WeCount 2019 overview

State Services Commission (SSC) and the Cross-Agency Rainbow Network (CARN) identified a lack of available workforce data about the New Zealand Public Service Rainbow community. Without this data it’s hard for people to get a sense of being counted and know that they matter.

The WeCount 2019 survey was developed to address this issue and to explore the often-invisible barriers to inclusion faced by rainbow public servants. We want this to start or further discussions on how to best support our Public Service Rainbow community.

“…I appreciate this survey being conducted and the respectful use of language surrounding gender and the inclusion of bisexual, pansexual and asexual”

We recognise that as New Zealand’s Public Service, we need to value, reflect and understand the communities we serve. Having a more diverse workforce leads to better outcomes for the people served by the Public Service.

The WeCount 2019 survey and this report have committed to using appropriate LGBTQIA+ and rainbow terms. Throughout the report we use rainbow as an umbrella term to refer to the LGBTQIA+ population which includes (but is not limited to) identities such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, non-binary, gender diverse, transgender, fa’fafafine, takatāpui, whakawahine, tangata ira tane, fakaleiti, akava’ine, intersex, queer, questioning, asexual and more.

When referring to the Rainbow community or population, we mean the rainbow or LGBTQIA+ community or population of the Public Service workforce. The term community is used to indicate a sense of belonging; the term population refers to measurable diversity within the community.

It is also important to acknowledge that although the term rainbow is often used to describe one aspect of diversity, there is significant diversity of age, ethnicity, occupations, abilities, and lived experiences across members of the Rainbow community. It is not a homogenous population. Understanding the intersectionality, then, helps create understanding that low levels of comfort may change across the life span, or differ between different ethnic, age and occupational groups.

Inclusive language such as ‘we’ and ‘our’ is used throughout this report. ‘We’ refers to either the State Services Commission (SSC) or the broader Public Service dependent on context, and ‘our’ refers to the broader Public Service.

The survey was conducted over 4 weeks from 6–31 May 2019. The rainbow population count of the Public Service workforce from this survey is 1,191.^[4] This count is greater than the number of complete responses (1,078) as some people have multiple identifiers. For example, someone may identify as both gay and transgender. For the purpose of this data analysis, we have counted those with more than one identity twice.

Findings from the Workplace Dynamics Survey 2016^[5] indicate that approximately 7% of the Public Service workforce identify as having a non-heterosexual orientation. Based on this estimate, the WeCount 2019 survey captured approximately 30% of the Public Service rainbow population. Given the response rate and survey methodology the following results may not always reflect the whole rainbow population.

Some agencies had conducted internal diversity and inclusion surveys, just prior to the WeCount 2019 survey. It is possible that this contributed to the low response rate. Anecdotally, we heard that some people were unclear about the purpose and intent of this data collection, causing a reluctance to participate. We also know some people have never felt able to be ‘out’ and despite assurances of anonymity were still reluctant to participate.

We took particular care to protect the anonymity of respondents. These findings are at a systems level. Very early on in the analysis of the data the decision was made to not pursue agency-level reporting for the following reasons:

• not all agencies would have been represented due to small response numbers in some agencies and the potential to compromise respondent anonymity;
• if some agencies were not included it could give the unintended impression that responses from those agencies, and therefore people, didn’t count; and
• there was consistency of themes arising across all agencies in terms of levels of comfort and what helped.

The WeCount 2019 survey has generated lessons beyond the survey findings. These lessons will be helpful in any future engagement with the Rainbow community as we continue to build an inclusive Public Service. Full technical notes on the methodology and interpretation can be found in Appendix 1.

^[4] The 1,191 identities equates to 2.2% of the total headcount based on the 2019 Public Service Workforce data.

^[5] Plimmer, G, Cantal, C (2016). Workplace Dynamics in New Zealand Public Services. Wellington: Centre for Labour, Employment and Work, Victoria University of Wellington.