The Earthquake Commission says paying some of its assessors a week's leave will ultimately save money.
The EQC says it is on track to complete all 164,000 post-February assessments of buildings in Canterbury by Christmas, allowing 150 people to finish work a fortnight early.
Customer services general manager Bruce Emson says a commitment was made to carry out all building assessment by then and they are ahead of schedule.
He says they can no longer justify keeping all 500 field personnel on until the end of the year, so about 150 people will finish work a fortnight early, with seven days pay in lieu of notice.
