About Employment Services
International evidence suggests there is a strong link between employment and reduced rates of re-offending. Being employed provides structure and a stable income for individuals and their whanau, whilst stability and quality of employment, along with job satisfaction, help to strengthen those links.
Case Managers and Probation Officers meet with individuals regularly, providing support during their sentence to address the cause of their offending. In addition, the people we manage are provided with rehabilitation programmes, education and job training opportunities that aim to break the cycle of re-offending.
Corrections Employment Services
The Employment Services team (EST) provide a range of employment programmes and related initiatives to enhance employment and training opportunities for people with criminal convictions. Employment raises a person’s self-esteem, confidence and resilience that helps them lead positive lives.
Employment Services fit in with the heart of Hokai Rangi, the Department of Corrections overarching strategy and the concept of Oranga, or wellbeing of our people, their family, and whanau.
Our Vision
“Te mahi tahi, te hanga whai wāhitanga mahi e pūmau ai ngā rerekētanga”
"Working together, creating employment opportunities that bring about lasting change"
Our Approach
Our Approach to Employment:
- We provide a tailored recruitment service, designed to assist with education, training and job searching for our jobseekers to gain and maintain sustainable employment
- We build awareness and strengthen relationships with Employers and Education/Training providers, seeking sustainable opportunities for our jobseekers
- We collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to deliver a holistic wraparound support service.
Our programmes:
This Way for Work (ETC Service)
The ‘This Way for Work’ (TWFW) programme or ETC service as it is most commonly called, is the Department’s own recruitment service which focuses specifically on supporting people with criminal convictions into sustainable employment. This dedicated service is available nationwide to people post release, as well as those on probation or serving a community sentence.
Supporting Offenders into Employment
Supporting Offenders into Employment (SOE) is a partnership service between the Department of Corrections and the Ministry for Social Development. The SOE service provides wraparound, holistic support, connecting people with services to improve their health, whānau relationships, pro-social networks, housing sustainability, education, training, and employment.
Working with Iwi
Developing iwi partnerships is a key focus of our Hōkai Rangi strategy and provides crucial support in our communities to improve Māori wellbeing. By focusing collectively on an individual’s reintegration and having whānau as the centre of the system, people will feel connected, supported, and empowered to realise their full potential.
In Hawke’s Bay we have a Memorandum of Understanding signed with New Zealand’s third largest Iwi, Ngāti Kahungunu. The relationship framework includes a kaupapa Māori-based interventions pathway with the development of new programmes and initiatives, such as transitional housing, training, and employment.
Release to Work
The Release to Work (RtW) programme provides people in prison who are near release the opportunity to develop or re-establish work skills and habits necessary for stable employment by temporarily releasing them during the day to work. People in the RtW programme are assessed by an advisory panel and are monitored with the use of GPS ankle bracelets where possible. The Department works with employers to design an appropriate monitoring system where GPS coverage is not available.
The Departments’ RtW brokers and Employment and Training Consultants (ETCs) work closely together to increase employment opportunities that support long-term sustainable employment on release.
Want to know more?
If you're an employer find out how we can help you with your recruitment needs.
If you're serving a sentence in the community and are a Jobseeker find out how we can help you find a job.
If you or someone you know is serving a sentence in prison and is soon to be released find out how we can help them get a job on release.