Chief Executive Foreword

Kia ora tātou

I want the Tertiary Education Commission to be a great place to work. A place that people are proud to be part of and would encourage others to join. One where we all go home at the end of the week knowing we’ve helped improve the lives of New Zealanders.

Knowing you are being remunerated and rewarded fairly is one of the things that make people feel good about where they work. We have good systems in place to make sure we treat our people fairly during employment and assessment processes, and are remunerated and rewarded appropriately. We can think we are doing everything right, but we also have to check the outcomes, to make sure our systems are working as intended, and provide reassurance to staff and stakeholders.

Measuring pay equity is a key test. Our Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap Action Plan (GEPGAP) (2022–2024) has activities designed to better understand our data, ensure that our analysis is robust and address any inequities we have found. The GEPGAP also has a focus on inclusive leadership, career pathways, flexible work and creating a fair place to work.

The aim is that, regardless of a person’s gender, ethnicity and other personal attributes, we recognise and reward competencies, experience and performance equitably.

We recently analysed our workforce and payroll data. It showed some gender and ethnic pay gaps. Our overall average gender pay gap is 11.7 percent. This is slightly above the Public Service average gender pay gap of 8.6 percent (2021).

That shows that there is still work to be done in this area and I, as chief executive, along with the rest of the leadership team, need to stay focused on this area to ensure we continue to be a thriving organisation, where people are valued and can realise their potential.

We also need to take into account that we are a relatively small agency. That means our data can be significantly impacted by small changes in organisational design and structure, or attrition.

This is the first GEPGAP report we have published and I hope it provides confidence that not only do we have robust systems in place to manage the issue, we are conscious of and committed to transparency and fairness to TEC staff around decisions that influence pay and pay progression.

I am confident that the GEPGAP, together with strategic work already underway as part of

‘Mā tātou, Mō tātou’ and ‘He Marae Tangata’, will support our efforts to minimising gaps within TEC. Ngā mihi

Tim Fowler

Chief Executive

Pay gap information, 30 June 2022

Context

Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission released Kia Toipoto – the Public Service Pay Gap Action Plan in November 2021. It is a three-year plan to help public service departments and Crown entities close their gender, Māori, Pacific and other ethnic pay gaps. It builds on the Gender Pay Action Plan 2018–2020, which helped close the public service gender pay gap from

12.2 percent in 2018 to 8.6 percent in 2021.

As a Crown entity, the Tertiary Education Commission Te Amorangi Mātauranga Matua (TEC) is required to publish our pay gap information on our website by 31 December 2022, and publish an action plan to address any inequities found in our analysis of our pay information by 28 April 2023.

This document is the complete Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap Action Plan (GEPGAP). It provides information about TEC’s workforce profile and pay gap information (where we have been able to do so) for gender and Māori, Pacific and other ethnicities, and our planned activities to address the data and pay equity issues we identified in our analysis. The plan spans the timeframe 2022–2024.

Our commitment

We strive to be an inclusive, equity-minded and diverse organisation. Pay equity is a key indicator that we are achieving our strategic intent. We are committed to implementing our Kia Toipoto GEPGAP to address inequities at the TEC and to contribute to closing the gender and ethnicity pay gap across the wider public-sector workforce.

Strategic alignment

Our GEPGAP is strategically aligned and embedded with other initiatives to develop TEC’s inclusive, equity-minded and diverse organisational culture. The GEPGAP will benefit from, and contribute to, lifting TEC performance and cultural capability across a range of strategic initiatives.

Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap Action Plan

We actively try to lower the gender and ethnic pay gap. We have a Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap Action Plan which identifies specific and measurable goals and ways to achieve them.

Employee networks

We actively support and engage in employee networks within TEC, eg, the Rainbow Network, Māori and Pacific Networks, and/or we connect with such networks in the wider public sector.

Thriving TEC He Marae Tangata and targeted learning

We have defined three core capabilities in our people: “learner-centric, equity-minded and culturally affirming”, and are charting a path towards developing our people in these areas through targeted learning and development – eg, training on being consciously mindful of bias, and the “Beyond Diversity” training, resources and tools.

Multicultural events

We nurture curiosity in and respect for other cultures by celebrating cultural events, eg, Matariki, te reo Māori and Pacific language weeks, Eid, Diwali, etc, and host seminars and informal sessions, eg, “Cultural Coffees”, “Speakers’ Corner”, etc.

Biculturalism

We are intentional about fostering biculturalism though leadership, understanding Te Tiriti, improving our competence in engaging with Māori stakeholders including through te reo Māori, and underpinning our systems with te ao Māori and mātauranga Māori. We have a Māori Language Plan and are planning actions specific to te reo Māori under it.

Diversity & Inclusion Strategy

We have a Diversity & Inclusion Strategy which is aligned in principle to the Tertiary Education Strategy and to Te Kawa Mataaho (PSC) Diversity & Inclusion Guidelines. It defines how we can drive diversity, equity and inclusion through leadership, recruitment, talent management and internal capability development.

A Disability Action Plan is part of this strategy.

Developing the plan

We completed our analysis of pay data from 30 June 2022 and discussed the initial findings with the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), senior management and Public Service Association (PSA) delegates. The Chief Executive advised staff about the Plan’s development and shared high-level findings. This information was published on our internet and intranet on 19 December 2022. We have since developed our action plan with activities to progress our pay equity work programme. Staff and PSA representatives were invited to provide feedback and input to the action plan.

Our workforce profile

Our pay system

Our pay structure comprises:

• 16 pay grades for general staff roles
• 11 pay grades for IT staff
• an Executive pay band for Deputy Chief Executives.

Salary grades are linked to public-sector market midpoints and each grade ranges from 85 percent to 115 percent of these midpoints. We provide a base salary (exclusive of KiwiSaver). We review the market and pay grades against the public-sector market annually, and review salaries annually.

Appointment salaries, salary movement and job evaluations are undertaken with HR oversight. One-up approval is required for salary-related decisions, and decisions that are exceptions to remuneration policy need Deputy Chief Executive or Chief Executive approval (in consultation with the HR Manager).

Initial findings

Analysis of the employee and pay data (for permanent and fixed-term staff) showed:

• There is an organisational pay gap of 11.7 percent.
• We cannot readily identify potential pay gaps in starting salaries or salary progression.
• Women make up around 80 percent of the workforce in the general staff pay grades 11 to 17.
• Women represent approximately 65 percent of mid to senior roles (pay grades 18 to 26).
• Women are slightly under-represented among Tier 1 to 3 managers.
• Women make up 48 percent of the IT workforce but only 15 percent of the highest pay grades (IT pay grades 20 to 25).
• Of the 153 staff who are paid over the midpoint for their grade, 60 percent are women.
• Thirteen of the 16 general staff pay grades and all the IT staff pay grades have fewer than 20 employees.
• There is significant under-representation (when compared to the wider public sector) of Māori and Pacific people in the organisation, in leadership roles and at the highest pay grades.
• Approximately 20 percent of staff at TEC have not provided ethnicity data.
• Ethnic groups with fewer than 20 employees who have declared their ethnicity include Indian, Pacific and other ethnic minorities.

Our pay data

We have an overall gender pay gap of 11.7 percent. The data tables below provide information on the pay gap by gender, ethnicity and role. We have fewer than 20 employees in many sections of our analysis so we have been unable to publish all of our findings.

Note: A positive pay gap indicates men are paid (on average) more than women. A negative pay gap indicates women are paid (on average) more than men.

Gender pay data

We have clustered pay grades in order to provide pay gap data for groups of more than

20 employees. This has resulted in a smoothing of pay gap numbers across the clustered grades. We have provided average pay information across these clusters and will aim to provide average and median pay information next year.

Ethnicity pay data

We have provided average pay data for ethnic groups that include more than 20 employees. We can only give a gender breakdown for employees who identified as European (NZ European and non-NZ European) as there are fewer than 20 employees of each gender in all other ethnic groups (Māori, Pacific, Indian, Asian and Other Ethnic Minority). Pay data for employees who have not advised their ethnicity is not provided.

Role pay data

We have provided average pay data for roles with more than 20 employees. There are not enough employees in administration and area advisor roles to publish gender pay gaps for these roles. We intend reviewing occupational groups and role classifications next year to confirm that our findings are robust.

Drivers of pay inequity

While women are represented across the organisation, they are over-represented in the lower- paid grades. Women are well represented in the higher general staff grades but significantly under- represented in the higher IT pay grades. These two factors appear to be the key drivers in TEC’s overall gender pay inequity of 11.7 percent.

Pay inequity for women is evident within some ANZSCO defined roles. We need to further examine the data to understand the drivers for this, as women are well represented in all occupational groups other than information systems. Men are under-represented in national advisor and support staff roles. Role pay inequity may be impacting on the ethnicity pay gaps that are also evident. We need further analysis of ethnic representation within roles to establish whether there is a link between roles and ethnic pay gaps.

Men were paid more than women in some pay grades and pay grade “clusters”, while women were paid more than men in others. This is partly explained by the gender representation balance within each pay grade.

Length of service for both women and men is similar and relatively low, which suggests that employees leave TEC to develop their careers and potentially earn higher pay. At this stage, we do not know whether decisions about starting salaries are driving pay inequities in the organisation.

Strategic interventions

At a strategic level TEC needs to focus on improving representation of:

• women in senior IT roles
• men in advisory and support roles, and
• Māori and Pacific people in the organisation.

We need to investigate further to understand the drivers of pay differences between women and men when calculated by role. It would also be worth further investigating the gender pay differences of more than 2 percent that we found in some of the clustered pay grades and individual salary grades.

Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap Action Plan

Focus Area: Te Pono Transparency

Milestones

• By 31 Dec 2022 entities will publish their gender and ethnic pay gaps on their public-facing websites.
• By 28 April 2023 entities will publish full Kia Toipoto Action Plans on their public-facing websites.
• Entities ensure easy access to HR and remuneration policies, including salary bands.

Focus Area: Ngā Hua Tōkeke mō te Utu Equitable pay outcomes

Milestones

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

Focus Area: Te whai kanohi i ngā taumata katoa Leadership and representation

Milestones

• By 28 April 2023 entities include plans and targets to improve gender and ethnic representation in their workforce and leadership in their full Kia Toipoto Action Plans.
• By the end of 2024 the Public Service workforce and leadership are substantially more representative of society.

Focus Area: Te Whakawhanaketanga i te Aramahi

Effective career and leadership development

Milestones

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

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

Milestones

• By the end of 2023 entities have remuneration and HR systems, policies and practices designed to remove all forms of bias and discrimination.
• Entities ensure leaders and employees learn about and demonstrate cultural competence.

Focus Area: Te Taunoa o te Mahi Pīngore Flexible-work-by-default

Milestones

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

Gender and Ethnic Pay Gap Action Plan Success Criteria