Introduction
This plan has been developed in alignment with various guidance provided by Te Kawa Mataaho and reflects the Kia Toipoto focus on:
- Te Pono – Transparency
- Ngā Hua Tōkeke mō te Utu – Equitable outcomes
- Te whia kanohi i ngā taumatoa katoa – Leadership and representation
- Te Whakawhaketanga i te Aramahi – Effective career and leadership development
- Te whakakorekore i te katoa o ngā momo whakatoihara, haukume anō hoki – Eliminating all forms of bias and discrimination
- Te Taunoa o te Mahi Pingore – Flexible work by default
Representation
As at 14 November 2022, the Education Review Office had a headcount of 225. This is a lower number than reported on in 2021 as we are carrying a number of vacancies. 82% of our current workforce are women as compared to the 80% reported in 2021.
We have a high level of disclosure for ethnicity data. However, as you can see from the chart below, representation from those in the Middle Eastern, Latin American and African (MELAA) group is too small to include in reporting.
Around 70% of our people have come to us from the education sector; whether that is from schools or early childhood. This has deep impacts on the demography of our workforce.
Statistics from 2021 [1]relating to teachers in schools identifies that 76% of teachers in New Zealand are female and 73% of teachers identify as NZ European/Pākehā. In early childhood education, 97% are women and 62% identify as NZ European/Pākehā. Consequently, one of our major constraints in terms of representation is the demographics for the education sector.
To overcome this constraint, ERO has previously utilised (and continues to use) a variety of approaches to broadening the pool of possible candidates to increase the diversity of backgrounds (and consequently of gender and ethnicity) of our people. However, our experience has been that, with some few exceptions, experience in the education sector is a key dimension in determining suitability for appointment and any subsequent internal promotion.
In addition, the people recruited from the education sector tend to have reached a level of seniority in their discipline which often has a correlation to their age. As a result, a second impact is that the average age for women in ERO is 52 and 60 for men. Correspondingly, our people tend to have a relatively short tenure in the organisation with the average tenure for women being 5.8 years and for men 8.6 years.
Only one of our occupational groups currently has more than 20 people. These are the Review Officers with 118 people who make up 52% of our total workforce with 81.36% of this group being women. The next largest of these, Administration Officers, has only 16 people.
|
Role or job family |
Māori |
Pasifika |
Asian |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Review Officers |
23% |
4% |
3% |
|
Administration Officers |
18% |
18% |
6% |
The overall numbers in relation to ethnicity for the Administration Officer role are very small, given the total number is only 16, meaning the impact of new appointments has a disproportionate impact on representation.
The situation reported in 2021 of some occupational groups being occupied only by women, meaning there is no pay gap, continues. Examples of these are HR Advisors and Executive Assistants.
There also remain, as in 2021, other positions where it is not possible or practicable to identify if there is any impact on remuneration by gender. This is where there are no comparable roles or there is only one incumbent in the role. An example of this is the advisory / specialist roles in Corporate Services which have very divergent responsibilities and skill set requirements.
Leadership
We have 48 people in people leadership roles; 90% of whom are female.
|
Ethnicity |
Percentage |
|---|---|
|
Māori |
22.5% |
|
Pacific |
7.5% |
|
Asian |
0.0% |
Of the Māori leaders, 89% are female and of the Pasifika leaders, 67% are female. The overall numbers in these groups are less than 10 and so the impact of new appointees or turnover has a disproportionate impact on representation.
The remaining roles are specialist in nature and each may have only one or two incumbents. Based on this, the relatively short average tenure and flat structure there are limited opportunities for career pathways at ERO. At the same time, professional development is widely available and encouraged.
We do not currently collect information on disability as we are limited in our ability to capture and retain this, or as deep a level of ethnicity information in all aspects of the employee lifecycle as we would like, through our reliance on manual rather than automated systems to store and interrogate data. However, information captured in Te Taunaki Public Service Census 2021 showed indicative disability of 2.8%.
Starting salaries
With a few exclusions, starting salaries for ERO people must fit within proscribed parameters. Progression within those ranges is also proscribed and accelerated progression is not available. Our remuneration policy limits discretionary decision making and, in addition, requires managers to consider and maintain relativities within and across business units. Having said that, there is room to recognise ERO values specific competencies such as cultural capability or expertise in te reo[2] as desirable for the organisation to acquire and retain. Agreement from the Chief Review Officer / Chief Executive Officer is required if a significant shift in the parameters of salary on appointment is desired.
Flexible work
Given the nature of the work undertaken by most of our people which requires them to be in schools undertaking reviews, there are some limitations on the availability of some aspects of flexible work. Currently 88% of our people work full time. However, ongoing improvements and innovations to work processes and operating models signal the likelihood of more part time work being available in future.
We do not currently keep records of those working from home on either a formal or more ad hoc basis as we do not have a Human Resource Information System (HRIS). However, our observation is that where possible the option of part time work is provided and taken up although not applied as consistently as we would like.
ERO is geographically spread across the length and breadth of the motu with eight office locations. To limit the size of our carbon footprint, we are recruiting and locating people closer to where they will undertake their responsibilities. This is resulting in limiting the currently high level of travel our people need to undertake and increasing the level of remote working.
Managing bias
Our organisational Kaupapa is around providing equitable and excellent educational outcomes for all learners and their whānau which is reflected in both how the organisation operates and by our aspiration to being a bi-lingual and bi-cultural organisation. This commitment is clearly stated in our recruitment advertising in terms of seeking a diverse workforce that reflects Aotearoa New Zealand and welcomes people from all backgrounds.
Our current recruitment policy is very clear about the requirement for hiring managers to take a balanced unbiased approach to the process which includes the membership of the appointment panel and that cultural perspectives (for example whanau support). The policy also includes a requirement to consider and address any barriers for people with disabilities.
Pay gaps
The data used is based on full-time equivalent base pay and only includes employees of ERO.
As at 30 June 2022, the gender pay gap across the public service was 7.7%. [3] In 2021, ERO reported a gender pay gap of 9.8%.
In 2022, the median gender pay gap organisation wide is 3% and the mean gender pay gap is 7%. These signal a decrease in the gender pay gap.
Pay gaps in the leadership group
In terms of leadership, the median gender pay gap is 23.09%. The mean leadership gender pay gap is 30.8%. This reflects that there is only a small representation of men in the leadership group who, in relation to women in the group, are paid across a narrower range of salaries. This is demonstrated through the mean salary for women being $115,203 while for men it is $166,648. There is no demonstrable correlation between tenure and the gender pay gap in leadership roles. The average tenure for women is 8.98 years (with a range between less than one year to almost 30). For men, while the group is too small to provide specifics about, we can say that 80% of them have over 13 years service and so a correlation between salary and length of tenure is likely. It would take only a small change in the number of men in the leadership group or what they are paid to change the dynamic as the percentage of the total group they represent is also small.
Gender pay gap by ethnicity
It is not possible to report on the ethnic gender pay gap, as outside European, the groups are too small for the information to be robust or meaningful.
Gender pay gap by occupational group
For our largest occupational group, Review Officers, the mean gender pay gap is 1.33% and the median gap is 3.34%. In 2021, we reported an overall gender pay gap for this group of 1.8% with the mean gap being 1.2% and the median gap being 4%.
In the chart below gender representation in each pay quartile is proportional in relation to the percentage of men in the group at 18.64%.
In 2021, women comprised 83% of this group.
Prior accomplishments
Being a relatively small organisation, ERO’s efforts in relation to our 2021 gender pay gap plan were hampered by the impact of responding to Covid, the necessity of concentrating our delivery of business as usual and having limited resource to call upon.
We had planned on improving the collection of ethnicity and other data. However, our efforts were hampered by not being able to secure an appropriate HRIS as well as the manual collection of data not being as complete as we would like.
We did complete the rollout of unconscious bias training as well as updating recruitment processes and a suite of accompanying policies and procedures.
Plan for 2022 / 2023
|
Kia toipoto focus area |
What we will do |
What success looks like |
|
Te Pono Transparency |
Reassess our options for the collection and maintenance of data throughout the employee lifecycle including compliance with Te Kawa Mataaho and StatsNZ standards Include gender pay and diversity and inclusion clauses in the Collective Employment Agreement (CEA)
|
Data on gender and ethnic pay gaps on published on Te Tūī (our intranet) Recruitment tool in place providing robust levels of data Remuneration material available on Te Tūī |
|
Ngā Hua Tōkeke mō te Utu Equitable outcomes |
Monitor starting salaries and like for like salaries to minimise/mitigate influence of bias Identify, address and remediate instances where inequality in pay affects people in like for like roles |
Gender and ethnic gaps stable Inequities remediated |
|
Te whia kanohi i ngā taumatoa katoa Leadership and representation |
Continue our journey towards being bi-lingual and bicultural through He Taura Here Tangata – our Māori strategy Provide material on Te Tūī so leaders have clear understanding of expectations |
Levels of representation of ethnic groups maintained and our recruitment and internal promotion outcomes are the result of an equitable and inclusive process |
|
Te Whakawhaketanga i te Aramahi Effective career and leadership development |
Continue our journey to grow our cultural and inclusive leadership capability through Te Waka Hourua – our leadership map |
Our people, not just those who hold formal leadership positions, see themselves as being leaders who are culturally responsive, respectful of others, inclusive and value diversity, promote wellbeing, and as being curious and open to learning |
|
Te whakakorekore i te katoa o ngā momo whakatoihara, haukume anō hoki Eliminating all forms of bias and discrimination |
Review all our people policies for bias or discrimination and for being supportive of an inclusive workplace Remind managers of the unconscious bias module and to either complete or re-do it Review our people practises for gender neutrality and not increasing discrimination Review our recruitment policy and practise from end to end including guidance for hiring managers around gender and ethnic gaps |
Reviewed policies and practises published on Te Tūī and well communicated to all our people. They are also easy to read and understand Material available on Te Tūī providing hiring managers with support on how to minimise bias and discrimination throughout the employee life cycle with a particular focus on equitable inclusive practice throughout the hiring process |
|
Te Taunoa o te Mahi Pingore Flexible work by default |
Continue implementation of flexible by default in how and where we recruit and locate our people so that they are closer to the community they serve Seek and implement ways to improve the consistency of application of our flexible working approach |
People understand how flexible by default works at ERO and tell us it is more consistently applied Our people tell us they feel enabled to work flexibly in ways appropriate and relevant to their individual situation |
[1] Education Counts – Teacher numbers - Teacher Numbers | Education Counts
[2] Te Taunaki Public Service Census 2021 showed that 15.4% of our people spoke te reo as compared to a public service wide level of 65
[3] Te Kawa Mataaho – Workforce Data – Gender Pay Gaps - Workforce Data — Pay gaps - Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission