Human
Resource
Capability
IN THE NEW ZEALAND STATE SERVICES
— 2014 —
Published by the State Services Commission
PO Box 329, Wellington, New Zealand
December 2014
CROWN COPYRIGHT ©
ISBN 978-0-478-43430-9
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence. In essence,
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reproduction of the State Services Commission emblem or New Zealand Government logo.
Contents
Commissioner’s Foreword2
A Public Service for the Future3
Executive Summary 4
Introduction6
Staff Numbers8
Composition11
People Costs15
Leadership in the State Services21
Capability and Diversity24
Appendix 1 FTE employees by department 35
Appendix 2 Department diversity information
36
Appendix 3 Tenure, annual leave, and sick leave by department
37
Appendix 4 Occupations in the HR customised occupation groups 38
Appendix 5 Definitions
39
Human Resource Capability
1
Commissioner’s Foreword
This
Human
Resource
Capability (HRC) survey of
Public Service departments
provides insights into the Public
Service workforce, contributes
to workforce planning and
gives information on changing
workforce trends. It lets New
Zealanders look ‘under the
bonnet’ of the Public Service
workforce that their taxes pay
for, and enables agencies to
make informed decisions about their workforce to ensure
the delivery of better public services.
New Zealand’s public institutions, their employees and
the public services they deliver, exist for the benefit of
New Zealanders. Our State services and its leaders have
become increasingly focused on creating a government
system that can meet the present and future needs of
New Zealanders in a fast-changing and technological
world.
Both New Zealanders and Ministers have told us
they expect government services to be designed and
delivered around the needs of people, and we cannot
expect people to organise themselves around artificial
boundaries between government agencies and their
individual processes.
We have heard this call and we are transforming into a coordinated system that works as one and concentrates its
efforts and resources on the areas where we can make
the biggest difference and achieve real and measurable
results that improve New Zealanders’ lives.
In 2012, the Government announced ten Results in
challenging areas with stretch targets to be achieved
over five years. The Results include reducing long-term
welfare dependency, increasing participation in early
childhood education and the proportion of 18 year olds
with NCEA level 2, reducing crime and reoffending,
providing businesses with an online shop for all
government advice and support and reducing the rates
of rheumatic fever.
2
Human Resource Capability
The Public Service is making real and sustained progress
towards achieving these Results. For some areas, more
effort is needed, but other areas are well on track to be
accomplished earlier than the initial target. The Results
are deliberately challenging and require sustained team
work between agencies and also with partners outside of
central government. The progress that has been made has
required transformational change in how agencies work.
The focus now is on consolidating progress and
ensuring the Results approach, and the collaborative,
co-ordinated team work it requires, becomes a deeply
ingrained part of how the State services work.
Making sure the Public Service can continue to deliver
results, both now and into the future requires skilled
and experienced leaders who are comfortable working
as a team and responding to the evolving needs and
challenges of New Zealand society. The State Services
Commission (SSC) is leading a programme to develop
a deep and broad pool of leaders for the future of the
State services. These leaders will be skilled in working
across agency boundaries and working together to
develop smart solutions to difficult problems that will
deliver results.
Achieving future success also requires effective strategic
planning now. SSC and the Treasury are working closely
with Public Service agencies to develop high quality
Four-year Plans that set out how each agency is going
to achieve the results it is responsible for, work across
their sector and operate within tight financial limits. The
most valuable resource an agency has is the skills,
expertise and commitment of the public servants who
work for it. Workforce planning to make sure they have
the right mix of skills in the right places over the long
term is an essential part of long term success.
Iain Rennie
State Services Commissioner
A Public Service for the Future
The vision of trusted, engaged
and high performing State
services that improve the
lives of New Zealanders can
only be realised if we have
the right numbers and mix of
capable people who can be
deployed when and where
they are most needed. With
greater collaboration across
agencies, the knowledge and
skills of State servants will
increasingly become a system-wide resource as well as
an agency resource.
The New Zealand Public Service has a strong tradition
of professionalism and expertise. In a fast changing
world, we will need to use that strong foundation to
build new and different capabilities. To deliver more
agile public services we will need stronger capabilities
in building relationships and working with our customers
and partners. Our workforce will be much more diverse
to better reflect and respond to the changing face of
New Zealand communities. We will also need skills for
the digital age including harnessing large-scale data and
information sources.
The State Services Commission is working with Public
Service agencies in our stewardship role to ensure that
the system has the knowledge and skills needed now
and for the future.
Identifying and growing leaders is a critical ingredient
of successful change. We already have a system-wide
programme in place to develop our current and future
leaders. Over the next four years we will build a robust
leadership pipeline. Our goal is to develop talented
leaders at all levels of the Public Service and to ensure
that leaders can be deployed to where they are most
needed. Providing opportunities for talented people who
are early in their careers to develop leadership capability
is an important part of this picture.
We are also prioritising effective workforce strategy and
planning to ensure the Public Service is able to respond
to the needs of all New Zealanders.
Four-year Plans are a central tool, enabling agencies
to align their people capability requirements to business
intentions. Four-year Plans, based on sound workforce
analysis and accurate information, provide a platform
for identifying and responding to capability gaps and
pressures system-wide. We will continue to support
agencies as they actively build an effective workforce
in a dynamic and challenging environment. A recent
cross-agency initiative to develop an environment scan
as a resource for all agencies highlights the value that
can be achieved by working collectively to improve
workforce planning.
Human resource professionals have a lead role as
experts and business partners in a sector where people
are critical to success. Over the next two years and
beyond we will be working with HR leaders to build the
capability and resilience of people functions systemwide.
Importantly the Human Resource Capability survey is
a product of the collective effort of all Public Service
agencies. As such, it models the value of information
and shared endeavours to provide a resource that
supports agency and system-wide work towards more
evidence-based people strategies.
Andrew Hampton
Government Chief Talent Officer
Human Resource Capability
3
Executive Summary
This report provides information about trends in the State services workforce with a focus on the Public Service. The
report is produced annually and looks at both annual and historical changes, as well as highlighting areas of focus
for the State Services Commission (SSC). In the year to 30 June 2014:
Public Service staff numbers have increased
45,280 FTE
employees
The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees has increased from 44,500 in 2013
to 45,280 (+1.8%). The number of FTE staff in Core Government Administration (refer
to page 6) has remained below the cap, at 35,656. The Wellington region, being the
main central administration, had the largest proportion of this Public Service workforce
with 41.4%. This was followed by Auckland (20.0%), Canterbury (9.6%) and Waikato
(8.4%). These four regions accounted for 79% of the Public Service workforce.
The average salary of Public Service employees has increased by 2.5%
Wages and
salaries
The HRC survey has measured the movement in average salary for the Public
Service as 2.5% (2.1% in 2013). This movement is not a direct reflection of the salary
increases staff receive, it is affected by both compositional changes in the workforce,
and progression within the scale and promotion increases.
In the year to June 2014, the Labour Cost Index (LCI) measured an increase in wages
and salaries of 1.2% for the public sector. Within the public sector, the Public Service
moved by 1.1%, the education sector by 1.2% and the health sector by 0.7%. In
comparison, the private sector increased by 1.8%. The LCI controls for a constant
quality and quantity of labour.
Redundancies are decreasing
In the year to 30 June 2014, 440 employees in the Public Service were made redundant
(down from 696 in 2013). Redundancy payments totalled $25 million. This compares
to $33 million last year and $38 million four years ago.
Redundancy
payments totalled
$25 million
4
Human Resource Capability
There has been an increase in diversity in Senior Leadership over the
last four years.
Proportion of
Māori senior
leaders
There has been an increase in the proportion of Māori senior leaders, from 8.3% in 2010
to 12.0% in 2014. Māori are still under-represented in senior leadership, compared to
their representation in the Public Service workforce (16.6%). The proportion of Asian
senior leaders has increased over the last four years (from 1.7% to 2.4%). There has
been little increase in Pacific senior leaders over the last four years. 42% of senior
leadership roles are filled by women.
The gender pay gap is a complex issue, with many factors at play
In 2014, the unadjusted gender pay gap is about the same as last year, at 14.1%.
This report looks at controlling for factors such as occupation, seniority and age, and
presents an adjusted pay gap of 5.3%.
14.1%
unadjusted
gender pay gap
Other HR measures are similar to last year
7.7 days average
sick and domestic
leave taken
Core unplanned turnover remains stable at 10.7% in 2014. The average length
of service for employees in the Public Service has stayed the same at 9.2 years.
The amount of sick leave and domestic leave taken by Public Service employees
decreased slightly to an average of 7.7 days per employee (from 7.9 days in 2013).
Human Resource Capability
5
Introduction
Information in this report comes primarily from the HRC
survey, which collects payroll data on staff in all 29 Public
Service departments. The survey has been conducted
annually since the year 2000. The SSC has a statutory
role of employing Public Service chief executives and
reviewing their performance. The HRC survey provides
insights into performance from a Human Resource
Information System (HRIS) perspective.
This report provides information about characteristics
and trends within the State services, and provides an
extra level of analysis of the Public Service. Five main
topic areas are covered:
• staff numbers
• composition
• people costs
• leadership
• capability and diversity.
The survey data is a resource for agencies to use in
benchmarking themselves with other agencies, sectors
and the Public Service as a whole. HRC information also
feeds into university research, parliamentary questions,
international benchmarks on government performance,
policy advice and is an example of the Public Service’s
commitment to open government.
Figure 1
Technical aspects of the survey
The survey collects employee and organisational level
information from departments. The survey covers
permanent and fixed term staff. The database of
information is managed by the Strategic Information
team within the State Services Commission, who have
information on Public Service employment dating back
to 1913. Information on the survey structure, definitions,
and contact details are available on the SSC website:
http://www.ssc.govt.nz/hrc-survey-materials.
HRC reporting and capping reporting
This report complements the capping of Core
Government Administration update which reports
on the total number of positions (FTE staff numbers
plus vacancy numbers) in the Core Government
Administration group, and the number of communication
staff in each department. For the full capping report,
see http://www.ssc.govt.nz/capping-june14.
There is a significant overlap between the staff covered
by the cap on Core Government Administration and staff
in the Public Service. Figure 1 highlights the overlaps
and differences between these two groups.
Core Government Administration and the Public Service
Capping Report
Core Government Administration
Corrections
29 Public Service
Departments plus
• Corrections Services
• Other parts of Corrections
• Other parts of MSD
Social Development
(MSD)
• TEC
• NZQA
• HNZC
• NZTA
• NZTE
• Child Youth & Family
• Work & Income
Public Service
HRC Report
6
5 Crown Entities
Human Resource Capability
A guide to New Zealand's central government agencies
Public Service
29 Departments subject to the State
Sector Act
State Services
• Crown Agents (incl DHBs)
• Autonomous Crown Entities
• Independent Crown Entities
• School Boards of Trustees
• Crown Entity Companies (incl CRIs)
• Crown Entity Subsidiaries
State sector
Crown Entities
State Services
4 Non-Public Service Departments
Other organisations and companies
subject to the Public Finance Act
Reserve Bank of New Zealand
2 Non-Public Service Departments
Offices of Parliament
Crown Entities
• Tertiary Education Institutions
State-Owned Enterprises
Mixed Ownership Model Companies
Public Service
State Services
State sector
By definition, the Public Service
comprises the departments listed on
the 1st Schedule of the State Sector
Act 1988. Irrespective of being
called a department, ministry or
some other title, they are all Public
Service departments.
By definition, the State Services
comprises the agencies that operate
as instruments of the Crown in
respect of the Government of
New Zealand (i.e. the Executive
Branch of Government). This
includes the Public Service, most
Crown entities, the Reserve Bank, a
range of agencies listed on the 4th
Schedule of the Public Finance Act
1989, companies listed on Schedule
4A of the Public Finance Act, and a
small number of departments that
are not part of the Public Service.
By convention, the State sector
comprises the agencies whose
financial situation and performance
is included in the Crown accounts
as part of the Government
reporting entity under the Public
Finance Act 1989. This includes
the
State
Services,
tertiary
education institutions, State-Owned
Enterprises and Mixed Ownership
Model companies, as well as a small
number of agencies that operate
as instruments of the Legislative
Branch of Government.
Human Resource Capability
7
Staff Numbers
The State sector workforce
The New Zealand State sector1 employs around 300,000
people. This represents 13% of the total workforce in
New Zealand.
Within the State sector, the Education (35%) and Health
(22%) sectors are the largest. This is followed by the
Public Service (16%). The public sector workforce is
shown in Figure 2.
1
Within the State sector, the size of each workforce varies
according to the context in which the sector is working.
The Public Service has remained about the same size
over the past 5 years (+0.1%), compared to health and
local government which have grown by 18% and 14%
respectively. The education sector has decreased in
size by 6.7%.
The SSC uses the HRC survey, the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), the Health Workforce Information Programme
(HWIP), and Defence Force data to estimate the number of employees in the Public Sector.
Figure 2
The public sector workforce (headcount), June 2014
New Zealand Employed Workforce 2014
(2,319,000)
State Sector
Secondary
Education
27,900
9%
Pre-school & other
Education Services
8,800
3%
Tertiary
Education
35,500
12%
Primary
Education
32,700
11%
Private
Sector
85%
State
Sector
13%
Health
(DHB)
66,460
22%
Public
Service
47,120
16%
Local
Govt
2%
Figure 3
Other
Crown
Entities
25,560
8%
State
Owned
Enterprises
35,600
12%
Defence
Force
8,841
3%
Police
12,240
4%
Workforce growth in State and private sectors, 2004-2014
Annual Growth Rate
8
6
4
2
0
-2
-4
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
¢ State Sector
8
Human Resource Capability
2009
2010
¢ Private Sector
2011
2012
2013
2014
Employment in the State services
Figure 3 illustrates annual workforce growth between
the State and private sectors over the last decade.
During the mid 2000’s, when economic conditions were
more favourable, the private sector workforce outgrew
the State sector. As economic conditions worsened
in 2007–2010, private sector workforce growth was
impacted more than in the State sector. The subsequent
improvement in the economy saw the private sector
workforce grow faster than the State sector. This year
the State sector has increased in size by 1.0% which
compares to an increase in the private sector of 3.9%.
Figure 4
The State services are a slightly smaller workforce than
the State sector. The State services does not include
State Owned Enterprises, Mixed Ownership Model
Companies, Tertiary Education Institutions and some
offices related to Parliament.
As at 30 June 2014, an estimated 229,621 people worked
in the State services. In the year to 30 June 2014, there has
been an increase in the Public Service, the health sector and
other Crown entities, and a small decrease in the education
sector. The trend since 1989 is shown in Figure 4.
Estimated State services headcounts, 30 June 1989-2014
Number of Employees
250,000
Other
QES & NZDF
(Other Crown Entities, NZDF, Police,
and Non-Public Sevice Departments)
200,000
Education
150,000
(Early Childhood,
Primary & Secondary)
(DHBs)
HWIP
Health
(QES prior to 2006)
100,000
HRC
50,000
Public Service Departments
89
Table 1
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
Source
0
Public Service staff numbers, 30 June 2009-2014
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Total Headcount
47,052
46,822
45,807
45,444
46,546
47,120
Total FTE employees
44,672
44,554
43,595
43,345
44,500
45,280
2.5
-0.3
-2.2
-0.6
2.7
1.8
Annual change in FTE employees (%)
Human Resource Capability
9
Staff numbers in the Public Service
Capping of Core Government
Administration
In the year to 30 June 2014, the number of FTE
employees in the Public Service increased by 1.8%
(or +780) to 45,280. Staff numbers have increased for
the last two years, following three years of decline. The
increase in staff in 2014 is a result of changing service
models and large change initiatives such as welfare
reform and the Canterbury rebuild. Despite the increase
in the Public Service, the number of positions in Core
Government Administration has remained below the
cap, at 35,656.
Figure 5 also shows the number of staff under the cap on
Core Government Administration (lower line), compared
to the Public Service (higher line). The two lines cover
different groups of staff. The Public Service line covers
FTE staff in 29 core Public Service departments,
including three front line business units: Work and
Income, Child Youth and Family within the Ministry of
Social Development and Corrections Services within
the Department of Corrections. The Core Government
Administration line tracks progress against the
government’s capping policy. It measures staff positions
(FTE staff plus vacancies) and covers the Public Service,
except the three front line business units, plus five large
Crown entities (NZTA, NZTE, NZQA, TEC and HNZC)
that are outside the Public Service. (Six-monthly update
reports on Capping are available at the State Services
Commission website: http://www.ssc.govt.nz/capping).
Over the last 60 years, the Public Service has ranged
in size from a low of 30,000 in 2000 to a peak of 72,000
people in 1987. These changes are influenced by
functions moving into or out of the Public Service as well
as changes within departments. Recent staffing trends
are shown in Table 1 and Figure 5.
Figure 5
Staff numbers in the Public Service
Number of Employees
50,000
45,000
40,000
35,000
Capping intoduced
Cap reset
— Public Service FTEs
— Positions (FTEs and Vacancies) in core government administration under the cap
- - Forecast Positions in core government administration under the cap
10
Human Resource Capability
Dec 16
Jun 16
Dec 15
Jun 15
Dec 14
Jun 14
Dec 13
Jun 13
Dec 12
Jun 12
Dec 11
Jun 11
Dec 10
Jun 10
Dec 09
Jun 09
Dec 08
Jun 08
Dec 07
Jun 07
Dec 06
Jun 06
Dec 05
30,000
Composition
Traditionally, agencies in the New Zealand State services
have operated autonomously in making decisions
on functional business areas. As part of Better Public
Services reform, changes are being made to provide for
stronger system-wide leadership across Results and by
function.
Public Service agencies have been consolidating over
time, and as at 30 June 2014 there are 29 Public Service
agencies, the lowest number in 15 years. The number of
Crown entities has also fallen, going from 127 in 2005
to 122 today.2
Changes in staff numbers in Public
Service departments
• Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has increased
by 364 FTE employees, mainly in Work and Income,
as a result of Welfare Reform changes. This represents
an increase of 4% of MSD total staff numbers.
• Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority increased
by 140 FTE to support the rebuild of greater
Christchurch and in particular the central city.
• Ministry of Primary Industries increased by 106 FTE
staff to support an increase in market access and
border inspection work.
• The Ministry of Education increased by 94 FTE
staff in areas such as Special Education and the
implementation of Novopay.
• Statistics New Zealand decreased by 210 FTE
owing to the completion of the 2013 Census and
reorganisation of its workforce.
The Public Service workforce has increased in size by
1.8% or 780 FTE employees during the 2014 June year.
Fifteen departments had an increase in FTE employees
and fourteen departments had a decrease, as shown in
Figure 6.
2
• Inland Revenue Department increased by 166 FTE staff
as a result of its Business Transformation Programme.
Staff numbers by occupation
Occupational information within the Public Service is
collected using the Australian and New Zealand Standard
Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO). A set of HRC
customised occupational groups is used to report on
occupations in the Public Service. A breakdown of the
most common occupations in these customised groups
is provided in Appendix 4. Table 2 shows FTE staff
numbers by occupational group for the last five years.
This excludes any changes to the number of School Board of Trustees and Crown entity subsidiaries, of which there are
around 2,435 and 200 respectively.
Figure 6
Changes in department FTE staff numbers, June year 2013-2014
Changes in FTEs (2013 to 2014)
500
400
300
200
100
0
-100
-200
Statistics
MBIE
Customs
Corrections
DIA
TPK
Crown Law
MCH
SFO
LINZ
ERO
MoD
SSC
MWA
MPIA
MoT
GCSB
Treasury
MfE
MFaT
DPMC
MoH
DoC
MoJ
MPI
MoE
CERA
IR
MSD
-300
Human Resource Capability
11
Fixed term staff and inter-agency
Secondments
Over the twelve months to June 2014, six of the eleven
occupational groups have increased in size. There
were decreases in Policy Analysts (-8.9%), Legal, HR
and Finance Professionals (4.1%) and Clerical and
Administrative Workers (-4.6%).
Collaboration enables better decision making, based on
more diverse perspectives. Staffing arrangements such
as secondments, fixed term agreements and acting roles
enable collaboration by creating new relationships, and
generating more horizontal movement across the sector
than the use of permanent employment alone. Table 3
shows the number and proportion of employees on
fixed term agreements and inter-agency secondments.
Secondments within departments are not included. The
overall proportion of fixed term employees in the Public
Service increased to 8.4% in 2014. The number of
secondments in the Public Service has increased, but is
only a tiny proportion of the Public Service employees.
Over the five year period 2010–2014, there has been
a steady increase in Information Professionals (26.9%)
and steady decrease in Clerical and Administrative
Workers (-19.1%).
While these figures have been collected on the same
basis each year, departments periodically review their
occupation codes to ensure that the most appropriate
codes are used. These amendments can contribute to
changes in occupation numbers.
Table 2
FTE staff numbers by occupation group, 30 June 2010-2014
HRC Occupational Groups
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
% change
since 2010
Managers
5,105
5,050
5,172
5,120
5,281
3.4%
Policy Analysts
2,626
2,603
2,624
2,760
2,514
-4.3%
Information Professionals
3,411
3,333
3,530
3,956
4,327
26.9%
Social, Health and Education Workers
7,977
8,078
7,992
8,330
8,502
6.6%
ICT Professionals and Technicians
2,009
1,738
1,677
1,794
1,807
-10.1%
Legal, HR and Finance Professionals
2,129
2,075
2,182
2,202
2,111
-0.9%
Other Professionals not elsewhere included
1,923
1,813
1,660
1,938
2,282
18.7%
Inspectors and Regulatory Officers
9,454
9,334
9,234
9,480
9,688
2.5%
Contact Centre Workers
4,409
4,426
4,361
4,154
4,217
-4.4%
Clerical and Administrative Workers
5,178
4,821
4,565
4,393
4,191
-19.1%
333
324
348
373
360
8.4%
44,554
43,595
43,345
44,500
45,280
1.6%
Other
Total
Table 3
Number and proportion of employees on fixed term agreements and secondments, 30 June 2010-2014
Employees (headcount)
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Permanent employees
43,565
42,522
42,060
42,661
43,181
Fixed term employees
3,257
3,285
3,384
3,885
3,939
Proportion of current employees on fixed term agreements
7.0%
7.2%
7.4%
8.3%
8.4%
119
130
148
148
196
Number of inter-agency secondments
12
Human Resource Capability
45,280
269 or 0.6% of
Public Service FTE
employees worked
overseas as at June
30 2014
4 regions make up
79% of the Public
Service
Waikato
3,798
8.4%
Taranaki
410
0.9%
ManawatuWanaganui
1,879
4.1%
Tasman
34
0.1%
Nelson
474
1.0%
West Coast
218
0.5%
Southland
572
1.3%
Public Service
FTE employees
Northland
1,213
2.7%
Auckland
9,041
20.0%
Bay of Plenty
1,632
3.6%
Gisborne
253
0.6%
Hawkes Bay
1,051
2.3%
Wellington
18,734
41.4%
Marlborough
126
0.3%
Canterbury
4,354
9.6%
Otago
Regional staff
1,227
2.7%
In 2014, there were a total of 45,280 Public Service FTE
employees across New Zealand. The Wellington region,
being the main central administration, had the largest
proportion of this workforce with 41.4%. This was followed
by Auckland (20.0%), Canterbury (9.6%) and Waikato
(8.4%). These four regions accounted for 79% of the
Public Service workforce. The regional distribution has
been relatively stable in recent years.
Human Resource Capability
13
State Sector Workforce
90,000 (30%)
Auckland
The Auckland State Sector
The Auckland region has the largest share of the State
Sector workforce at 30% (around 90,000 people). This
compares with Wellington at 18%, Canterbury 12% and
Waikato at 9%.
In Auckland, the majority of staff (54%) work in the
Education sector (pre-school, primary, secondary and
tertiary education services). This is followed by the
Health sector (25%), the core Public Service (9.5%) and
4.5% in Police.
Table 4
The Auckland Public Service has greater ethnic
representation than the other major regions in terms of
representation of Maori, Asian and Pacific People. This
reflects the difference in ethnic distribution of the New
Zealand population.
The types of roles in the Auckland Public Service are
quite different to Wellington, reflecting Auckland’s larger
share of the population, and the different government
departments that have an Auckland presence. As
shown in Table 4, there are far more Social, Health
and Education workers and Inspectors and Regulatory
Officers, and fewer Managers, Policy analysts, ICT and
Information professionals.
Occupational makeup of the Public Service by the three major regions
HRC Occupational Groups
Auckland
Wellington
Canterbury
Managers
8.0%
16.3%
9.5%
Policy Analysts
0.5%
12.0%
1.4%
Information Professionals
5.2%
15.9%
7.7%
26.7%
7.0%
22.6%
ICT Professionals and Technicians
0.7%
8.7%
1.3%
Legal, HR and Finance Professionals
4.1%
7.1%
3.9%
Other Professionals not elsewhere included
1.2%
5.4%
4.5%
Inspectors and Regulatory Officers
35.1%
7.2%
28.6%
Contact Centre Workers
11.0%
7.0%
11.8%
Clerical and Administrative Workers
6.7%
12.8%
7.0%
Other
0.7%
0.7%
1.5%
Social, Health and Education Workers
14
The Auckland Public Service
Human Resource Capability
People Costs
It is important for agencies to understand the total cost
of staff. On average, 40% of agency costs are people.
People costs include elements such as wages and
salaries, superannuation, performance pay, redundancy
and retirement. Agencies also have costs associated
with their HR function, which run the people policies and
processes to effectively recruit, develop and manage staff.
The wider State services – Wage
inflation comparisons
To supplement the annual HRC survey salary
information, SSC purchases a customised report from
Statistics New Zealand’s LCI to monitor the movement
in Public Service wages and salaries on a quarterly
basis. The LCI measures movements in salary and
wage rates, or wage inflation, for the New Zealand
workforce.
In the year to June 2014, the LCI measured an increase
in wages and salaries of 1.2% for the public sector. Within
the public sector, the Public Service moved by 1.1%, the
education sector by 1.2% and the health sector by 0.7%.
In comparison, the private sector increased by 1.8%.
Figure 7
HRC and LCI salary movement figures are different
because adjustments are made to the LCI that ensure
a constant quality and quantity of labour is measured,
whereas the salary increase shown in the HRC survey
reflects the change in occupational structure of the
workforce, the movement in staff pay due to both
bargaining movements and pay progression. Figure
7 shows the LCI long term trend in salary and wage
movements of selected sectors since March 2010 on
a quarterly cumulative basis. Generally the salary and
wage movements in the Public Service have been lower
than those in the private sector and other government
sectors over the last four years to June 2014.
Between March 2010 and June 2014 the gap in wages
in salaries has widened between the public and private
sectors. The LCI shows that public sector wages and
salaries have increased by 6.2% compared to 8.4% for
the private sector over the last four years. Within the
public sector, the Public Service has increased by 5.2%,
followed by 5.8% for the education sector, 5.9% for the
health sector, and 8.7% for the local government sector.
Public and private sector wage movements, 2010-2014
%
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Mar
Jun Sep
2010
Dec
Mar
— Public Service
Jun Sep
2011
— Health
Dec
Mar
Jun Sep
2012
— Education
Dec
Mar
- - Private Sector
Jun Sep
2013
Dec
Mar
Jun Sep
2014
Dec
– – Local Government
Human Resource Capability
15
Personnel expenses
The Treasury publishes annual Financial Statements
of the Government which provide a record of the
Government's financial performance and of its
financial position. These statements include personnel
expenditure, which covers total remuneration paid by
an employer to an employee. It includes payments
such as wages, superannuation contributions and leave
entitlements. Personnel expenditure3 for core Crown
government agencies has increased in the 2013 and
2014 years as shown in Table 5, owing to increases in
staff numbers and salaries. In comparison, total Crown
personnel expenditure (that also includes Crown entities
and SOEs) has also increased since last year, but to a
lesser extent. Definitions for core Crown and total Crown
are given in Appendix 5.
The Public Service annual salary
movement
The HRC survey provides a snapshot of the base salaries
of staff in the Public Service as at 30 June each year. In
3
Total salary cost
Expenditure on base salaries is the single largest people
expense. Other components of personnel costs include
superannuation, performance payments, redundancy
costs and ACC levies. Total salary cost is calculated by
multiplying the total number of FTE employees in the Public
Service by the average annual FTE salary. These are
indicative salary costs and do not represent annual salary
expenditure. The total salary cost in the Public Service
rose by 4.3% to $3.18 billion in 2014, up from $3.05 billion
in 2013. These figures have not been adjusted for inflation.
Source: The Treasury, Financial Statements of the Government of New Zealand for the Year Ended 30 June 2014.
http://www.treasury.govt.nz/government/financialstatements/yearend/jun14
Table 5
Personnel expenditure3 in core Crown and total Crown, June year 2010-2014
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Core Crown Personnel expenditure
$5,991m
$5,996m
$5,915m
$6,037m
$6,232m
Total Crown Personnel expenditure
$18,477m
$19,088m
$19,475m
$19,935m
$20,484m
% Change in Core Crown personnel
expenditure from previous year
-0.8%
0.1%
-1.4%
2.1%
3.2%
% Change in Total Crown personnel
expenditure from previous year
2.3%
3.3%
2.0%
2.4%
2.8%
Table 6
Average and median salary, 30 June 2010-2014
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Median ($)
54,981
56,119
57,560
58,425
60,000
Average salary ($)
63,655
65,179
67,119
68,561
70,248
1.5%
2.4%
3.0%
2.1%
2.5%
Movement in average salary (%)
16
the year to 30 June 2014, the movement of the average
salary was 2.5%. This movement is affected by the
occupational structure of the workforce, the movement in
staff pay, and the salaries of new and departing staff. It
measures the salary change of the Public Service as a
whole, as opposed to measuring salary movements for
individuals. The trend since 2010 is shown in Table 6.
This group is slightly different from the core Crown group
that is mentioned above. Detailed definitions are provided
in Appendix 5.
Human Resource Capability
Average salary movement and total
cost by occupation
Average salaries, movements in average salary, and
salary costs for each occupation group are shown
in Table 7 and Figure 8. Salary cost is calculated by
multiplying the average salary on an FTE basis, for the
group by the number of FTE staff in that group.
Over half of the total salary costs in 2014 were spent
in three broad occupational groups: ‘Managers’ (20%),
‘Inspector and Regulatory Officers’ (17%) and ‘Social,
Health and Education Workers’ (16%).
The Manager group is the largest cost in absolute dollar
terms, at $633 million. This has increased by 4.6% since
last year. The second largest cost is the Inspectors and
Regulatory Officers group at $546 million, which has
increased by 3.4%.
The largest percentage increase in salary cost in 2014
is the Information Professionals group (up 12%) and the
‘Other professionals not elsewhere included’ (up 23%).
In contrast, two groups have had an overall salary cost
decrease, including Policy Analysts (down by 6%) and
Legal, HR and Finance Professionals (down by 2%).
These were mainly due to changes in employee numbers.
Table 7
Performance payments are defined as any lump
sum payments made to staff (whether as part of an
individual performance assessment or a collective
agreement settlement) that relate to performance,
incentive, productivity, exceeding expectations,
collaborative or innovative work or achieving results. In
2014, the number of employees receiving performance
payments has dropped to 1,634 which is 4% of all staff.
The average value for payments is $2,688 which is
higher than in 2013. The trend since 2010 is shown in
Table 8.
The large decrease in the number of performance
payments in 2014 compared to 2012 and 2013 was
a result of the Ministry of Social Development
collective agreement settlement to make productivity
dividend payments for the 2011/12 and 2012/13 years
only.
Twenty five departments made performance payments
in 2014. Around 70% of performance payments
occurred in five departments: Business, Innovation and
Employment, Land Information New Zealand, Foreign
Affairs and Trade, Internal Affairs, and Conservation.
Movements in average salary and estimated total cost by occupation group
Average Salary
June 2014
Movement in
Average Salary
between 2013
and 2014
Total Salary Cost
$(million)
$119,917
1.5%
$633
Policy Analysts
$91,494
2.9%
$230
Information Professionals
$77,547
2.3%
$336
Social, Health and Education Workers
$59,373
2.1%
$505
ICT Professionals and Technicians
$84,065
2.7%
$152
Legal, HR and Finance Professionals
$85,351
2.7%
$180
Other Professionals not elsewhere included
$71,097
4.1%
$162
Inspectors and Regulatory Officers
$56,380
1.2%
$546
Contact Centre Workers
$46,960
3.1%
$198
Clerical and Administrative Workers
$55,032
4.7%
$231
HRC customised occupation groups4
Managers
4
Performance pay
Appendix 4 describes the roles contained within the occupation groups.
Human Resource Capability
17
Superannuation
Recruitment and retention
As at 30 June 2014, 81% of the Public Service
were members of at least one employer subsidised
superannuation scheme (up from 78% in 2013). The
majority of staff (60%) belong to KiwiSaver, followed by
25% in the State Sector Retirement Savings Scheme
(SSRSS). Since the introduction of KiwiSaver in 2007,
membership continues to increase steadily as new
employees enter the Public Service. In contrast, the
proportion of employees belonging to SSRSS and
GSF (Government Superannuation Fund) schemes,
which were closed to new members in 2008 and
1992 respectively, have been decreasing gradually
as members leave the workforce. Figure 9 shows the
trend of Public Service participation in Superannuation
Schemes over time.
Recruitment activity in the Public Service has dropped
slightly to 8,550 new employees in the 12 months to 30
June 2014, as shown in Table 9.
Figure 8
About 39% of the new recruits are on fixed term
agreements. Fixed term agreements have been used at
a higher rate in the last few years (Fixed term staff make
up 8.4% of the Public Service workforce in 2014, which
is up from 7.0% in 2010).
The Better Administrative and Support Services (BASS)
programme has identified recruiting employees as an
expensive HR process. Larger agencies have more
efficient recruitment processes than small agencies
because of the advantages of scale.
Estimated salary cost by occupation group
Total Expenditure ($m)
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
Clerical and
Administrative
Workers
Contact Centre
Workers
Inspectors and
Regulatory Officers
Other Professionals
not elsewhere included
Legal, HR and
Finance Professionals
ICT Professionals
and Technicians
Social, Health and
Education Workers
Information
Professionals
Policy Analysts
Managers
0
Occupational group
¢ June 2011 ¢ June 2012
Table 8
¢ June 2014
Lump sum performance payments, June year 2010 to 2014
Number of staff receiving performance payments
Percentage of staff receiving performance payments (%)
Average value of performance payment ($)
18
¢ June 2013
Human Resource Capability
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
1,897
1,667
5,361
6,092
1,634
4%
4%
12%
13%
4%
$3,617
$3,538
$1,345
$1,626
$2,688
The effect of increased turnover is an increase in total
recruitment costs. Turnover is analysed later in the
report, on page 27.
Information on where staff move to after they resign
from Public Service roles is difficult to obtain. One of
the reasons for this is that people haven’t secured their
next role at the point they leave the Public Service. Of
the staff who specified their next employer, 38% moved
to another Public Service department in the year to 30
June 2014.
leave outstanding at 30 June 2014 (up from 19% in
2013). By department the averages ranged from 0% to
39%. Data on annual leave balances and the percentage
of staff with annual leave balances greater than five
weeks are provided by department in Appendix 3.
Annual leave entitlements
As at 30 June 2014, 64% of Public Service employees
received five weeks or more annual leave (62% in 2013).
Table 10 shows the trend since 2010.
Annual leave balances
Parental leave
It is important that agencies manage annual leave
balance liability from a financial management and health
and safety perspective. On average, 21% of Public
Service employees had more than five weeks of annual
As at 30 June 2014, there were 659 employees (1.4%
of the workforce) on parental leave, 643 of whom were
female and 16 male (2013 figures were 617 total, 603
female and 14 males).
Figure 9
Proportion of Public Service employees in subsidised superannuation schemes, June year 2009-2014
Proportion of Employees (%)
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2009
2010
2011
— KiwiSaver
Table 9
— SSRSS
- - No Super
2013
2014
– – GSF
Number of new employees, June year 2010-2014
Number of new employees
Table 10
2012
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
7,263
7,357
7,865
8,679
8,550
Annual leave entitlements (including department days), June year 2010-2014
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
4 weeks (%)
11%
14%
17%
10%
11%
Between 4 and 5 weeks (%)
27%
27%
23%
29%
26%
5 weeks and over (%)
62%
59%
61%
62%
64%
Human Resource Capability
19
Efficiency and effectiveness of HR
functions
Organisational HR functions carry out a mixture of
strategic and transactional activities associated with
effectively managing and making the most of people. It
is important for agencies to use the human resources
function as a strategic business partner, with a goal of
ensuring people are aligned with strategic objectives.
BASS reporting provides insights into the performance
of HR services to support agencies’ value for
money assessments, target-setting, and tracking of
improvements over time. BASS is supporting agencies
to assess their cost, efficiency and effectiveness and to
identify and track improvements across HR processes.
BASS results for the 2012/13 financial year continue to
show the need for significant change in HR services. HR
service costs have remained relatively stable over the
last three years. The agencies included in BASS spent
20
Human Resource Capability
$161.5m on the HR function in FY 2012/13, which is up
$1.0m (about 1 percent) from FY 2010/11 when adjusted
for inflation. BASS results suggest that compared to
international standards, there is a significant room
for effiency gains. HR needs to deliver more value to
agencies through business partnering.
Effectiveness indicators also show room for
improvement. The proportion of new hires in the
same role after 12 months is lower than international
comparators and has continued to drop year
on year. The Management Practice Indicators
were replaced by a Capability Maturity Model
(CMM) for the 2012/13 collection, to improve the
effectiveness measurement of the HR function. The
CMM scores showed that, overall, agencies aspire
to significantly improve the maturity of their HR
management practices over the next two years. The
two highest priority areas for improvement for agencies
were developing people skills of managers and staff
engagement. Source: The Treasury
Leadership in the State Services
The State services need leaders who are focused
on whole-of-system transformation and strategy. It is
critical that leaders can influence beyond their agency
boundary to deliver on key government outcomes for
the people of New Zealand.
The LCDD programme and delivery approach
is supported by the Performance Improvement
Framework, 4-Year Excellence Horizons, 4-year Plans,
and Executive Management of chief executives. The
programme priorities are focused in four key areas:
Changes to the State Sector Amendment Act
(2013) strengthened the role of the State Services
Commissioner to oversee the delivery of a leadership
strategy for the State services. In support of the
Commissioner, chief executives ensure alignment
and integration of the strategy at an agency, sector
and system level. A Government Chief Talent Officer
(GCTO) was appointed in May 2014 to deliver the
leadership programme and act as the Head of
Profession for Human Resources (HR) for the Public
Service.
• Position leaders as system assets
In 2013, the Leadership and Capability Development
and Deployment (LCDD) programme was established
to deliver on the aims of the leadership strategy and
integrate system-wide capability development and
leadership initiatives into a single change programme.
The LCDD programme is focused on ensuring the
development of current and future leaders to enable
the State services to be responsive to the needs of an
increasingly diverse New Zealand.
• Drive insights through data
• Unlock early in career leaders
• Provide stewardship of critical functions.
From good agency leaders to great
system leaders
The big challenges facing the State services require
leaders who can operate at both an agency and a
system level. As a result, there is a need to change
the dialogue around people, and to think differently
about how to attract, develop and retain people, as
well as use them most effectively. There is increasing
pressure being placed on chief executives for a renewed
emphasis and importance on people management and
development. What has been rewarded in the past will
not necessarily be rewarded going forward. We need to
understand different organisational cultures within and
outside the State sector, and think differently about how
we collectively achieve outcomes. The shift in leadership
we seek is defined below:
From good agency leaders...
To great system leaders...
• Leaders who operate with authority over things they
are accountable for (Agency Leaders).
• Leaders who operate with influence over things they
feel responsible for (Public Service leaders).
• Leaders who lead their agency and are mostly
internally focused.
• Leaders who lead in the cross-sectoral and wider
State services context and are mostly externally
focused.
• Leaders who are focused on managing risk and
delivering results safely.
• Leaders who consult the community on their
solutions.
• Leaders who get everything expected of them done.
• Leaders who focus on agency achievement and
protect their resources.
• Leaders who ‘manage’ their senior team members.
• Leaders who reflect and respond to the needs of
diverse New Zealanders.
• Leaders who know when to take calculated risks and
are not scared to experiment and learn from failure.
• Leaders who engage the community in their
questions.
• Leaders who concentrate their resources on their
top priorities.
• Leaders who also contribute to collective
achievement and can ‘take one for the team’.
• Leaders who build powerful teams and who lead
highly engaged organisations.
Human Resource Capability
21
Senior leadership in the Public Service
Senior leadership in the context of the HRC data is defined
as the top three tiers of managers within Public Service
departments.
As at 30 June 2014, there were 1,025 senior leaders in
the Public Service. This compares to 1,019 senior leaders
last year. The composition of the senior leadership has
changed slightly, with more tier 2, and fewer tier 3 positions.
The trend over the last 13 years has been a decline in
the number of senior leaders, which has been caused by
the reduction in the number of Public Service departments
over time.
As at 30 June 2014, the movement in average salary of
senior leadership was 4.0%, which is up from 3.3% last
year. This compares to the Public Service movement in
average salary of 2.5%. The average length of service
(within their organisation) for senior leaders is 10.4 years.
Sick leave usage for senior leadership is very low, at 3.3
days. This compares to 5.2 days for all managers group,
and 7.7 days on average, for all Public Service employees.
Mobility in senior leadership and
management
Senior Leaders are expected to have experience in
a range of contexts to be able to perform effectively in
delivering better public services. As mentioned elsewhere
in the report, secondments are a good way of promoting
exchange of ideas, building new relationships and
broadening perspectives. The number of secondments
in the senior leadership group can act as a measure
for increased collaboration in practice. As shown in
Figure 10 the number of secondments in leadership and
management positions has been increasing over the last
six years.
An indicator of the State services retaining talent is
which sector leaders are moving to when they leave
their positions. There are a variety of reasons why senior
leaders move, including retirement, restructuring, and
resignations to take up other positions. The HRC data
is incomplete in this area, as employees often do not
specify their next role when they resign. The data that is
provided indicates a large percentage of senior leaders
who resign to other roles stay within the Public Service.
Figure 10 Secondments in Public Service leadership and management positions, 30 June 2008-2014
Number of Secondments
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2008
22
2009
Human Resource Capability
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Diversity in senior leadership
Gender pay gap in senior leadership
Because of the relatively low turnover in tier 1, 2 and
3 roles, the ethnic and gender composition of senior
leaders does not change much year on year. The trend
over time is more important.
As at 30 June 2014 the gender pay gap in senior
leadership was 8.3%, down from 9.1% in 2013. This is
low compared to the gender pay gap for all management
roles (13.9%) and compared to the Public Service as
a whole (14.1%). Table 12 shows the change in senior
leadership pay gap over the last five years.
The proportion of women in senior leadership roles
has been slowly increasing over the last decade. As
at 30 June 2014, the percentage of women in senior
management is 42%. If the trend of the last 5 years
continues, the Public Service will reach 50% female
representation in senior leadership in 2029.
There has been an increase in the proportion of Māori
senior leaders, from 8.3% in 2010 to 12.0% in 2014.
Māori are still under-represented in senior leadership,
compared to their representation in the Public Service
workforce (16.6%). The proportion of Asian senior
leaders has increased over the last four years (from 1.7%
to 2.4%). There has been little increase in Pacific senior
leaders over the last four years. The figures for diversity in
senior leadership are shown in Table 11 below.
Table 11
Diversity in senior leadership, 30 June 2010-2014
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Public Service
Workforce (2014)
39.8%
39.6%
42.1%
41.5%
42.0%
60.0%
Māori
8.3%
9.2%
9.6%
11.2%
12.0%
16.6%
Pacific people
1.5%
1.6%
1.7%
1.8%
1.8%
8.0%
Asian
1.7%
1.9%
2.6%
2.3%
2.4%
8.2%
Women
Table 12
Senior leadership gender pay gap, 30 June 2010 to 2014
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Senior leadership gender pay gap
8.0%
8.0%
11.0%
9.1%
8.3%
Human Resource Capability
23
Capability and Diversity
Future capability – An ageing workforce
New Zealand’s ageing workforce is going to present
a number of practical issues to the Public Service.
The key question is how soon does this need to be
addressed?
Based on the Department of Labour (now the Ministry
of Business, Innovation and Employment) 2011 report5,
it is projected that until 2016 an additional 52,000
people annually will be needed across the New Zealand
workforce to replace increased numbers of retirees. This
is additional to the 36,000 people needed to support
new growth. Furthermore, from 2016 to 2021 this grows
to 70,000 people to replace retirees, with an additional
30,000 for growth. The report paints a challenging
picture, noting “the number of additional migrants
required to resolve the ageing issue would be so huge
as to be untenable”.
The Public Service is placed in a slightly more precarious
position compared to the wider New Zealand workforce
because of its large human capital investment, and due
to the age profile of the current workforce.
Figure 11 shows the age profile of the Public Service
compared to the total New Zealand employed workforce,
5
as measured by Statistics NZ’s Household Labour
Force Survey. It shows that the Public Service has a
smaller proportion of workers in the 15–29 age range
than the New Zealand workforce as a whole, which
reflects the nature of the occupations within the Public
Service. A high proportion of new recruits are in this age
range. However, young staff members are also a high
proportion of terminations. This means that that growth
in the proportion of young staff in the Public Service
workforce over the last year has been slow.
Figure 12 shows the change in the Public Service and
overall New Zealand workforce age profiles over time.
Both workforces have seen a relative increase in older
employees and a decrease in younger employees over
the last 14 years. However, the Public Service has aged
at a faster rate over this period, with a larger increase
in the share of employees aged 50 to 64 years, and a
larger decrease in the share of employees aged 25–34
years. The share of the Public Service workforce aged
between 25 and 34 decreased from over one in four
(26.1%) in 2000, to less than one in five in 2013 (19.8%).
In 2014, this grew slightly to 20.3%.
Solutions for an ageing workforce need to be considered
as the trend in ageing continues to progress year on
http://www.dol.govt.nz/publications/research/medium-long-term-employment-outlook-2021/medium-longterm-employmentoutlook-2021.pdf
Figure 11 Employee age profile, 30 June 2014
Percentage of Employees
20
16
12
8
4
0
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
Age Groups
¢ Public Service
24
— Public Service New Recruits
Human Resource Capability
- - Public Service Terminations
– – Total NZ Workforce
65+
year, and the implications in terms of the retention of key
knowledge and specialist skills are real. On the supply
side, the role of technology cannot be ignored, but this
is not expected to be a complete or instant solution.
Addressing demand through workforce solutions is a
more attainable goal, as the following Police example
shows.
The New Zealand Police provide a good example of the
potential of workforce initiatives to address their changing
workforce demographics. By 2019, 60 percent of all Police
officers are expected to be over the age of 40, compared
to 31 percent in 2000. Furthermore, 26 percent are
expected to be over 50, compared to 7 percent in 2000.
This is a large workforce change; especially considering
that prior to 2002 police officers were expected to retire
at 55.
In addressing the demographic shift, the Police
implemented a range of new changes. They have
established flexible employment options and promote
career planning for staff who may no longer be suited
for the front line. They have also acknowledged a likely
rapid increase in retirees, and noted the need to plan
accordingly. To overcome possible shortages in staff, the
recruitment group has started targeting 18–25 year olds
through initiatives such as their very popular Facebook
page which has 44,000 likes, and frequently gets over
2000 likes for a wall post.
The Police are a good example of an agency that is
purposively responding to changing demographics in
order to be fit for purpose in the future.
Workplace culture
The Better Public Services Advisory Group report
states that improved State sector performance will
require a culture that supports collaboration, innovation,
continuous improvement and citizen/business centred
service delivery. Performance Improvement Framework
(PIF) findings affirm the need to build a culture of high
performance, to strengthen processes of identifying and
managing poor performance and to improve employee
engagement. It is also critical that public servants operate
in a way that is fair, impartial, responsible and trustworthy.
Human resource indicators, such as staff engagement,
turnover and sick leave usage, provide insights into
organisational workplace culture. These measures should
be used in conjunction with other contextual information,
to provide richer insights to organisational performance.
Staff engagement
Staff engagement is seen as important because the
more engaged an employee is, the more likely they
are to apply the extra “discretionary effort” that leads
to high performance. There is evidence for this, with a
number of studies finding a relationship between staff
Figure 12 Change in proportion by age group between June 2000 and 2014
Change (percentage points)
5
4
3
2
1
0
-1
-2
-3
-4
-5
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65+
Age Groups
¢ Public Service
¢ NZ Employed workforce
Human Resource Capability
25
engagement and organisational performance, in both
the public and private sectors.6 Given this evidence, it is
not surprising that agencies regularly survey their staff to
gauge their level of engagement. In fact all the agencies
that respond to the HRC indicated that they use some
kind of staff engagement survey.
Information on agency results from staff engagement
surveys has been collected as part of the HRC survey
for the first time this year. This will allow research into
how engagement results vary across agencies over
time, and how these results relate to workforce and other
agency characteristics. The goal is to better understand
the factors driving improved staff engagement, and
therefore improved agency performance.
6
It will take time to develop this kind of understanding
of the staff engagement data. One issue that will need
to be resolved is the extent to which staff engagement
results can be compared across agencies. In 2014, the
29 Public Service agencies that provided information
through the HRC process used a number of different
staff engagement surveys:
• Kenexa was used by 15 agencies.
• Gallup was used by 11 agencies.
• Winsborough was used by 2 agencies.
• 1 agency had developed an internal staff engagement
survey.
Good summaries of the relationship between staff engagement and organisational performance can be found in chapter two of
Engaging for Success: Enhancing Performance through Employee Engagement, a 2009 report to the UK Government and the
follow-up 2012 report: The Evidence: Employee Engagement Task Force “Nailing the evidence” workgroup.
Table 13
Redundancies and average payments, June year 2010-2014
2010*
2011*
2012
2013
2014
784
888
764
696
440
48,564
45,728
50,650
47,696
55,825
38.1
40.6
38.7
33.2
24.6
Number of redundancies
Average payment ($)
Total cost of redundancy payments ($ millions)
*
2010 and 2011 figures have been revised
Figure 13 Redundancies by department, 2014
Number of redundancies
120
100
80
60
40
20
26
Human Resource Capability
MWA
SFO
DPMC
ERO
CERA
MfE
MPIA
MoH
TPK
SSC
Culture
GCSB
MoD
LINZ
MoT
Treasury
Crown Law
MPI
MoE
DIA
IR
MFAT
Statistics
MoJ
Corrections
Customs
MSD
MBIE
DoC
0
Redundancies
Service average of 9.2), and are older than the average
Public Service employee (redundant staff have an
average age of 52.3 compared to the 44.6 for the
average Public Service employee).
Redundancies are a part of turnover that agencies have
planned for. In the year to 30 June 2014, 440 employees
in the Public Service were made redundant (down
from 696 in 2013). The average redundancy payment
increased to $55,825 (from $47,696 in 2013). The total
cost of redundancy decreased to $24.6 million (from
$33.2 million in 2013). Table 13 shows the number and
total cost of redundancies in the Public Service are at
their lowest level since 2009.
Turnover
Figure 13 shows the number of redundancies in each
department. Just over a quarter of the redundancies
in the Public Service over the year occurred at the
Department of Conservation.
Turnover measures the rate at which staff change in an
organisation. Turnover increases when departments are
restructuring and when significant change is occurring.
Some turnover is healthy for organisations, as new staff
bring fresh ideas and the recruitment process gives the
employer the opportunity to adapt to changing capability
needs. However, turnover also comes at a cost – the
loss of institutional knowledge and recruitment costs to
replace staff.
Generally staff who are made redundant have above
average tenure (13.7 years compared to the Public
Gross turnover includes both turnover that is planned
and unplanned from the agency’s point of view. Planned
Table 14
Turnover rates in the Public Service, June year 2010-2014
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
15.6
17.8
17.3
16.4
17.0
Core unplanned turnover rate (%)
9.2
10.9
11.4
10.5
10.7
Male core unplanned turnover rate (%)
8.1
10.3
10.3
9.8
9.7
10.0
11.3
12.1
11.1
11.3
Gross turnover rate (%)
Female core unplanned turnover rate (%)
Figure 14 Gross and core unplanned turnover by department, June year 2014
Turnover %
50
40
30
20
10
CERA
Customs
ERO
MFAT
MPI
DoC
MPIA
MoT
MSD
IR
GCSB
LINZ
TPK
- - Gross Turnover %
Corrections
¢ Unplanned Turnover %
MBIE
MoE
MoH
Culture
MoJ
Statistics
DIA
MoD
MfE
DPMC
SFO
Treasury
SSC
Crown Law
MWA
0
Human Resource Capability
27
turnover includes staff who leave due to redundancy and
staff who finish fixed term agreements. Table 14 shows
that turnover rates in the Public Service have been fairly
constant in recent years.
Unplanned turnover
Core unplanned turnover measures the rate at which
organisations lose permanent staff due to reasons the
organisation hasn’t planned for such as resignations,
retirements, and dismissals. Unplanned turnover can
be used as an indicator of organisational health – less
engaged staff are more likely to leave an organisation.
Table 14 shows that core unplanned turnover has
been steady since 2013, at 10.7% across the Public
Service.
Turnover by department
Figure 14 shows the variation in core unplanned and
gross turnover rates for individual departments. Higher
gross turnover can indicate an above average use of
fixed term staff or significant change programmes within
an organisation.
Table 15
Turnover by occupation group
Another reason for the difference in turnover by
department is the variation in occupational composition
of their workforces. For example, certain groups such as
leadership and management have much lower turnover
than occupations such as policy analysts, contact centre
and clerical and administrative staff. Specialised roles
also have very low turnover as there is less scope for
these skills to be transferable. Departments that feature
at the lower end of the unplanned turnover spectrum,
such as Government Communications Security Bureau,
Core unplanned turnover by occupation group, June year 2010-2014
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
6%
8%
9%
9%
9%
12%
15%
15%
15%
16%
9%
10%
11%
11%
11%
10%
10%
11%
11%
10%
ICT Professionals and Technicians
8%
16%
16%
11%
9%
Legal, HR and Finance Professionals
9%
13%
13%
12%
13%
Other Professionals not elsewhere included
8%
10%
11%
9%
11%
8%
HRC customised occupation groups
Managers
Policy Analysts
Information Professionals
Social, Health and Education Workers
Inspectors and Regulatory Officers
7%
8%
8%
9%
Contact Centre Workers
13%
13%
15%
14%
15%
Clerical and Administrative Workers
12%
12%
14%
12%
12%
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
7.6
7.4
7.6
7.9
7.7
Table 16
Sick and domestic leave taken, June year 2010-2014
Average sick and domestic leave taken (days)
28
Turnover tends to be higher for small departments. This
relationship is also seen in the private sector.7 There are
a number of potential reasons for this. There are often
fewer opportunities for advancement within smaller
organisations so employees need to move to gain
experience or to advance their careers. Also, turnover
rates are more unstable in smaller organisations. For
example, one person leaving in an organisation of only
30 people will increase the turnover rate by over three
percentage points.
Human Resource Capability
New Zealand Customs Service, Education Review Office
and the Department of Conservation, all have a large
number of roles that are specific to their area of expertise.
Table 15 shows core unplanned turnover by occupation
group. The ‘Manager’ group and the ‘Inspectors and
Regulatory Officer’ group have the lowest turnover rates
in the Public Service. The Inspector and Regulatory
Officer occupational group contains specialised roles,
such as customs officers and security and intelligence
officers, which generally have lower turnover than
the general workforce. The 'Manager' group contains
senior leaders and the management pool. This group
traditionally has longer tenure within specific roles than
the rest of the workforce. Turnover for ‘ICT Professionals
and Technicians’ is also low in 2014 – the lowest rate of
unplanned turnover for this group since 2010.
7
Sick and domestic leave taken
Sick and domestic leave taken can be used as an
indicator of organisational health, with high levels
perhaps indicating staff disengagement or intention
to leave. There are many other factors that influence
sick and domestic leave use, such as age, gender and
occupation. In the year to 30 June 2014, Public Service
employees took 7.7 days of sick and domestic leave,
down from 7.9 days in 2013.
As shown in Table 17, sick and domestic leave use is
affected by the occupational makeup of the workforce
– overall front line occupational groups such as contact
centre operators and Social, Health and Education
Workers take more sick leave than policy or manager
roles. The average amount of sick and domestic leave
taken varies by department from 2.6 days to 10.5 days.
Data on sick and domestic days taken by department is
available in Appendix 3.
As shown by Linked Employer-Employee Dataset worker turnover statistics.
Table 17
Sick and domestic leave taken by occupational group, June year 2014
HRC customised occupation groups
Average Sick and Domestic
Leave taken (days)
Managers
5.2
Policy Analysts
4.5
Information Professionals
7.2
Social, Health and Education Workers
9.9
ICT Professionals and Technicians
7.4
Legal, HR and Finance Professionals
5.5
Other Professionals not elsewhere included
6.0
Inspectors and Regulatory Officers
8.1
Contact Centre Workers
9.6
Clerical and Administrative Workers
7.5
Human Resource Capability
29
Case study: Understanding the drivers behind sick leave usage at Inland Revenue
Myths tested: factors affecting sick leave usage
Having young kids
Gender
Part/full time
The 2012 HRC report showed that Inland Revenue (IR)
had the second highest sick leave usage in the Public
Service. Further analysis showed that this was the result
of a steady year-on-year increase in usage. This caused
IR to be concerned that their workforce was not as
healthy or as productive as it could be.
Identifying the issue
The reasons behind this high sick leave usage were not
well understood, so in early 2013 IR initiated a project to
investigate the underlying drivers and to identify practical
interventions that could reverse this trend.
The investigation did more than just look at the figures
and draw conclusions. It engaged all employees through
a survey on their views about sick leave usage. It also
engaged leaders through focus groups and one on one
interviews. The project team also conducted research
into best practice, and asked other agencies about their
sick leave and wellbeing policies.
Gaining insight
The analysis showed there were many and varied
reasons why people take sick leave, and that usage was
inconsistent across different groups in the organisation.
The information gathered was also used to either support
or dispel the many assumptions about who takes the
most sick leave and when this is taken.
IR chose to share all of their analysis and findings with
their employees. The report was presented in a visually
appealing way that made the information accessible to
a wide audience, and helped to convey why this was an
issue that needed their attention.
For most people, including leaders, this was the first
time they had seen any detailed information about sick
leave usage. The visibility and focus created by sharing
this information resulted in an immediate decrease in
sick leave taken. However, it was felt that this would not
be sustainable without further action.
30
Human Resource Capability
Had flu jab
Age
Particular days
Action & results
As a result, a working group was created to focus on
the issues identified by the analysis and develop a set
of practical initiatives to support the concept of ‘positive
attendance’. This is defined as ‘people turning up to
work ready, motivated and engaged to do their best in
their job when they are well, and staying away when
they are sick’.
Initiatives include new tools and resources to help
employees better understand their rights and
responsibilities for taking care of their wellbeing and
when using sick leave. Guidance and training is also
being developed to help leaders better support their
staff in using sick leave appropriately, and manage any
issues that may arise.
As a result of the increased focus on positive attendance,
and the roll out of the new initiatives, the annual average
sick leave usage in June 2014 has decreased by 1.5
days per person from its peak in 2012. Further decreases
are anticipated as the positive attendance initiatives are
embedded in the organisation and once training begins
for leaders in the latter half of 2014.
Annual sick leave usage
Dec
‘12
Jun
‘14
Diversity in the Public Service
Women in the Public Service
The ethnic diversity of the Public Service workforce
over the last five years is shown in Table 18. The ethnic
composition of the Public Service broadly resembles
that of the New Zealand working-age population, based
on the Household Labour Force Survey information from
Statistics NZ.
The proportion of women in the Public Service
continued to increase to 60.2% at 30 June 2014
(compared with 47.0% in the overall New Zealand
labour force). This is the highest proportion recorded,
up from 59.8% in 2013, and 56.6% in 2000. The type of
work in the Public Service may partly explain this high
representation as many Public Service occupations
such as ‘social workers’, ‘case workers’ and ‘clerical
and administration workers’ have a high representation
of women in the wider labour market. The proportion of
women in each Public Service department is shown in
Appendix 2.
In 2014, the European group remained the largest group
in the Public Service at 70.7%. This is lower than the
73.3% representation seen in the working-age population
(HLFS aged 15 years and over). Māori had relatively
higher representation at 16.6%, compared with 12.7%
in the working-age population. Pacific people also had a
relatively higher share at 8.0% compared with 5.5% in the
working-age population. In contrast, the Asian group had a
lower share at 8.2%, compared with 12.5% in the workingage population.
Table 18
Representation of ethnic groups in the Public Service, 30 June 2010-2014
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
New Zealand WorkingAge Population (2014)
Māori (%)
16.4
16.4
16.4
16.5
16.6
12.7
Pacific People (%)
7.6
7.6
8.0
7.7
8.0
5.5
Asian (%)
7.4
7.4
7.0
7.6
8.2
12.5
Middle Eastern, Latin
American, African (%)
1.0
1.0
1.1
1.2
1.1
1.0
72.6
72.5
73.1
72.0
70.7
73.3
European (%)
Figure 15 Unadjusted gender pay gap, June 2005-2014
Gender Pay Gap
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Human Resource Capability
31
The unadjusted gender pay gap
As at 30 June 2014, the average salary was $76,784
for men and $65,932 for women. The average salary
increased by 2.5% for both men and women since 30
June 2013. This has kept the unadjusted gender pay
gap fairly constant at 14.1%. Figure 15 shows that the
historic narrowing of the gender pay gap has slowed
since 2010. The definition for calculating the gender pay
gap is in Appendix 5.
A higher proportion of women work in the lower paid
occupations groups than men and this contributes to the
gender pay gap. For example, women make up 60% of
the Public Service workforce in 2014, but only 51% of
managers (although this is up from 47% in 2007). Table
20 shows that pay gaps by occupation are all lower than
the overall pay gap because people in equivalent roles
are being compared.
Table 19
To some extent, gender pay gaps within occupational
groups still reflect compositional differences between
the genders in terms of seniority and experience. For
example, women make up 51% of managers in the
Public Service in 2014, but only 42% of senior managers
(although this is up from 38% in 2007). Table 21 shows
that controlling for occupation, seniority and experience
(through age) reduces the size of the gender pay gap by
around two-thirds.
Average salary by gender, 30 June 2010-2014
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Female salary (average)
$59,522
$61,012
$63,033
$64,297
$65,932
Male salary (average)
$69,544
$71,219
$73,066
$74,903
$76,784
14.4%
14.3%
13.7%
14.2%
14.1%
Gender pay gap (%)
Table 20
Gender pay gaps by occupation group, 30 June 2010-2014
HRC customised occupation groups
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Managers
13.6%
13.8%
13.4%
13.9%
13.9%
Policy Analysts
10.1%
11.2%
11.1%
10.2%
9.7%
Information Professionals
8.5%
8.4%
7.7%
9.1%
9.7%
Social, Health and Education Workers
5.9%
4.9%
4.5%
5.4%
3.5%
ICT Professionals and Technicians
7.6%
9.4%
9.8%
9.6%
8.8%
Legal, HR and Finance Professionals
8.5%
9.9%
9.4%
10.6%
12.6%
Inspectors and Regulatory Officers
4.0%
4.6%
4.1%
4.5%
4.2%
Contact Centre Workers
1.0%
2.0%
2.7%
2.0%
3.3%
Clerical and Administrative Workers
6.4%
9.9%
6.8%
8.5%
13.4%*
11.9%
11.9%
8.8%
8.9%
8.9%
Other Occupations
*
32
Some occupational groups, such as managers, still have
high gender pay gaps. These gaps can be better seen
by looking at the difference in the gender distribution of
salaries by occupational groups as in Figure 16. These
box plots show how salary is distributed around the
median (the horizontal middle line), with 50% of salaries
being captured within the box, and 95% of salaries being
captured within the two t-bars or whiskers. The box plots
are more fully explained in Appendix 5.
The 2014 figure for ‘Clerical and Administrative Workers’ is unusually high due to miscoding of some procurement roles into the group.
Human Resource Capability
The factors contributing to the gender pay gap are
complex. Understanding these factors better will
contribute to more effective strategies in order to address
the pay gap. One factor that hasn’t been adjusted for in
this analysis is the impact of caring responsibilities on
career progression and pay. Anecdotally this is a key
factor alongside occupational segregation, affecting the
gender pay gap.
them as factors that need to be addressed if we are to
reach pay parity in New Zealand.
More work is required to reduce the gender pay
gap in the New Zealand workforce. All public sector
agencies can learn from best practice examples such
as those highlighted in the Human Rights Commission
report ‘What's Working: Improving Equal Employment
Opportunities in the Public Service’.8
Like the gender pay gap, ethnic pay gaps can relate
to the occupation profile of a particular ethnic group.
Māori, Pacific and Asian public servants are more
highly represented in the lower paid occupation groups
(‘Social, Health, and Education workers’, ‘Inspectors
and Regulatory officers’, ‘Contact Centre workers’ and
‘Clerical and Administrative workers’).
While data analysis can help to understand some of the
factors that contribute to the pay gap, it does not negate
8
Ethnic pay gaps
Table 22 shows ethnic pay gaps in the Public Service.
There has been little change in ethnic pay gaps between
2010 and 2014.
http://www.hrc.co.nz/eeo/whats-working-improving-equal-employment-opportunities-in-the-public-service/
Figure 16 Gender salary box plots by occupational group, June 2014
Human Resource Capability
33
Length of service and age
Disability
The 2014 HRC data shows that the average length of
service of Public Service employees has remained at
9.2 years since 2012. This figure is based on tenure
within a single agency not the Public Service as a whole
The Human Rights Commission report ‘What’s
Working in the Public Service’ highlights the legislative
obligations of Public Service departments to be a good
employer under the State Sector Act 1988. Part of being
a good employer means that staff with disabilities are
not disadvantaged in their roles, and that barriers do
not exist for employing disabled people. The report
recommended that the SSC collect disability information
through the HRC Survey collection as it has in the past. In
2005, disability information was reviewed and was found
to be of limited quality. SSC reviews its HRC content
on an annual basis, and the Human Rights Commission
recommendation will inform the review for 2015.
The New Zealand workforce is ageing as a whole.
Tenure and age trends since 2010 are shown in Table
23. More commentary on the age profile of the Public
Service is on page 24.
Table 21
Gender pay gaps adjusted for compositional differences, 30 June 2007-2014
Unadjusted
Year
Raw gender pay gap
Occupation
Occupation &
seniority*
Occupation, seniority*
& age
2007
16.0%
7.7%
6.8%
5.7%
2008
15.4%
6.9%
6.0%
5.1%
2009
15.4%
7.1%
6.2%
5.4%
2010
14.4%
6.2%
5.4%
4.5%
2011
14.3%
6.7%
5.7%
4.7%
2012
13.7%
6.1%
5.1%
4.4%
2013
14.2%
6.8%
5.9%
4.9%
2014
14.1%
7.2%
6.3%
5.3%
Table 22
Ethnic pay gaps, 30 June 2010-2014
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Māori (%)
11.4%
11.5%
11.3%
11.2%
10.4%
Pacific peoples (%)
19.2%
19.3%
19.0%
19.4%
19.6%
Asian peoples (%)
10.9%
10.6%
11.7%
11.2%
11.6%
Table 23
Tenure and age in the Public Service, 30 June 2010-2014
Tenure (years)
Average age (years)
34
Adjusted for:
Human Resource Capability
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
8.5
9.0
9.2
9.2
9.2
43.8
44.3
44.6
44.6
44.6
Appendix 1 FTE employees by department
Department
2011
2012
2013
2014
Business, Innovation and Employment
-
-
-
2,859
2,806
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority
-
5
106
182
323
Conservation
2,048
2,039
1,831
1,880
1,952
Corrections
7,704
7,290
7,509
7,593
7,555
Crown Law Office
181
184
186
164
148
Culture and Heritage
103
115
122
118
105
Customs
1,156
1,161
1,140
1,118
1,070
Defence
59
61
59
62
61
2,444
2,467
2,334
2,570
2,664
Education Review Office
209
216
210
211
208
Environment
294
306
258
270
300
Foreign Affairs & Trade
864
841
797
761
798
Government Communications Security Bureau
303
282
294
305
316
Health
1,291
1,122
1,078
1,089
1,131
Inland Revenue
5,512
5,646
5,301
5,475
5,641
Internal Affairs
1,505
1,964
1,924
2,013
1,982
Justice
3,205
3,068
3,473
3,450
3,540
Land Information New Zealand
484
425
427
473
469
Māori Development
323
336
310
306
287
Pacific Island Affairs
38
42
39
35
35
Education
Primary Industries
-
-
1,962
2,070
2,176
109
108
102
102
141
Serious Fraud Office
25
33
50
50
45
Social Development
9,333
9,210
9,193
9,567
9,931
State Services Commission
161
108
105
112
110
Statistics New Zealand
957
853
965
1,074
864
Transport
166
151
140
142
149
Treasury
357
363
378
401
426
31
20
23
24
23
44,554
43,595
43,345
44,500
45,280
Prime Minister & Cabinet
Women's Affairs
Total
9
2010
9
The total includes chief executives, who are not part of the departmental figures.
Human Resource Capability
35
Appendix 2 Department diversity information
Department
Business, Innovation &
Employment
Māori
(%)
Pacific
Peoples
(%)
Average
age
Fixed
term
(%)
Women
(%)
Women in
senior mgmt10
(%)
14
8
8
42
13
60
38
CERA
-
-
-
41
100
66
39
Conservation
1
12
0
45
18
41
32
Corrections
5
22
9
48
2
45
38
Crown Law Office
6
6
1
40
12
68
50
Culture and Heritage
5
13
1
46
30
61
47
Customs
11
9
7
44
2
44
23
Defence
3
3
2
45
6
42
15
Education
7
13
4
47
26
79
51
Education Review Office
3
23
5
57
6
73
60
Environment
4
3
1
39
4
63
40
Foreign Affairs & Trade
5
13
4
42
9
55
35
GCSB
6
8
3
46
2
36
38
Health
9
9
4
45
6
66
42
13
12
7
43
2
64
29
Internal Affairs
8
10
7
43
15
60
49
Justice
8
17
10
43
8
67
43
Land Information NZ
4
7
2
45
7
48
31
Māori Development
2
75
4
48
22
63
52
Pacific Island Affairs
0
6
78
47
6
56
33
Inland Revenue
Primary Industries
8
6
3
45
7
48
35
Prime Minister & Cabinet
0
13
3
47
12
51
15
Serious Fraud Office
7
5
0
43
11
52
33
Social Development
9
24
14
44
5
73
58
State Services Commission
5
9
0
45
8
65
52
17
6
4
45
7
53
67
Transport
8
5
1
43
8
45
37
Treasury
7
5
2
41
9
46
48
Statistics New Zealand
Women's Affairs
5
14
0
46
23
88
100
Public Service Average
8
17
8
45
8
60
42
10
36
Asian
(%)
Senior Management figures for individual departments include tier 2 and 3 senior managers only. The Public Service
average includes chief executives as well as tier 2 and 3 managers.
Human Resource Capability
Appendix 3 Tenure, annual leave,
and sick leave by department
Annual Leave
Balance Average
(# of days)
Annual Leave
Balance > 5
weeks %
Average Tenure
(years)
Average Sick/
Domestic Leave
Days taken
13
20
7
5.2
9
7
-
-
Conservation
16
21
10
6.3
Corrections
21
37
9
6.7
Crown Law Office
13
15
6
5.6
Culture and Heritage
12
8
7
4.9
Customs
14
10
14
8.3
Defence
19
32
7
2.6
7
13
8
5.9
Education Review Office
16
15
10
6.4
Environment
11
10
4
5.9
Foreign Affairs & Trade
24
39
10
4.3
GCSB
20
34
10
6.0
Health
13
15
7
6.3
Inland Revenue
13
15
11
9.1
Internal Affairs
17
16
8
7.3
Justice
12
8
7
7.3
Land Information NZ
17
23
12
5.6
Māori Development
14
9
10
9.7
Pacific Island Affairs
9
3
7
7.1
Primary Industries
15
18
10
5.6
Prime Minister & Cabinet
16
20
8
2.9
Serious Fraud Office
12
0
4
4.7
Social Development
17
22
10
10.5
Department
Business, Innovation & Employment
CERA
Education
State Services Commission
11
6
3
5.3
Statistics New Zealand
14
10
10
7.9
Transport
15
14
6
5.4
Treasury
14
14
6
3.8
9
7
4
7.0
15
21
9
7.7
Women's Affairs
Public Service Average
Human Resource Capability
37
Appendix 4 Occupations in the HR
customised occupation groups
HRC Customised
Reporting Group
Description
Common Occupations
Managers11
All managers in the Public Service.
Chief Executive
Office Manager
Policy and Planning Manager
Corporate Services Manager
Finance Manager
ICT Manager
Policy Analysts
The code Policy Analyst is also used for employees in
advisory roles.
Policy Analyst
Advisor
Information Professionals
Professionals who analyse and manage information and
data. Also included are professionals who provide advice
on business and organisational methods.
Management Consultant
Liaison Officer
Statistician
Intelligence Officer
Librarian
Social, Health and Education
Workers
Professionals who work in the Social, Health and
Education sectors.
Welfare and Social Worker
Teacher Aide
Residential Care Officer
Education Adviser
Careers Counsellor
ICT Professionals and
Technicians
Covers all ICT staff at the Professional and Technical
Level
Systems Analyst
Business Analyst
Programmer
Customer Support Officer
Systems Administrator
Legal, Human Resources
and Finance Professionals
Professionals who provide services in legal, financial
accounting and human resource matters.
Solicitor
Training and Development Professional
Accountant
Auditor
Human Resource Adviser
Other Professionals not
elsewhere included12
All other Professionals not covered elsewhere.
Park Ranger
Public Relations Professional
Conservation Officer
Environmental Consultant
Veterinarian
Inspectors and Regulatory
Officers
Staff who administer and enforce government and
corporate regulations and standards.
Prison Officer
Parole or Probation Officer
Customs Officer
Taxation Inspector
Court Registry Officer
Quarantine Officer
Contact Centre Workers
Contact and Call Centre workers, Inquiry Clerks, and
their immediate supervisors.
Call or Contact Centre Operator
Inquiry Clerk
Call or Contact Centre Team Leader
Clerical and Administrative
Workers
General Administrative and Office Support staff at the
clerical level.
General Clerk
Personal Assistant
Program or Project Administrator
Accounts Clerk
Clerk of Court
Receptionist (General)
Filing or Registry Clerk
Other Occupations
All occupations not classified elsewhere All occupations not classified elsewhere Unknown
Unknown or unclassifiable occupations
Unknown occupations
11
12
38
This group includes communications managers.
This group includes communications staff in non-management roles.
Human Resource Capability
Appendix 5 Definitions
Box Plots
Box plots are used in this report to graphically represent
the distribution of salaries. The line in the middle of the
box is the median salary. Half of employees have a
salary greater than the median and half have a salary of
less than the median. Median salary is less affected by
extreme values than mean (or average) salary.
The bottom of the box indicates the 25th percentile.
Twenty-five percent of employees have salaries below
the 25th percentile. The top of the box represents the
75th percentile. Twenty-five percent of employees have
salaries above the 75th percentile. This means that 50%
of employees earn salaries within the range of the box.
Around 95% of employee salaries lie between the range
of the two t-bars, or whiskers. The 5% of salaries that lie
outside this range (i.e. the outliers or extreme values)
have been removed.
Core Government Administration
Core Government Administration refers to:
• all Public Service departments (excluding the
Corrections Services section of the Department of
Corrections, and the Child, Youth and Family, and
Work and Income sections of the Ministry of Social
Development)
Crown entities, the Reserve Bank, a range of agencies
listed on the 4th Schedule of the Public Finance Act
1989, companies listed on Schedule 4A of the Public
Finance Act, and a small number of departments that
are not part of the Public Service.
Public Service
Public Service departments are defined in section 27 of
the State Sector Act 1988 as comprising the departments
specified in Schedule 1 of the State Sector Act. As at 30
June 2014 there were 29 Public Service departments.
Core Crown
A reporting segment consisting of departments, Offices
of Parliament, the NZS Fund and the Reserve Bank of
New Zealand.
Total Crown
Includes the core Crown (defined above) plus Crown
entities and State owned Enterprises.
Full Time Equivalent (FTE)
• five selected Crown entities: Housing New Zealand
Corporation; New Zealand Qualifications Authority;
New Zealand Transport Agency; New Zealand Trade
and Enterprise; and Tertiary Education Commission.
Each employee is assigned a FTE value between 0
and 1 depending on the proportion of full-time hours
(however defined by each department) worked. For
example, an employee working full-time equals 1 FTE
while an employee working 60% of full time hours
equals 0.6 of an FTE. The FTE values of all employees
are added up to give the total number of FTE employees
in an organisation.
Core Government Administration excludes:
Turnover
• the Corrections Services section of the Department
of Corrections
Turnover rates for the Public Service are derived
from the exits from departments. As a result, turnover
includes movements between departments and so the
actual level of ‘loss’ to the Public Service is below the
figures reported in this report. Three turnover measures
are used:
• the Child, Youth and Family, and Work and Income
sections of the Ministry of Social Development
• Crown entities (apart from the five noted above)
• non Public Service departments (New Zealand
Defence Force, New Zealand Police, Parliamentary
Service, New Zealand Security Intelligence Service,
Office of the Clerk, Parliamentary Counsel Office).
State services
The State services comprises the agencies that
operate as instruments of the Crown in respect of the
Government of New Zealand (i.e. the Executive Branch
of Government). This includes the Public Service, most
• Core unplanned turnover primarily due to resignations
of open-term employees, but also includes
retirements, dismissals, and death.
• Planned turnover includes cessations of staff on fixed
term employment agreements and cessations due to
restructuring.
• Gross turnover includes both core unplanned and
planned turnover.
Human Resource Capability
39
More information on how turnover is calculated can be
found at http://www.ssc.govt.nz/hrc-survey-materials.
Gender pay gap
The gender pay gap is defined as the difference between
the average salary for women and the average salary for
men, and is expressed as a percentage of the average
salary for men.
Ethnic pay gap
Ethnic pay gaps are defined as the difference between
the average salary for an ethnic group and the average
salary of those not in that ethnic group, and are expressed
as a percentage of the average salary of those not in the
ethnic group.
40
Human Resource Capability