7. Equal Employment Opportunities Report

THE DEPARTMENT'S EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES (EEO) FOCUS TO 2010 IS TO ENSURE THE DEPARTMENT'S STAFF PROFILE CLOSELY REFLECTS THE PROPORTION OF EEO GROUPS IN THE LABOUR FORCE. THE DEPARTMENT ASKS NEW APPOINTEES TO VOLUNTARILY PROVIDE EEO INFORMATION; 88.5% OF STAFF HAVE RESPONDED.

The Department's ethnic distribution is as follows:

• NZ Europeans: 35.7%
• Asian: 19.4%
• Other European: 8.9%
• Pacific Peoples: 7.7%
• NZ Maori: 6.3%
• Other ethnic groups: 11.9%
• Middle Eastern/Latin American/African: 0.6%
• Not recorded: 9.4%

Women

Women comprise 60.6% of staff, representing a steady increase since 2001, when women made up 55.1% of staff. Women hold 47% of the customer contact/field roles; and 45.2% of managerial roles, a slight decrease from 47% for the previous year. Within the Department, women hold 60% of the technical/professional roles and represent 83.9% of the support roles.

Maori

The EEO focus to 2010 is to ensure Maori increasingly comprise a critical mass in the Department, in order to build public service capability. In the June 2009 quarter, Maori comprised 12.2% of the New Zealand labour force^[2].

Maori represent 7% of onshore staff, or 6.4% of all staff. Of the Maori staff at the Department, 69.8% are women. Maori staff work predominantly in the Workforce and Workplace workgroups and work in three main roles - customer contact/field job (61.2%), technical/professional (13%) and support (10.8%). Twenty Maori staff are managers, representing 6.1% of managers. Within the Department, Maori staff continued to be under-represented in policy roles (0.8% of policy staff).

Pacific people

The EEO focus to 2010 is to ensure the proportion of Pacific staff more closely reflects the proportion of Pacific peoples in the labour force. In the June 2009 quarter, 4.9% of New Zealand's labour force identified themselves as Pacific people^[3].

Pacific people comprise 8.3% of all Department staff, or 7.6% of onshore staff, a decrease from 9.4% in 2001. The Workforce workgroup employs almost all the Pacific staff (82.3%). Of the Department's Pacific staff, 74.6% are women.

The majority of Pacific staff (62.4%) are in customer contact/field roles, with a further 18.8% in support roles and 8.3% in technical/professional roles. Sixteen Pacific people are managers, representing 4.9% of managers but only 2.3% of policy staff are Pacific people.

Other ethnic groups

Currently, 43.2% of the Department's staff are from ethnic groups other than Maori, Pacific or Pakeha/European. The number of Department staff from other ethnic groups has been increasing steadily. The Workforce workgroup employs over half of its staff from other ethnic groups. A total of 64.8% of staff from other ethnic groups are women, 2.4% up on last year.

The largest group of staff from other ethnic groups (47%) is in customer contact/field roles, with a further 22.1% in technical/professional roles. Of these 107 are managers, representing 32.4% of managers. About 43% of policy staff are from other ethnic groups.

People with a disability

The EEO focus to 2010 is to have the proportion of staff with a disability reflect the proportion of people with a disability in the workforce. The Department estimates this at about 12%.

Currently, 3.4% of staff have indicated they have a disability, a smaller percentage than 2001 when the comparable figure was 6.9%. Just over half of those with a recorded disability are men.

Of staff with a disability, 79.5% are aged 40 or over, a slight decrease from 81% in the previous year. Of staff with a disability, 48% of staff are in customer contact/field roles, 20.6% are in technical/professional areas, while 8.2% are in support roles. Seventeen staff with a disability are managers, representing 5.2% of managers.

Footnotes

^[2] Statistics New Zealand, Household Labour Force Survey: June 2009 quarter

^[3] Statistics New Zealand, Household Labour Force Survey: June 2009 quarter