The Ministry of Justice is falling below state sector benchmarks on every score, according to a survey of its own staff.
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
The 2016 Working for Justice survey asked staff how they believed the ministry was doing in a range of areas including job satisfaction, delivering to customers, and being an inspiring place to work.
The results showed the ministry scored below the state sector benchmark on every aspect.
Staff scores put the Ministry behind the rest of the state sector by between nine and 24 percent.
Labour justice spokesperson Jacinda Ardern said that was likely to be a reflection of the difficulty staff were having providing a good service.
"That really should be worrying for the Minister [of Justice] because it's not a little bit below; on some questions they're 20 percent below other departments."
But the survey results were an improvement from the 2015 survey.
Secretary of Justice Andrew Bridgman said the point of asking the questions was to find out how staff felt about their sector.
"You may not always like the answers but at least you can find out where they're at and what you can do about it," he said.
"We think we're on a trajectory of improvement."
The survey showed staff felt engaged with the purpose of their job and the team they worked in, he said.
Mr Bridgman said the problem was a "lack of affinity" for the Ministry as a whole, which was a challenge with more than 3300 staff working in 100 offices nationwide.
