Mapping New Zealand’s diversity

Mapping New Zealand’s diversity

Over half (58%) of New Zealand employees want to see more diversity in the workplace, according to a poll of both employers and employees by recruiting experts Hays.

The recruiter surveyed 303 employers and candidates to map diversity in New Zealand workplaces and found:

Gender:
• 67% of employees say their organisation is gender diverse;
• 53% are not satisfied with the career path available to women at their organisation;
• 54% say there is not a balance of male and female representation at the senior executive level;
• 45% of employers say women are equally represented in leadership positions;
• 64% say a clear maternity leave policy is available.

Age:
• 68% of employees say their organisation has a workforce of various ages;
• But 23% say their organisation does not value mature-age workers;
• Just 32% of employers have plans in place to retain mature-aged staff.

Multi-cultural:
• 72% of employees say their organisation has a workforce of various cultural backgrounds;
• And 77% of employers are committed to recruiting a multi-cultural workforce;
• 62% of employees said immigrants face discrimination when it comes to accessing or gaining employment in New Zealand.

Disabilities:
• 29% of employees say their organisation’s workforce includes people with a disability.

“Many organisations strive for a diverse workforce, but when you look at the current situation in New Zealand we see that reality falls short of these lofty ambitions,” says Jason Walker, Managing Director of Hays in New Zealand.

“One problem is that when people think of diversity, they often focus on gender diversity alone. But a truly diverse workforce is one inclusive of people of various genders, ages, cultural backgrounds and people with physical and mental disabilities.

“In this context, few organisations in New Zealand can claim to truly have a diverse workforce. Many may meet the diversity criteria for one area, such as age, but fall short when it comes to another, such as gender representation,” he said.

Jason notes that there are diversity challenges unique to each target group. “When it comes to gender most organisations in New Zealand have invested time and effort into creating a diverse workforce, but have failed to achieve their desired outcome,” he says. “This is despite New Zealand’s population consisting of slightly more women than men and more dual-income families than ever.

“And in terms of age, discrimination is one of the biggest issues on the employment landscape but few employers want to admit to it. Yet older workers find it increasingly difficult to be hired by younger bosses, or are often the first to be laid off in staff retrenchments.

“Even when it comes to creating a truly multicultural workforce New Zealand still has some way to go. Given our multicultural roots, many of the New Zealand-born children of immigrants have moved into professional, technical and managerial jobs. But skilled migrants still face resistance from some hiring managers, as do refugees,” said Jason.

Hays presents six strategies to create a diverse workforce in its whitepaper, which was released today, ‘The Balancing Act: Creating A Diverse Workforce’. It is based on a survey of 303 New Zealand employers and candidates.

Hays, the world’s leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people.

ENDS

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