AgResearch jobs go

Andrew McSweeney.
Andrew McSweeney.
AgResearch has confirmed three staff at its Dunedin facility have been made redundant and more redundancies are possible.

The Otago Daily Times  understands the  redundancies were taken up by support staff and not scientists.

AgResearch previously said scientists affected by restructuring could be asked to move from Invermay as late as 2019.The staff opted to take redundancy rather than move from Dunedin as part of AgResearch’s long-delayed restructuring.

AgResearch shared services director Andrew McSweeney acknowledged it was possible more staff could opt for redundancy when their roles were moved to Lincoln or Palmerston North.

"Whether there are more will depend on the choices made by staff in those roles shifting from Invermay," Mr McSweeney said.

Asked if the organisation had any indication of how many staff would refuse to move, he said: "This is something the affected staff will need to work through with support from AgResearch, and according to the timeframes for each of the roles.

"We would always like to retain our staff in the roles that are being relocated, but we appreciate there are various reasons why this may not work for them.

"There is always staff turnover in any organisation, and we are confident we will be able to recruit quality people where there are roles to be filled."

The three staff who took redundancy were offered help moving to "new opportunities".

"It won’t always be easy to replace specific experience and skills built up over time, but I’m very confident that AgResearch’s reputation for world-leading science will continue to attract quality people, and the world-class new facilities such as those at Lincoln will also be a real drawcard for recruitment."

The confirmation comes after hopes to save jobs at Invermay were dealt a blow when the Government announced on Thursday it was providing $85million in funding towards Lincoln University’s part in a facility to be shared with AgResearch.

AgResearch’s downsizing of Invermay is expected to leave 30 jobs remaining at the facility by the time restructuring is complete.

AgResearch said on Thursday four roles had already been shifted from Invermay as part of restructuring.

At present there are 69 staff at Invermay.

vaughan.elder@odt.co.nz

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