Diversity and Inclusion Workplan

Our areas of progress

We are proud of the progress that we have continued to make in ensuring that we have a diverse and inclusive workplace, and that we address any pay gaps that exist.

We are continuing to make positive shifts with our gender pay gap, which has dropped to 7.2 percent, the lowest since we started reporting. Females/wāhine make up 63 percent of our workforce, and 64 percent of our people leader positions. Our analysis shows that within our pay bands, we have mostly eliminated any gender-related pay gaps.

Māori make up 20 percent of our workforce, and 24 percent of our people leader roles. The Māori pay gap has favoured Māori for the last two years with the average pay for Māori 6.2 percent higher than the average pay for non-Māori. This reflects our focus on strengthening our Māori capability, and ensuring we have capability and capacity to boost housing and urban development outcomes for Māori.

Our pay gap for our Asian people is 15.69 percent, at a similar level to last year.

Our pools of Pacific Peoples, Middle Eastern/Latin American/African (MELAA) and other ethnicities are currently too small to report individually and so have been grouped for pay gap reporting. The pay gap for this group is 16.1 percent. As with previous years, the main drivers of our ethnic pay gaps continue to be the lower levels of ethnic diversity in our people leadership roles.

To help us understand how our people feel about their connection to Our Kaupapa and culture and what we can do to improve their experiences, we run Pulse Surveys three times a year. The results from our surveys through 2022/23 showed the majority (69 percent) of our people agree or strongly agree with the question ‘How I feel: I have a sense of belonging here; I am valued and accepted; my contribution is recognised and makes a difference; I have opportunities to grow’. This positive response reflects our work to support an inclusive workplace.

We are committed to building the cultural capability of our people as we strive to be a Tiriti-led organisation. We continue to make progress in building our people’s understanding of te reo and tikanga Māori, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, through on-the-job learning, workshops, online modules, and marae-based experiences. We are focused on building organisational ways of working that reflect and support a Te Ao Māori culture.

Our People’s Networks celebrate diversity, provide safe spaces, and encourage thought leadership. Our networks continue to lead a range of events within HUD, from guest speakers through to all-staff gatherings in support of a positive workplace culture, such as Pink Shirt Day celebrations.

Our areas of focus

We have continued to make progress; however, we know that there is more work to do. Our workplan outlines the actions that will continue our progress through to 2023/24, with key areas of focus being:

• Continuing our work to grow the cultural capability of our people, including our te reo and tikanga Māori capability, our Māori-Crown relations capability, and our inclusive leadership capability.
• Continuing to ensure our people practices encourage diversity and inclusion, including how our recruitment and selection processes support us to attract a diverse range of candidates, with a focus on how we attract Pacific Peoples and increase the ethnic diversity of our leadership cohort.
• Continuing to support our People’s Networks to thrive, supporting us to celebrate our diversity and maintain an inclusive workplace for our people.

Setting the scene: a strategic approach to diversity and inclusion

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He Tāngata, he Tāngata, he Tāngata.
What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people.

Our people are the most important part of our organisation. To respond effectively to the housing challenges for all New Zealanders, we need to be a Ministry:

• that reflects and embraces diversity
• where our people feel part of a thriving and vibrant community
• where the contributions that our people bring to our whānau are valued
• where our people feel a sense Manaakitanga and Whanaungatanga in their everyday experiences at HUD.

Our areas of progress to create a diverse and inclusive workplace, and to address gender and ethnic pay gaps

Our key achievements in 2022/23 included:

• We developed and implemented our Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Approach. This provided us with clear goals and a workplan that sustained our progress.
• We have continued to maintain overall gender balance throughout the organisation and have increased the percentage of females/wāhine in people leader roles. We have the lowest gender pay gap since we started reporting in 2019.
• We have improved the breadth and quality of our workforce demographic information with the introduction of our new HR information management system, ‘Aho’. Aho records information about our people and supports our people processes, giving us insights into our workforce. The demographic profile of our workforce is part of our regular reporting to our Organisational Health Governance Committee.
• We have increased our cultural competence learning offerings, in particular Māori/Crown relations, te reo Māori and tikanga learning and experiences, as well as further rainbow awareness offerings.
• The average pay for our Māori staff is higher than the average pay for non-Māori.
• We have further developed our People’s Networks and the events they run. We have established a Pacific Peoples’ Network.
• We monitored and updated our recruitment practices, including publishing the salary range in our job adverts to provide transparency to potential candidates.
• We signed up to the Pride Pledge, and we have had people from all levels of our organisation attend Rainbow Awareness Training run by the Pride Pledge organisation.
• We continued to participate in sector programmes that support diversity of the public sector workforce, including Tupu Tai internship programme and development programmes such as Mā ngā kaiārahi manawanui, an aspiring leader’s programme for rangatahi.
• We continued our mahi to ensure we have an inclusive workplace, and we regularly monitor the experiences of our people with our Pulse Surveys. The results from our surveys through 2022/23 showed that 69 percent of our people agree or strongly agree with the question ‘How I feel – Taku āhua i te mahi: I have a sense of belonging here; I am valued and accepted; my contribution is recognised and makes a difference; I have opportunities to grow’.

Full details of Kia Toipoto can be found on Te Kawa Mataaho website.(external link)

Our workplan for 2023/24

Our workplan for 2023/24 includes input from representatives from the PSA, and from our Peoples’ Networks; Wāhine Toa, Wāhine āhuru (Women’s Network), and Pacific Peoples. This input has shaped the mahi we will continue and support us to achieve our D&I goals.