One of the ways our staff have the chance to grow their skills and try out different opportunities is through secondments. Secondments are an opportunity for staff to step into a different role for a specific time period, such as six months or a year. Sometimes, depending on the organisation’s needs, seconded staff may move into the role permanently, or they may return to their substantive (usual) positions.

We talked to one of our Probation Officers who has had the opportunity to try out a few different secondments, to hear her experience and advice.

Which secondments have you done (or are about to do)? What did the seconded roles involve?

Since joining Corrections, I’ve had secondments as a Bail Support Officer, Service Manager, and a Senior Practice Adviser (my current secondment). My substantive role is as a probation officer.

My first secondment as Bail Support Officer was an interesting one. Bail Support Services fills an area of need for those progressing through the justice sector. In the community, a Bail Support Officer can assist an individual with gaining suitable accommodation, accessing programmes and interventions and update the Court on their progress. In the custodial environment, a Bail Support Officer can assist individuals with electronically monitored bail, accessing legal aid, or being canvassed for residential treatment. The purpose of a Bail Support Officer is to walk alongside those in the justice system prior to their sentencing, to minimise Court delays, achieve better sentencing outcomes.

In 2022, I was fortunate enough to complete a short ‘Acting Up’ opportunity as a Service Manager. As it was for only a week it did not quite reach the threshold for being a secondment, but it gave me the opportunity to peak behind the curtain of management and decide if it was something I wanted to pursue.

On my return from maternity leave I applied for and was selected to complete a seven-week secondment as a Service Manager in a different region. Due to the length of time, I was fully immersed into the role. Not only was I co-managing approximately 20 staff, but I was also actively involved in the daily operations and management of people on community-based sentences/orders.

Most recently, I was the successful applicant of a six-month secondment into the Case Management, Probation & Bail Support Practice Team, as a Senior Practice Adviser. The team I work in are responsible for the development, maintenance and continuous improvement of all policies, procedures and frameworks relating to these frontline groups. Senior Practice Advisors support the development and provision of advice to operational and practice leadership teams to ensure that practice in the field is effective, consistent, and supports Case Managers, Probation Officers, and Bail Support Officers to focus on the highest value mahi that makes the most difference.

How did the opportunity to do a secondment come up and why did you take up the opportunity to do one?

Secondment opportunities can be advertised via our internal vacancies page, but can also be arranged directly by managers. At the time of applying for the Bail Support Officer secondment, I had been looking for something to stretch my knowledge within Corrections and because I enjoy variety, I chose to explore secondment opportunities.

When it came to applying for Service Manager secondments, I saw these as the natural progression from my Probation Officer position and the pathway forward in my career development.

The benefit of applying for secondments is that they are temporary and allow you to try a different role without formally resigning from your original position. It is similar to how Corrections invites new applicants to participate in a scope day where you get to spend a day in the role you are applying for. This way you develop a better understanding of what the role includes and whether you want to pursue it further.

Thinking about your previous secondments, what did you learn from them? Did you gain any new skills?

Whenever I undertake a secondment, the roles challenge me in different ways. I always walk away from the experience having learned more about my personal resilience and character. Depending on the type of secondment, I either learn more about the ‘behind the scenes’ mechanics of Corrections or how roles overlap in frontline. The main benefit to secondments is they expand your knowledge and make you a better practitioner. The skills you gain in one role are often transferrable to another. The more I immerse myself into a role, the more skills I get to add to my kete.

Were your seconded roles very different to your substantive role? What were some of the differences or similarities?

Seconded roles on frontline have similarities where you tend to directly work with the people we manage and their whānau, while management or ‘back end’ roles do not.

As a Probation Officer and a Bail Support Officer, I had to constantly juggle safety assessments for the community against the wellbeing of the individual. You are a leader but in a different way than a Service Manager and the use of whanaungatanga is displayed differently. But the underlining goal of connectedness is the same.

Corrections’ five core values translate across all roles. However, my focus has been to be a kaitiaki for the staff I have managed, as well as for the people I have managed in our system. The main difference in the roles is how involved you are with an individual in our care directly and how impactful you can be in supporting them to make positive choices. For a lot of people we work with, having one staff member that can interact positively with them can be pivotal for their oranga and how they see themselves.

Would you recommend doing a secondment if an opportunity becomes available? Why/why not?

I would absolutely recommend applying for secondment opportunities if you can. It is great for exposure, networking and developing your understanding of the different areas within Corrections. Sometimes secondments are utilised to give a practitioner a break from their substantive role and allow them to return with new enthusiasm. While other times secondments are your opportunity to upskill and get your foot in the door to other parts of Corrections when a permanent position is available.