addressing gender and ethnic pay gaps (small)

The actions

The following actions address vertical and occupational segregation by creating equitable opportunities for all, with a particular focus on Māori, Pacific, Asian, MELAA, other ethnic and specifically female employees. This action plan has MSD's Focus and commitments to addressing the Gender and Ethnic pay Gaps 2022/23 been created in partnership and consultation with a wide range of people at MSD who have a strong commitment to the long-term goals of growing MSD’s capabilities and opportunities for all people from all backgrounds.

Te Pono | Transparency

Key improvements at MSD 2021/22

  • Regularly engaged with our Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group (once a month).
  • Supported the voice of our Employee Led Networks.
  • Had a feedback channel with the people experience workstream to help guide our diversity and inclusion work programme.
  • Maintained regular internal blog publications to ensure our wider employees are kept up to date with our work on continuing to foster an inclusive workplace.

Kia Toipoto goals 2021/24

  • Agencies and entities publish annual action plans based on gender and ethnicity data and union/employee feedback.
  • Agencies and entities ensure easy access to HR and remuneration policies, including salary bands.

Actions for 2022/23

  • Continue to regularly engage with our Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group (once a month).
  • Continue to support the voice of our Employee Led Networks.
  • Regular communication/touch points with people experience leads and advisors to gather real-time insights and feedback from people.
  • Run workshops addressing bias.
  • Maintain regular internal blog publications to ensure our employees are kept up to date with our work in continuing to foster an inclusive workplace.
  • Continue to regularly monitor, and report on progress towards reducing our gender and ethnic pay gaps and addressing the drivers.
  • Build on the capability of our people and raise awareness about bias that leads to pay gaps.
  • Work with our data teams to explore our model forecasting options for the next 12 months to help drive our key focus areas for the next action plan.

Ngā hua tōkeke mō te utu | Equitable pay outcomes

Key improvements at MSD 2021/22

  • Implemented starting salary guidance.
  • Imbedded the new staff pay and progression framework which was implemented in June 2021.
  • Published guidance documents for calculating Higher and Special Duties Allowances, and other remuneration guidance.
  • Reviewed and assessed the impact and flow-on effects of pay equity claim outcomes through surveys, interviews, and work profile validations.
  • Started work on developing a fit-for-purpose pay and progression framework for managers and senior specialists.

Kia Toipoto goals 2021/24

  • By the end of 2022 entities ensure that starting salaries and salaries for the same or similar roles are not influenced by bias.
  • Agencies monitor starting salaries and salaries for the same or similar roles to ensure gender and ethnic pay gaps do not reopen.
  • Pay equity processes are used to address claims and reduce the impact of occupational segregation.

MSD’s actions for 2022/23

  • Review the way we support people leaders to make decisions around starting salaries.
  • Ensure recruitment partners are part of the salary offer process.
  • Continue to monitor and review progress toward reducing our gender and ethnic pay gaps and addressing the drivers.
  • Review the Starting Salary Guidance, Higher Duties Allowance Guidance and Special Duties Allowance Guidance to strengthen the ability to measure and address any gaps that occur in both salaries and allowances.
  • Implement the policy for translating job sizing outcomes to a different band/salary range level.
  • Continue the work on developing and implementing a fit-for-purpose Manager and Senior Specialist (MSS) Pay and Progression Framework.
  • Conduct a GPG/EPG audit of manager and senior specialist salaries as part of the build and implement phase of the MSS Pay and Progression Review Project.
  • Continue to work with Te Kawa Mataaho and the PSA to support the pay equity claim process for the two current claims. We will review and assess the impact and flow-on effects of the outcomes for these two claims.

Te whai kanohi i ngā taumata katoa | Leadership and representation

Key improvements at MSD 2021/22

  • Piloted Marae-based leadership on the East Coast.
  • Developed a new fit-for-purpose pay and progression framework for employees in core roles.

Kia Toipoto goals 2021/24

  • By the end of 2022 agencies/entities have plans and targets to improve gender and ethnic representation in their workforce and leadership.
  • By the end of 2024 the Public Service workforce and leadership are substantially more representative of society.

MSD’s actions for 2022/23

  • Recruitment partners to support interpretation of pay guidance for people leaders.
  • Get managers familiar with recruitment policy and cultural and financial benefits.
  • Grow the te ao Māori Capability of our recruitment partners.
  • Promote benefits of MSD to recruits in a consolidated view in our employee value proposition.
  • Survey new starters to learn about what worked well and what could be improved in the recruitment processes to ensure we have inclusive practices.
  • Create opportunities and come up with solutions that will allow us to overcome vertical occupational segregations.
  • As a part of the recruitment process provide information about other internal opportunities to unsuccessful candidates we have interviewed and would make a suitable fit elsewhere within MSD.
  • Establish an MSD Career Board and talent pools with a focus on identifying and developing talent within Māori and Pacific employees.
  • Review and implement workshops created for our Recruitment Partners to facilitate.
  • Continue to pilot alternative recruitment practices that trial different approaches such as video screening and assessment centres.

Whakawhanaketanga i te aramahi | Effective career, leadership and development

Key improvements at MSD 2021/22

  • Expanded the mentoring programmes through Whitireira and the Policy graduate programme as well the Safety and Stability (Family Violence) team.
  • Engaged with nine employee led networks, various regions and workstreams about mentoring.
  • Created and offered e-learning modules for mentors and mentees showcasing interviews with participants from the first phase of the mentoring programme, focusing on Pacific employees’ and women’s voices.
  • Established communities of practice across MSD for leaders, mentors/mentees and other groups, in a 6-session series that created support networks and shared experiences.

Kia Toipoto goals 2021/24

  • By mid-2023 agencies/entities have career pathways and equitable progression opportunities that support women, Māori, Pacific and ethnic employees to achieve their career aspirations.

MSD’s actions for 2022/23

  • Implement opportunities for Māori employee led networks to offer cross network mentoring to share experience across the country.
  • Continue to encourage employee led networks, regions and workstreams to engage in mentoring programmes.
  • Create a roadmap for developmental secondments.
  • Grow our facilitation of social learning platforms, including communities of practice, that support people to learn from each other and their work.
  • Strengthen our development planning conversations across MSD through the ongoing implementation of Te ara piki and a new capability and development approach for Managers and Senior Specialists.
  • Increase the visibility of different career pathways on our new intranet pages.
  • Articulate what leadership looks like at MSD and connect our people to development opportunities that support the required capabilities.
  • Develop a pipeline that will increase diversity across our tiers of leadership, through specific interventions and supports that will grow people from within the organisation to move up and out across MSD.
  • Increase development opportunities for our aspiring Māori and Pacific leaders.
  • Launch a Māori cultural capability blog.
  • Develop a virtual marae experience.
  • Partner with our internal business group, Māori, Communities and Partnerships (MCP) on the Mahere Reo implementation plan.
  • Review the guidance on career breaks and leave to determine what is possible within our current reporting abilities and plan to operationalise it.
  • Create visibility on career pathways from Customer Service Representatives to Case Managers.

Te whakakore i te katoa o ngā momo whakatoihara, haukume anō hoki | Eliminating all forms of bias and discrimination

Key improvements at MSD 2021/22

  • Created a policy and review toolkit that acts as key guidance for the design and review of our internal policies to ensure we address bias and create inherently inclusive environments.
  • Continued to provide Unconscious Bias training to all employees throughout the year.

Kia Toipoto goals 2021/24

  • By the end of 2023 entities have remuneration and HR systems, policies and practices designed to remove all forms of bias and discrimination.
  • Agencies embed and monitor the impact of bias-free HR and remuneration policies and practices.
  • Agencies/entities ensure leaders and employees learn about and demonstrate cultural competence.

MSD’s actions for 2022/23

  • Create a toolkit for reviewing policies to standardise the process of creating and reviewing all internal policies to support our bias toolkit.
  • Make roles more accessible, remove barriers for people who want to apply for roles, ensuring we get a more diverse workforce applying.
  • Review the way we support our people leaders to reinforce gender and ethnic pay gap messaging with focus on Māori and pacific/ethnic communities’ cultural norms around salary negotiations.
  • Build on the cultural competency and inclusive leadership practices of all our people leaders as a part of our diversity and inclusion work programmes guided by Papa Pounamu.
  • Continue to build on the culture and inclusion capability practices through various channels such as workshops, e-learning, resources hubs on the intranet and through the championing of the voice of our employee led networks as well as the diversity and inclusion ambassadors who are a part of the diversity and inclusion steering group.

Te taunoa o te mahi pīngore | Flexible-working-by-default

Key improvements at MSD 2021/22

  • Focused on the education and embedding of our flexible working policy.
  • Ensured our HR teams provided ongoing advice and support to managers in the application of policy and process.
  • Began recording new formal flexible working arrangements.
  • Created a web series for managers addressing the points raised to be presented in 2022.

Kia Toipoto goals 2021/24

  • By the end of 2024 agencies and entities offer equitable access to flexible-by- default working and ensure it does not undermine career progression or pay.

MSD’s actions for 2022/23

  • Connect with what other organisations are doing in the hybrid working space to ensure that our practices are up to date and meet the changing needs of our people.
  • Ensure that flexible working by default is reflected in our employee value proposition.
  • Continue to encourage the monitoring and recording of flexible working arrangements.
  • Continue our web series and highlight our resources on our intranet.
  • Assess who accesses flexible working more broadly and how it may affect our pay gaps.
  • Mitigate any areas where flexible working options may affect pay.

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