agencies (including IRD GST returns) and will be conducting audits where apparent anomalies are identified.

Where it is found that an employer has not passed on the subsidy in its entirety there is the potential for criminal prosecutions under the Crimes Act 1961.

If any employer believes they may have over claimed, they must contact MSD in the first instance to discuss reimbursement of the balance.

NZ Security Awards event Unfortunately, we must advise that our annual Awards dinner scheduled for the Christchurch Town Hall on 21st August has been cancelled. However, the awards will continue and with the winners announced via a live-streamed event on the evening of Friday 7th August.

We have retained Te Radar as our MC and have some great entertainment and announcements planned to ensure that this remains a night to remember!

We will be providing more detail shortly, including the award categories and nomination process, but in the interim we request that you lock in the evening of Friday 7th August in your calendars and start giving thought to worthy nominees within your respective organisations or organisations that you interact with.

NZSA Integrity “Speak Up” Line member benefit Recent events have caused a slight delay in the launch of the Intergrity “Speak Up” Line member benefit programme, however we are just finalising our printed materials and will be ready to distribute the member packs shortly.

Whilst any decision on implementing the programme sits with our members, we remind them that the service is free to all participating NZSA members and provides access to a totally

confidential service where staff can report issues such as bullying, sexual harassment, poor employment conditions, illegal practices such as theft or drug dealing and other matters of concern that may be occurring in the workplace and not being reported.

The service is particularly valuable where employees may be reluctant to speak up or report matters due to fears that by doing so it may affect their employment or risk further victimisation. It is also important to note that such services meet government procurement requirements around providing “a voice” for staff.

The service is provided by CrimeStoppers who obviously have considerable experience in handling sensitive calls in a confidential manner.

MSD Skills for Industry Work Broker Programme With the onset on Covid-19 and the impact on the ongoing employment of many New Zealanders, our programme with MSD has been expanded to include not just those on the Job Seeker Benefit but also those who have been displaced from other industry sectors and who would in all probability move onto the benefit in the immediate future.

Andrea and Napat have been doing a fantastic job, and this is evidenced by the fact that we have achieved our contract annual placement target of 150 candidates moving into full-time employment two months ahead of target!

We are pleased to advise that MSD will be renewing our contract in July and that we will continue to be able to source work-ready candidates for our registered members.

Good Practice Guideline We have recently received a response from WorkSafe advising that several modifications to the Good Practice Guideline are required before they can provide their endorsement.

The changes are relatively minor and we will be resubmitting the document within the next week with the expectation that we will this time receive the WorkSafe endorsement.

Once we receive approval the document will be recognised as an approved industry guideline and will be able to be accessed from the NZSA, E tū, WorkSafe and PSPLA websites.

Virtual reality training platform As reported in our last newsletter, the virtual reality training platform for delivery of CoA unit standards is an exciting development for the industry. It will utilise leading edge technology to provide a training option that should address existing concerns around access to training, the quality of training materials, inconsistency of training delivery and literacy related difficulties with the current options.

The platform development is being sponsored jointly by NZSA and MSD and will be made available to those industry training providers who wish to utilise the service once we have conducted and complied with user acceptance testing requirements.

Whilst Covid-19 has created some challenges for the development team, we are confident that training delivery on the platform will commence late this year.

International Security Officers’ Day Over recent years there has been significant growth in support for 24th July (24/7) being recognised as International Security Officers’ Day.

We believe that this is particularly poignant given recent events and the tremendous efforts of our security officers as essential service providers.

The NZSA fully supports the initiative and the need to recognise the efforts and contribution of our Security Officers, and we have arranged for the production of celebratory badges, attached to a card, that can be presented and worn by you and your staff.

If you would like to order badges please email us and we will arrange production and delivery. The badges are $2.00 + GST each.

The 24th July will also be the date on which we will announce all finalists for the NZ Security Awards.