MEMO
DATE
6 October 2022
TO
Immigration Leadership Team
PREPARED BY
Jon Sowden, Principal Business Advisor
APPROVED BY Catriona Robinson, Associate Deputy Secretary – Immigration
SUBJECT
COVID 19 RESPONSE AWARD FOR INZ STAFF
PURPOSE
This memo seeks your agreement of selection criteria for INZ staff to be recognized with the
Covid 19 Response Award
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that you:
a)
Note the implications of this paper, including the explicit acknowledgement that staff
who ‘only’ worked hard in unusual and stressful circumstances will not be recognised
through this award.
Noted
b)
Agree that Organisational Awards are will not be requested for any INZ team
Agreed/Discuss
c)
Agree that the dress distinction will not be requested for any staff
Agreed/Discuss
d)
Agree to the proposed INZ criteria, which apply only to
i.
border staff throughout the qualifying period,
ii.
Office staff during the period 26 Mar – 13 May 2020 (lockdowns 1 and 2),
iii.
staff that assisted NZ Police during the period 26 Mar – 13 May 2020
(lockdowns 1 and 2), and
iv.
staff who were required to work in the office on border exceptions during the
Level 3 and 4 lockdowns
Agreed/Discuss
e)
Approve the proposed INZ criteria and the collation of names of those to be awarded
Approved/Discuss
____________________________________
____________________________________
Catriona Robinson
Alison McDonald
Associate Deputy Secretary – Immigration
Deputy Secretary Immigration
6 October 2022
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BACKGROUND
1. In March 2022 the PM announced an award to recognise people who were on the frontline
of protecting New Zealand during the Covid-19 pandemic.1 The form of the recognition is a
lapel pin (Annex 3), along with a hardcopy and/or virtual certificate.
2. DPMC have contacted INZ in order to initiate recognition of our people who went above
and beyond over the period 26 Mar 2020 – 27 Feb 2022. DPMC have requested a list of INZ
staff who worked in INZ roles – that is not those seconded to MIQ or another agency - at
the border, at personal risk, and contributed to the “keep it out” pillar of the national
elimination strategy.
GUIDANCE FROM DPMC ON ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
3. The criteria set by DPMC for this award are guidelines, with the expectation that agencies
will develop their own criteria relevant to their specific context. That said, DPMC’s intent is
that the recognition is for people “doing their regular role in irregular circumstances” at
personal risk, and “100% focussed on Covid, and central to the success of the ‘keep it out’
pillar” of NZ’s Covid response strategy, with an obvious focus on people working on or at
the border.
4.
DPMC understand that there are many, many people who continued their regular role in
trying circumstances during 2020 and 2021 – practically everyone in NZ, really, in one way
or another – and acknowledge that focus on the border will exclude people. DPMC are
conscious that criteria will be challenging to apply without some people feeling left out.
The main purpose of this award is to recognise the frontline workforce, those who put
themselves and their family at risk when no vaccines were available and the provision of
effective treatment was poorly understood, and a key guideline is that the award be
presented to individuals and organisations who contributed to the COVID response in a
“
sustained and
significant way”.
5. The overall qualifying period is 26 Mar 2020 – 27 Feb 2022. The work to be recognised
undertaken must have occurred during this period.
6. MIQ were naturally the first agency approached for this recognition, and the criteria they
developed are attached at Annex 2. These were considered when developing the proposed
criteria for INZ below.
PROPOSED INZ CRITERIA FOR RECOGNITION
7. Applying the DPMC guidance and the MIQ criteria in the INZ context suggests the following
criteria be established for INZ:
MUST HAVE BEEN
1) In a role(s) during the qualifying period 26 Mar 2020 – 27 Feb 2022
1 New award recognises MIQ staff | Beehive.govt.nz
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-award-recognises-miq-staff
AND
2) In role(s) for greater than 30 cumulative days
AND
EITHER
3a) Working at border during qualifying period
AND/OR
3b) In role(s) that required working in an INZ office during level 3
or 4 lockdowns
8. The various lockdowns referred to in these criteria are listed in Annex 1.
9. It is assessed that these criteria will extend recognition to the following cohorts:
a. Staff working at the border at Auckland and Christchurch airports throughout the
qualifying period,
b. Staff who developed the mechanisms and instruments for closing the border
during the first lockdown and were required to work in the office in proximity
people who were not part of their bubble. It is anticipated that this cohort will
primarily be Operational Policy, although it may include some Business Partners
c. Staff who assisted NZ Police track down MIQ averters during lockdowns #1 and #2.
It is anticipated that this cohort will primarily be from Verification.
d. staff who due to the nature of their work were required to work in the office
during the various level 3 and 4 lockdowns. It is anticipated that this cohort will
primarily be from border exceptions.
ORGANISATIONAL RECOGNITION
10. The organisational award recognises that teams and organisations may warrant
recognition due to their collective effort. DPMC scope for this includes community groups,
iwi partners and volunteer services who were key supports during the Covid-19
Response. Four main areas would be recognised: food security, housing/shelter needs,
family harm, and mental health. The organisational award is not intended to recognise
teams or groupings within govt agencies that supported the COVID response. MBIE or INZ
may choose to set up our own ways of recognising this work.
11. Therefore it is not proposed that any INZ offices or teams be recognised with an
organisational award.
THE COVID 19 RECOGNITION AWARD
12. Attached at Annex 3 is the design for the award, which utilises a recognisable UAC colour
scheme and design style. This includes the design for a dress distinction (the horizontal
rectangle) as well as lapel pin (the vertical lozenge).
13. The dress distinction is intended for the traditional uniformed services such as NZ Police
and NZDF. AvSec have declined to request the dress distinction for their staff despite the
uniform they wear.
14. Therefore it is not proposed that any INZ staff will receive the dress distinciton.
15. If you wish to request the dress distinction for INZ people who wear a uniform, a
discussion with DPMC will be required, so early indication if that is something you want to
explore will be required.
IDENTIFICATION OF INDIVIDUALS FOR RECOGNITION
16. The primary method for identifying individuals in through collective memory. HR records
are not sufficiently granular to identify who worked from home versus in the office, nor for
how long in those respective locations. Therefore HOOs and NMs of the targeted areas
(Border, OpPol, Verification, Exemptions) will be requested to create lists of individuals for
nomination.
17. A secondary method for identifying and/or confirming individuals is via the letters
provided during the first lockdown for presentation to police when stopped to show we
were allowed to be out of the house for essential work purposes. Associate Dep Sec signed
all these letters.
18. INZ is responsible for identifying both staff who are currently employed by INZ, but also
those who worked for INZ during the qualifying period but have since moved on.
Specifically:
a. Staff that have changed role/employer – contact them through either personal
contacts or forwarding addresses.
b. Staff who have passed away – Their award can be presented to the family on their
behalf.
19. In addition, MIQ are establishing a ‘pull’ system where previous MBIE employees and
external partners (such as staff at the MIQ facilities) can apply and register themselves or
their organisation. INZ will be able to utilize this channel to recognize former staff who can
no longer be contacted, although it will require validation that the applicants meet INZ
criteria.
TIMELINE
20. Recognition is always more meaningful when it occurs temporally close to the thing being
recognised. For the first tranche of awards, names need to be with DPMC by Oct 8, but
there will be further drops, approximately monthly, till February 2023. The project overall
is shutting down in the first quarter of 2023, so the last chance to provide names and
recognise people is in January 2023. INZ is not required to provide a single master list of
names – sequential drops over the coming months is acceptable, and can be used to
ensure that individuals initially overlooked are included in subsequent lists.
Annex 1: Lockdowns during Covid 19 Recognition qualifying period
Annex 2: COVID19 Response Award MIQ Eligibility
Annex 3: COVID19 Response Award design
