September 2005

 

Pak n’ Save 1: Public Service 0. The Public Sector has done poorly in retaining ethnic minority managers, especially Asians, the new State Services Commission report on EEO Progress has revealed. The public service average for retaining managers is 65%, but for Asian managers that rate is 48%.   Managers from the ‘Other’ ethnic group category have a 59% retention rate. Māori managers are the second most likely to cut and run, with only a 58% retention rate. The number of Pacific and Asian people in Senior Management is low, and decreased from 2000-2004.

 

Because the number of minority managers in the public sector is so low, the movement of a few people could skew the statistics. At the same time, the low retention rates are “not surprising” because for minority employees, “the workplace can be a less than inclusive environment,” says Director of the Office of Ethnic Affairs (OEA), Mervin Singham. “The environment may not reflect their cultural values and beliefs, and if you don’t feel comfortable in a workplace you tend to find another place to work.”

 

 

 

SSC and Te Puni Kokiri are in the early stages of developing a best-practice resource that will include ways to retain Māori employees, similar to the SSC Work-Life Balance resource recently produced. Meanwhile, the OEA is set to finish work this month on an Intercultural Awareness CD-ROM training resource for the public sector, with a training programme planned for later in the year. It will be directed at managers and employees dealing with diverse cultures within the workplace and in their clientele. Statutory public sector obligations to improve EEO outcomes are “a good hook”, says Singham. He is hoping that cultural awareness training units like this could become a standard across the board for the public sector.

 

“The feeling about the uptake is that it’s going to be very positive.” Singham says employers are beginning to realise that cultural learning is “a two way street.” Ethnic communities also need to learn about how to deal with ‘mainstream’ New Zealand culture. 

 

“When you are a manager you have more responsibility for the values of the place, for creating the culture of the organisation,” says Singham. “If you feel you can’t because your culture is not reflected in the organisation, then that is going to make a difference.” The difference between more formal working styles in some Asian cultures and the informality of a New Zealand workplace might make an Asian manager “feel like a fish out of water unless this is made clear.”

 

 

Asian, Other Ethnic and Māori managers who stayed in the Public Service from 2000-2004 received below average salary increases.  The average salary increase for Public Service managers was 30% - compared to 25% for Asian managers, 26% for Other Ethnic Managers and 28% for Māori managers.

 

New recruits to the Public Service also tended to start on lower average salaries than existing workers.  The combined effect has been that existing ethnicity pay gaps for Public service managers widened between 2000 and 2004 – and one has emerged for Asian managers.

 

 

	2000	2004
Pacific	95	83
Other ethnicities	94	83
Māori	91	90
Asian	110	93
European	100	101