Contents of your plan

This is the main content that DEI plans should include:

• organisation overview, context and commitment. What DEI means for how you deliver for New Zealanders
• data - representation, pay gaps and average pay, with trends over time 
• narrative - what your data and employee and union feedback and input are telling you about progress, challenges and priorities
• progress to date and planned actions in DEI. 

This section could include:

• your vision for DEI outcomes and connections with your kaupapa or the communities you serve
• your commitment to implementing and maintaining Papa Pounamu and Kia Toipoto
• your organisation’s context and workforce, relevant to DEI
• a broad overview of your key DEI progress to date and priorities
• connections between your DEI programme and delivering services which meet the needs of all New Zealanders.

Include in your plan the stakeholders you engaged with to develop your plan (including unions, women, Māori, Pacific and ethnic employees and tāngata whaikaha Māori, disabled people, and members of Rainbow communities). Note the Kia Toipoto commitment to Māori: Māori participate in action and monitoring.

For those agencies that submit payroll data to the Public Service Commission as part of the Workforce Data collection, the majority of gender and ethnicity metrics (on representation, pay gaps, and average salaries) will be available in the ‘sense check’ document that is produced as part of your agency’s submission.

From June 2024, the Public Service Commission is adding an extra sheet into the ‘sense check’ to provide these figures already calculated and made confidential, ready for inclusion in DEI reporting, annual reports or other public documents.

We encourage you to use these figures. This both reduces the load on your agency and ensures that reporting on these metrics is consistent across the Public Service.

For a full list of figures to be included within the ‘sense check’, please see Appendix 2.

Some figures may not be included in the ‘sense check’ because of confidentiality rules. This indicates that they should not be included in your reporting either.

For agencies who do not submit payroll data, or those who wish to include other variables or breakdowns not included on the list in Appendix 2, please see the following guidance:

• Organisational Gender Pay Gaps: Measurement and analysis guidelines 
• Guidance: Collecting, measuring and reporting pay, pay gaps, and representation

Note also the Kia Toipoto commitment to Māori: include data and actions to achieve equitable outcomes for Māori.

Representation data

Include in your plan the proportion of women, Māori and tāngata whaikaha Māori, Pacific, ethnic and disabled employees and members of Rainbow communities in your workforce and leadership, to the extent that you have the data.

Te Taunaki 2021 results for your agency may provide data on religion, languages and indicative mental health. If you refer to this data, note that it is indicative. Many responses will have changed, especially in small agencies.

Pay and pay gaps

Include in your plan, if you have at least 20 people in each comparison group:

• mean and median, agency-wide, gender, Māori, Pacific and ethnic pay gaps and for disabled people and members of Rainbow communities to the extent that you have the data 
• other and more detailed pay gaps if possible, and where they are relevant to your analysis and narrative, e.g. by leadership level, within roles or occupational groups.

Average salary by gender and ethnicity

Include in your plan for each group with at least 20 employees, the average pay of each ethnic/gender group in a graph, such as this one published annually by the Public Service Commission:

Figure 1: Table of average pay by gender and ethnicity

You can include other groups to the extent that you have the data. For groups of fewer than 20 employees consider including aggregated pay information, e.g. European/non-European pay gaps and average pay by gender.

Also include:

• data definitions e.g. for employee, leader, pay 
• the total number of employees in your organisation 
• the date on which you measured your data
• the disclosure rate  (ie the proportion of employees who shared) for different data sets.

Include in your plan a narrative that connects your data, analysis, overall progress and future priorities.

Include:

• differences in pay gaps, representation, and/or occupations for different groups, and in experiences of inclusion. Include relevant insights from data you may have reviewed but not published, and intersectional analyses where possible
• trends over time
• qualitative information, feedback or input you have from unions and employees.
• your analysis of what is driving your pay gaps, any under-representation in your workforce and leadership, inequities or experiences of exclusion
• the links between your analyses and your priorities and planned actions.

Diversity

Representation in workforce, leadership, and occupations, especially for under-represented groups.

These elements of Kia Toipoto and Papa Pounamu are especially relevant to increasing diversity:

• Fostering diverse leadership
• Employee-led networks
• Cultural competence
• Workforce and leadership representation
• Eliminating bias and discrimination from recruitment policies and practices
• Effective career and leadership development 
• Māori are influential at all levels of the workplace
• Māori have career paths that empower them to achieve their career aspirations
• Flexible work by default.

Include in your plan:

A summary of your plan to improve gender and ethnic representation, and any under-representation including for disabled and Rainbow communities in your workforce (if the size of your workforce allows), and a link to this plan. Your representation plan should include:

• targets associated with your main representation challenge(s)
• progress to date and plans to address barriers in recruitment and career progression to support your representation targets
• progress to date and plans to address barriers, and provide support for, emerging leaders.

Also include in your plan: progress to date and plans to embed and maintain flexible work by default.

Equity

Pay gaps and average pay for different groups, equitable pay (starting salaries and pay in the same or similar roles).

These elements of Kia Toipoto are especially relevant to closing pay gaps and achieve equitable pay outcomes:

Equitable pay outcomes

• Agencies work purposefully and with good intentions to achieve equitable pay for Māori
• Eliminating bias and discrimination from remuneration policies and practices.

Note: many agencies are working on pay equity claims but you do not have to include this in your plan.

Include in your plan progress to date and plans to:

• ensure that starting salaries and salaries for the same or similar roles are not influenced by bias
• monitor starting salaries and salaries for the same or similar roles to ensure gender and ethnic pay gaps do not reopen
• identify and address bias in remuneration policies and practices.

Inclusion

The extent to which all employees feel respected and valued and able to achieve their potential.

These elements of Kia Toipoto and Papa Pounamu are especially relevant to strengthening inclusion:

• Cultural competence
• Employee-led networks
• Addressing bias
• Inclusive leadership
• Māori participation in action and monitoring
• Agencies enhance workplace practices and the mana of Māori and others
• Agencies celebrate tikanga, kawa and matāuranga Māori, and taonga such as te reo Māori.

Include in your plan progress to date and plans to:

• build a positive working environment
• strengthen cultural competence
• encourage and support employee-led networks
• address bias and discrimination.

Also include a list of employee-led networks in your agency and who they represent.

Note on measuring inclusion

Measuring progress on inclusion requires consistent use of the same indicator over time.  Some possible indicators are influenced by factors beyond inclusion. For example, retention can also reflect labour market conditions, and engagement surveys can reflect the wider context, such as a restructuring.

Staff surveys using the same questions over time are the most effective way to measure inclusion, provided respondents feel safe to express their true feelings and experiences. Anonymous surveys that report for large groups/agencies rather than teams/managers are more likely to yield accurate results. 

The Public Service Census (Te Taunaki) uses this methodology and is the best measure of inclusion in agencies. We will advise agencies of the timing for the next Te Taunaki when it is confirmed.

In the meantime, we recommend agencies build a picture of progress on inclusion using the information they have. Agencies should consider:

• the views and experiences of employees, eg feedback from staff focus groups
• differences in indicators of inclusion for different groups, eg feedback from employee-led networks
• information on complaints, bullying and harassment (but you do not need to publish this).