October 6, 2016
Province Announces Streamlining of Senior Administrative Structures
The Manitoba government will be streamlining senior management levels within core government, another step in the ongoing commitment to providing more responsive and increasingly effective administrative structure focused on outcomes and results, Finance Minister Cameron Friesen today announced, adding this step follows a comprehensive internal analysis completed by government and subsequently validated by a separate external review.
“Immediately following the election, our new government undertook a complete reorganization of departments which resulted in a one-third reduction in the size of cabinet, to 12 from 18,” said Friesen. “The next step necessarily involved a review of the senior management levels within government, which have grown by nearly 33 per cent since 2005. This dramatic growth rate, nearly four times the rate of overall staff growth within the civil service, has not improved Manitoba’s performance results and is simply not sustainable given the significant challenges associated with our province’s fiscal situation.”
All government departments will be part of this initiative, which looks at the overall management of government. A total streamlining of 112 management positions will occur through attrition, retirements and necessary reductions, the majority of which will occur over a two-phased implementation schedule effective March 31, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2017, the minister noted.
“Layers of administration and top-heavy structures do not create better value or performance, rather they complicate effective decision-making and restrict the free flow of ideas from critical front-line service providers,” added Friesen. “Our government has inherited significant fiscal challenges and we have committed to Manitobans that our focus will remain on fixing the province’s finances, restoring our services and repairing our economy.”
Once fully implemented, the initiative announced today is expected to result in an estimated annual savings to government of at least $10 million, the minister said.
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