Why this is important
Toitū Te Whenua is committed to ensuring we have a diverse and inclusive organisation. Kia Toipoto outlines the government’s comprehensive set of actions to help close gender, Māori, Pacific and ethnic pay gaps in the Public Service.
Kia Toipoto – Closing Gender, Māori, Pacific and Ethnic Pay Gaps
Toitū Te Whenua Pay Gaps Action Plan is complemented by the other work we do in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space. This includes our Papa Pounamu plan which supports us to be an inclusive organisation.
In April 2023, we published our Kia Toipoto Action Plan - Increasing Our Gender and Ethnic Representation. This plan supports us to build on the progress we made through incorporating specific actions to address the workplace drivers of gender, Māori, Pacific, Asian and other ethnic pay gaps.
Increasing gender and ethnic representation
Kia Toipoto 2023/24
In recent years we have approached Papa Pounamu and Kia Toipoto as separate, but related work programmes. From 2024 onwards we will combine our diversity, equity, and inclusion policy, programmes, and action plans, including Papa Pounamu and Kia Toipoto under one diversity, equity, and inclusion approach, using the name Manaaki Tangata, Care for the people.
Recent guidance around combining diversity, equity, and inclusion from Te Kawa Mataaho has provided direction and set expectations around a combined roadmap and action plan. The benefit of combining all our diversity, equity, and inclusion work under Manaaki Tangata includes:
- Combining under one name that represents all our diversity, equity, and inclusion intentions.
- Providing a single view of diversity, equity, and inclusion across Toitū Te Whenua from policy to action.
- Refreshing and re-engaging our people in Manaaki Tangata to drive wider organisational awareness and buy in.
- Creating a centralised place on Whatukura for all Manaaki Tangata content, and knowledge.
- Combining of our tracking and reporting on Manaaki Tangata internally and externally.
- Reducing duplication and inefficiencies across diversity, equity, and inclusion actions and initiatives.
- Strengthening our ability to use our data and insights to tell our diversity, equity, and inclusion story and show progress and impact.
Our work under Manaaki Tangata will continue to support us to be an inclusive organisation and help to reduce our pay gaps. We are committed to working with our employee led networks, Public Service Association delegates and other internal stakeholders in the design of our Manaaki Tangata Road Map and plan, to be published by 15 November 2024.
While we develop our Manaaki Tangata Road map, we are committed to continuing the work and carrying on initiatives that have been put in place over recent years, ensuring we continue to drive a diverse and inclusive organisation.
2022/2023 Pay Gaps Action Plan
Te Pono - Transparency
- Agencies and entities publish annual action plans based on gender and ethnicity data and union/employee feedback.
- Agencies and entities ensure easy access to HR and remuneration policies, including salary bands.
We have progressed the outcomes by:
- Having all our policies, available on our intranet.
- Publishing a diversity dashboard on our intranet that shows our workforce diversity, including gender, ethnicity, employment types, location, and flexible working patterns.
- Including pay bands/ appointment ranges as part of all recruitment advertising.
- Providing remuneration information and resources including advice from Strategic Pay to be available during our organisational change process.
Ngā Hua Tōkeke mō te Utu - Equitable pay outcomes
Kia Toipoto outcome:
- By the end of April 2023 entities ensure that starting salaries and salaries for the same or similar roles are not influenced by bias.
- Agencies monitor starting salaries and salaries for the same or similar roles to ensure gender and ethnic pay gaps do not reopen.
- Pay equity processes are used to address claims and reduce the impact of occupational segregation.
We have progressed the outcomes by:
- Using an independent gender natural market-based evaluation tool to size our jobs.
- Reviewing appointment salaries based on skills and experience, and relativities against like-for-like jobs, including a gender and ethnic check for equity.
- Addressing anomalies during an appointment process and remedying inequity issues if they arise.
- Completing annual pay equity reviews, including checks on gender and ethnicity.
- Removing market adjusted pay band ranges from our remuneration framework to support more equitable pay outcomes across occupations.
Te whai kanohi i ngā taumata katoa - Leadership and representation
Kia Toipoto outcome:
- By April 2023 agencies/entities have plans and targets to improve gender and ethnic representation in their workforce and leadership.
- By the end of 2024 the public service workforce and leadership are substantially more representative of society.
We have progressed the outcomes by:
- Publishing our Increasing gender and ethnic representation action plan and continue to work towards the agreed actions.
- Updating our existing leadership development programme to include an inclusive leadership lens that considers the value of cultural skills in work.
Te Whakawhanaketanga i te Aramahi - Effective career and leadership development
Kia Toipoto outcome:
- By mid-2023 agencies/entities have career pathways and equitable progression opportunities that support women, Māori, Pacific and ethnic employees to achieve their career aspirations.
We have progressed this outcome by:
- Completing a review of our Talent Management process, made recommendations to implement a phased approach to build organisational Talent Management capability. We are currently running a Talent Management pilot through till January 2024. Once completed we intend on refining our approach using the lessons learnt during the pilot and consider wider implementation across Toitū Te Whenua.
- Reviewing our performance and development process and made recommendations to refresh the performance and development plan, to better support our people with their performance, development, and progression goals. This includes working with leaders to understand how to get the best from our development and progression conversations for our Māori, Pacific and ethnic employees.
Te whakakore i te katoa o ngā momo whakatoihara, haukume anō hoki - Eliminating all forms of bias and discrimination
Kia Toipoto outcomes:
- By the end of 2023 entities have remuneration and HR systems, policies and practices designed to remove all forms of bias and discrimination.
- Agencies embed and monitor the impact of bias-free HR and remuneration policies and practices.
- Agencies/entities ensure leaders and employees learn about and demonstrate cultural competence.
We have progressed the outcomes by:
- Providing mandatory unconscious bias training for all new employees. From 1 July 2022 – 30 June 2023, 100% of all our new employees had completed this learning.
- Providing access for leaders to an Inclusive Leadership e-learning module targeted to help leaders create and support a more diverse and inclusive workplace.
- Providing access for our employees to a suite of cultural competence resources on Whatukura which include:
- Understanding the importance of identity
- Understanding the different kinds of diversity
- Common forms of unconscious bias
- Causes and impact of unconscious bias
- Misbehaviours and unconscious bias
- Privilege, prejudice, discrimination, and unconscious bias
- What can we do as individuals about unconscious bias
- Ensuring our tier 1 - 3 leaders have completed the Wall Walk which covers the significance of the Māori - Crown relationship.
- Reviewing our People policies through applying Manaaki Tangata (our diversity and inclusion policy) principles to remove all forms of bias or discrimination.
- Continuing to focus on our leaders having the skills and knowledge to lead a diverse workforce and build an inclusive organisation. To support this, we are currently reviewing our diversity, equity, and inclusion learning that forms part of our leadership fundamentals programme. We are looking at new ways to build leadership capability in valuing diversity and fostering inclusivity through understanding their responsibilities and obligations to lead, shape, and support diversity and inclusion within their team and across Toitū Te Whenua.
Te Taunoa o te Mahi Pīngore - Flexible-work-by-default
Kia Toipoto outcome:
- By the end of 2024 agencies and entities offer equitable access to flexible-by-default working and ensure it does not undermine career progression or pay.
We have progressed this outcome by:
- Refreshing our Flexible Work Policy, this included utilising our Whānau Pāmamao | Remote Workers Network to feed into and provide their unique feedback and perspective on the Flexible Work Policy update.
- Working with our Whānau Pāmamao | Remote Workers Network to provide additional advice on initiatives that support flexible working arrangements.
- Providing resources and guidance around flexible working for our leaders and people.
- Understanding what leaders needed to support them to best meet the needs of their team members and the business, so any flexible working arrangement is mutually beneficial.
2022/2023 Reporting
About our data:
- The data used in the below reporting is from our annual submission to Te Kawa Mataaho and follows their guidance around current employees as of 30 June 2023. Our reporting is based on permanent full-time equivalent and does not include contractors.
- We calculate pay gaps and representation for ethnicity using multi-ethnic identification data collected through our HR system. For example, someone identifying as Māori and Pacific Peoples would be counted in the pay gap calculation for both groups.
- The acronym MELAA refers to Middle Eastern/Latin American/African.
- The European ethnic group is predominately made up of NZ European / Pākehā employees, therefore we are no longer reporting on this sub-group separately.
- Gender and disability are self-identified through our HR system. Our people can enter a range of details relating to disability status, and we have nonbinary gender options. Historically we have reported on disability pay gaps, but after diving deeper into our data we have decided against this for now. Our disability data is not comprehensive enough to enable accurate reporting without potentially identifying those who self-report. We do not have enough data to confidently measure pay gaps for people who have identified disabilities.
- We do not have enough data to confidently measure pay gaps for people who do not identify as male or female.
- Our data tells us that representation continues to be a key driver of our gender and ethnic pay gaps. To understand if our internal systems, processes, and practices are contributing to this, we also engaged with a wide range of representatives across our network groups and the Public Service Association. The insights from this engagement have formed the basis of our action plan.
The actions in our 2022/23 Pay Gaps Action Plan are designed to build an inclusive culture free from bias for all people while we work towards producing further insights through our new Manaaki Tangata Road map.
Equitable pay outcomes
We saw an increase of 1.4% the 2022/23 financial year (see Table 1). We continue to face, skill shortages which has meant high demand drove up pay rates for some specialist skills, particularly in IT. This continues to affect our Modernising Landonline programme, where securing new staff and retaining key talent in a male-dominated area undid some of our previous achievements.
| Year | Public Sector | Toitū Te Whenua |
|---|---|---|
| Jun-08 | 15.4% | 18.3% |
| Jun-09 | 15.4% | 15.6% |
| Jun-10 | 14.4% | 13.7% |
| Jun-11 | 14.3% | 14.1% |
| Jun-12 | 13.7% | 16.4% |
| Jun-13 | 14.2% | 16.6% |
| Jun-14 | 14.1% | 16.1% |
| Jun-15 | 14.0% | 16.3% |
| Jun-16 | 13.5% | 15.2% |
| Jun-17 | 12.5% | 11.9% |
| Jun-18 | 12.2% | 9.5% |
| Jun-19 | 10.5% | 9.8% |
| Jun-20 | 9.6% | 9.6% |
| Jun-21 | 8.6% | 9.5% |
| Jun-22 | 7.7% | 10.7% |
| Jun-23 | 7.1% | 12.1% |
Toitū Te Whenua has reduced its ethnic pay gaps for Asian, Māori, Pacific Peoples, and Middle Eastern/Latin American/African (MELAA) employees in the last financial year. The Māori pay gap is now negative, meaning that Māori employees earn more than the average. The Pacific Peoples pay gap is still the highest at 13.9%.
| Pay Gap | Jun-21 | Jun-22 | Jun-23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asian | 10.6% | 10.0% | 9.6% |
| Gender | 9.5% | 10.7% | 12.1% |
| Māori | 5.4% | 1.0% | -0.2% |
| MELAA | 8.7% | 13.7% | 10.4% |
| Pacific Peoples | 17.7% | 18.5% | 13.9% |
Over-representation in lower paid roles continues to be a key driver of our gender and ethnic pay gaps (see Tables 3 to 4).
| Pay band | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | 81.8% | 18.2% |
| 11 | 73.9% | 26.1% |
| 13 | 74.5% | 25.5% |
| F0 | 55.3% | 44.7% |
| 15 | 52.6% | 46.4% |
| 16 | - | - |
| 17 | 52.6% | 47.4% |
| 19 | 48.8% | 50.7% |
| 21 | 38.8% | 61.3% |
| 23.2 | 47.8% | 52.2% |
| 23.1 | 28.6% | 71.4% |
| Pay band | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | 87.5% | 12.5% |
| 11 | 68.4% | 26.3% |
| 13 | 70.4% | 29.6% |
| F0 | 57.9% | 41.4% |
| 15 | 53.3% | 45.3% |
| 16 | - | - |
| 17 | 51.7% | 48.3% |
| 19 | 45.7% | 53.8% |
| 21 | 41.1% | 58.9% |
| 23.2 | 46.2% | 53.8% |
| 23.1 | 31.6% | 68.4% |
| Pay band | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | - | - |
| 11 | 67.5% | 32.5% |
| 13 | 68.2% | 31.8% |
| F0 | 62.0% | 37.3% |
| 15 | 52.6% | 44.3% |
| 16 | 19.2% | 80.8% |
| 17 | 55.1% | 44.9% |
| 19 | 44.4% | 55.6% |
| 21 | 44.3% | 55.7% |
| 23.2 | 44.2% | 55.8% |
| 23.1 | 29.1% | 70.9% |
| Pay band | Asian | Māori | Pacific Peoples | MELAA | NZ European | European |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 25.0% | 18.8% | 12.5% | - | 31.3% | 6.3% |
| 11 | 5.3% | 10.5% | 5.3% | - | 73.7% | 5.3% |
| 13 | 18.5% | 7.4% | 5.6% | 1.9% | 63.0% | 3.7% |
| F0 | 8.6% | 8.6% | 5.3% | 1.3% | 74.3% | 4.6% |
| 15 | 14.7% | 10.7% | 6.7% | 2.7% | 60.0% | 10.7% |
| 16 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 17 | 14.5% | 11.0% | 2.1% | 1.4% | 64.1% | 9.7% |
| 19 | 10.7% | 3.0% | 2.5% | 1.5% | 70.6% | 12.2% |
| 21 | 9.0% | 6.7% | 1.1% | - | 60.0% | 18.0% |
| 23.2 | - | 3.8% | 3.8% | - | 84.6% | - |
| 23.1 | - | 5.3% | - | - | 73.7% | 21.1% |
We see some variability at the group level, both in representation and pay gaps, suggesting that occupational segregation is still a driver of our pay gaps (see Tables 5 and 6).
Increasing leadership and representation
Toitū Te Whenua has gender balance across its people leader cohort, but needs to improve its ethnic representation, especially for Asian and Middle Eastern/Latin American/African (MELAA) employees.
While our gender balance is representative of society, more work is needed to improve our ethnic representation across our workforce (see Table 8).