Supporting our people to grow and develop is part of our organisational culture - Annual Report 2019 - 2020

Strengthening our people capability and leadership

Our training and development approach aims to deliver an empathetic and effective service experience for our clients that aligns with our key strategic priorities. We have made changes to our learning curriculum so that new staff receive a consistent induction experience and ongoing training.

We developed and delivered specific training to support the COVID-19 response. We made more of our learning available online to support people who may be getting used to working from different locations, such as at home, including remote delivery of programmes such as Mental Health and Suicide Awareness.

In 2019 we developed a framework to support Te Pae Tawhiti and Te Pae Tata to embed a Te Ao Māori perspective throughout our organisation. Our Te Ao Māori Maturity Framework (He Matapihi ki Te Ao Māori) identifies four levels of capability and provides clarity around the knowledge and skills that underpin working in a bicultural way. Our people use the framework as a guide to deepen their knowledge. More than 1,800 people actively participated in Te Ao Māori development this year.

About 430 of our people have completed NZQA qualifications this year, including trials of the new New Zealand Certificate in Case Management (Level 5), and the New Zealand Diploma in Health and Wellbeing (Applied Practice) (Level 5) – Advanced Youth Support. The qualifications programme recognises existing skills and further enhances the capability of our people.

We extended our investment in our people leaders through strengths-based workshops with an in-depth focus on building coaching capabilities. We have modernised our leadership programmes and provided development in areas such as mental health, building a positive workplace (including improving the capability of our people leaders to respond appropriately to bullying and harassment), agile leadership, and systems thinking.

Supporting a diverse and inclusive workplace

Being a diverse and inclusive organisation means recognising and respecting the differences between people while valuing the contribution everyone can make. We want all our people and clients to thrive, be who they are and enhance their wellbeing. It is critical for our success as an organisation that we reflect the people we serve, which means acknowledging and appreciating our own diversity so that we can support our clients’ aspirations.

Our direction is in line with the vision of Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission for diversity and inclusion across the public sector. This year we have focused on addressing the Gender Pay Gap, making workplaces accessible for disabled people, building and supporting employee-led networks, and making information available to enhance the visibility and inclusion of Rainbow groups.

In December 2019 we added a third gender option (Gender Diverse) alongside Male and Female in our client and employee systems and forms. We also made it easier for existing clients to change their gender in the system. We want to provide services that reflect who people are, so they feel included and respected.

We have four strong employee-led networks: a Women’s Network, Pasifika Helava (for Pacific staff), Disabled Network, and proud@MSD [1]. We have released guidance to help new and current networks become established, and we have an Asian Network in development.

Strengthening our cultural competency

Our Māori Capability Framework strengthens our cultural competency. Staff have access to the Te Rito [2] and Kimihia [3] apps to support their learning and awareness of Te Ao Māori.

Our Te Aka Matua programme supports high-performing Māori and Pacific managers to gain a Masters level tertiary qualification, and our Te Aratiatia leadership programme is available for the development of Māori and Pacific staff who demonstrate potential to become effective leaders within MSD.

We held three Māori regional hui this year: in Nelson (November 2019), Auckland and Northland (November 2019), and the Western Hui in Rotoiti (March 2020). The hui explore personal/career development and cultural enrichment, and provide an opportunity for staff to connect with marae life and learn about the associated iwi and marae histories.

Championing equal employment opportunities

We are committed to the principle of equal employment opportunities (EEO) and we value having a diverse workforce to represent our communities better. Our EEO policy promotes equality, diversity and inclusion within a positive work culture based on respect, fairness and valuing individual differences.

For example, we:

base appointments on merit, while recognising the employment aspirations of Māori, ethnic and minority groups, women, and people with disabilities, and ensuring fairness in employment for all people
purposefully recruit people who reflect and understand the diversity of New Zealand and the communities we serve
recognise the aims and aspirations of Māori and the need for greater involvement of Māori within our organisation and across the Public Service
are committed to employing disabled people and collaborating across government to increase the number of disabled people employed in the public sector
focus on the capabilities that underpin an openness to diversity, which applies to how we work with our clients, communities and our own people and within our workplace
work with other agencies to share best EEO practices, policies and procedures.

Leading the way for disabled people

We are committed to delivering on the outcomes outlined in the Accessibility Charter and the Disability Action Plan. We are implementing disability programmes within MSD with guidance from our employee-led Disability Network; for example, we have provided practical tips for people managers which have been incorporated into our manager training programme. Our recruitment partners are using the LEAD Toolkit to support managers in recruiting and employing disabled people.

During recruitment we do not ask candidates to provide information relating to living with a disability – we only ask for this information once they are hired so that we can understand what support the new staff member needs. Our internal training includes a module about disability, and we also provide an intranet-based Accessibility Toolkit to help managers feel confident about employing, supporting and retaining disabled employees.

Balancing family and work obligations

Our policies and practices support employees to balance family and work obligations. These include parental leave provisions, an ex gratia parental leave payment on return to work, flexible working arrangements, preferential re-engagement after childcare, and a range of leave options that support caring responsibilities.

We have signed up to the CareWise programme run by Carers NZ – the first public sector agency to do so – to help carers keep working. Carers include anyone who cares for a friend, family, whānau or aiga member with a disability, health condition, illness or injury who needs help with everyday living, except paid professional carers or foster carers.

We have continued to develop an approach to flexible working to support how we deliver services to New Zealanders. Because of the diverse work we do, flexibility will look different across teams, for individuals and in different roles.

We released guidance for managers and employees in February 2020 to help them understand how flexible work arrangements can be applied.

Reducing our Gender Pay Gap

The Gender Pay Gap (GP Gap) is measured as the difference between the average [4] salary for women and for men.

At 30 June 2019 our Gender Pay Gap was 13.1 percent.
By 30 June 2020 this had improved to 12.2 percent, while the rate for the Public Service as a whole was 10.5 percent.

The primary driver for the GP Gap continues to be the ongoing challenge of having a high proportion of women in lower- and mid-level roles, with fewer progressing into senior and executive management positions.

We have made progress on lifting remuneration at the lower levels of the organisation, where 60 to 70 percent of our employees are women.

Actions taken in 2019/20 to reduce the GP Gap include:

developing a 12-month Gender Pay Gap Action Plan for 2020/21 in conjunction with key stakeholders including unions and our Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, which represents the diverse voices of our people and helps guide our work
creating a flexible work toolkit and guidance to support managers and employees to engage in conversations about flexible work
designing a new performance and remuneration framework for Ministry of Youth Development, National Office and Service Delivery staff.

There appear to be ethnic pay gaps within MSD

Our Māori and Pacific representation is higher than in the overall New Zealand workforce and population. Initial analysis indicates the presence of ethnic pay gaps. We are doing further work to identify and confirm any ethnic-based pay gaps and to determine what action is required to address these.

Distribution statistics

Gender distribution by level of seniority

Executives and senior managers

49.8% female
50.2% male
<0.1% gender diverse
0.0% undeclared

Middle management

65.6% female
34.4% female
<0.01% gender diverse
0.0% undeclared

Other staff

71.1% female
28.6% male
0.2% gender diverse
0.1% undeclared

Diversity statistics by gender – all employees

MSD

70.5% female
29.2% male
0.3% gender diverse
0.3% undeclared

Public service [5]

61.1% female
38.9% male

NZ workforce

48% female
52% male

Diversity statistics by gender – senior management

MSD

54% female
46% male

Public service

49.6% female
50.4% male

Ethnicity distribution of staff

Figures exclude other, not stated and refused to state. Figures do not always add to 100 percent as people may identify with more than one ethnicity.

MSD

Total staff disclosing ethnicity: 7,729 (95.4%).

60.4% European
24.1% Māori
16.9% Pacific
14.9% Asian
1.5% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African

Public service

67.3% European
15.5% Māori
9.2% Pacific
11.1% Asian
1.5% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African

NZ workforce

71.0% European
12.5% Māori
6.2% Pacific
15.2% Asian
1.2% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African

We maintained constructive employment relations

Our relationship with the New Zealand Public Service Association (PSA) remains constructive, with engagement at operational and strategic levels. We engage with around 350 delegates and national delegates at local and national levels, including Ngā Kaitūhono representatives [6] and the PSA convenor. Rūnanga delegates in sites have almost doubled since the 2019 PSA delegate elections.

Our High Performance High Engagement (HPHE) relationship agreement with the PSA was signed in August 2019. The agreed objectives for HPHE are to:

enhance the quality of working life for all our people, so MSD is a positive place to work
value employees and their contribution
enable our people and all New Zealanders so everyone has a voice
improve the wellbeing of whānau, clients and New Zealanders.

We are working on a number of HPHE initiatives in partnership with the PSA. One of these is the co-design of the new Performance and Remuneration framework, covering all our staff roles.

An increase in staffing numbers has seen a slight increase in PSA membership over the past year: 4,622 employees (57 percent of all employees as at 30 June 2020) are members of the PSA, the highest proportion of this number being in frontline roles.

We have a good foundation on which to enter into collective bargaining for three PSA agreements in 2020:

National Office and MYD, covering around 488 employees, who made up 32 percent of employees in the roles covered [7]
Service Delivery, covering around 3,914 frontline employees, who made up 69 percent of employees in the roles covered [8]
Managers and Senior Specialists Collective – our first collective agreement for this group of people, covering around 169 managers and senior specialists who are PSA members and make up about 38 percent of the people in the roles covered [9].

We will also be entering into collective bargaining with Work and Income Northland staff later in 2020. Their collective agreement, which covers 64 staff, expires on 30 November 2020.

We are working with the PSA to create a new pay and progression framework that fairly reflects the great work our people do, based on four principles:

encouragement of fair recognition for all people
simplicity, flexibility and transparency
supporting our strategic direction (Te Pae Tawhiti, Te Pae Tata and Pacific Prosperity)
affordability, consistency, and evidence-based.

Once the final design is agreed, and provided this is ratified by the PSA members in roles affected by this work, the new progression and remuneration framework will help narrow the Gender Pay Gap.

MSD is also subject to an equal pay claim for administration and clerical roles including customer service and contact centre staff from the PSA on behalf of their members in the core Public Service.

Embedding good practices for health, safety and security

In the past year we have increased our focus on the wellbeing of our people, particularly around their mental health. We have:

introduced new ways for our people to access counselling and psychosocial support services and a wider range of information on self-care and personal wellbeing, through our Wellbeing Portal
made it easier for our people to give us feedback around wellbeing issues at any time through a dedicated monitored email, and the Sensitive Events module in our new health and safety reporting system
developed new strategies to increase our worker participation through an updated Worker Participation Agreement, and created an Excellence Award for our Health and Safety Representatives.

We developed and trialled access management options in client-facing site offices using technology and guard configurations. We are constantly evolving our security ecosystem to enhance safety, security and privacy. We completed 20 physical security fitouts of client-facing site offices this year in conjunction with enhancements to our front-of-house areas to provide safe, warm and welcoming spaces for clients and staff. The continuation of physical security fitouts was stopped due to COVID-19 restrictions. We are integrating resulting changes to our future operating model into the design principles for future security fitouts.

Health, safety and security governance

We have established a regular cycle of comprehensive reporting risks to our Leadership Team, who are all Officers under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, on health, safety and security risks. Several governance committees across the organisation ensure that we are making a cohesive response to emerging trends and learning from health, safety and security events. We have a steadily maturing and evolving safety management system in place, which includes a set of core frameworks.

Following the Christchurch mosque attacks in March 2019 we reviewed our security levels and threat assessment process. This review resulted in the development of a robust risk assessment model we can use in the future. We have also reviewed our annual assessment process for identifying site-by-site security vulnerabilities across the country.

We have developed a worker engagement strategy that includes an annual award to recognise health and safety representatives’ contributions.

Footnotes

Proud@MSD advocates for and celebrates diversity within the organisation and enables our communities to be who they are in the workplace. Membership is open to all MSD employees, regardless of their personal identity. Return to text
Te Rito is a repository of recommended learning to strengthen and develop people’s growth and discovery in Te Ao Māori. Return to text
Kimihia allows employees to engage with Māori cultural knowledge and build awareness of key Māori concepts, values and practices. Return to text
Average salaries are calculated by the MSD Cost Analysis and Modelling Tool, which includes all employees except external secondees. Return to text
Public Service figures are at 30 June 2019. Return to text
Ngā Kaitūhono is the structure for Māori PSA members in MSD. Return to text
The agreement expired in April 2020. Bargaining was deferred to July because of the COVID-19 outbreak. A new rollover agreement was ratified in September 2020, expiring on 31 October 2020. Bargaining for a new agreement started in November 2020. Return to text
The agreement expired, and bargaining for a new agreement started, in October 2020. Return to text
The agreement expired in June 2020. Bargaining for a new agreement started in August 2020. Return to text