GUIDANCE ON CAREER PROGRESSION, BREAKS AND LEAVE

August 2020

CONTENTS1. Introduction 3

1.1 Purpose 3

1.2 Application 3

1.3 About bias 3

1.4 How this guidance was developed 4

1.5 Overview of recommendations 4

2. Taking action 6

2.1 Assessing your current state 6

2.2 Plan and prioritise actions with unions, leaders and employees 8

2.3 Building culture and capability 9

2.4 Embed transparency, accessibility and engagement 10

2.5 Make decisions collaboratively 11

2.6 Base decisions on gender neutral criteria 12

3. Reducing bias in career breaks 13

4. Reducing bias in leave 15

5. Reduce bias in professional development and growth 17

6. Reducing bias in career progression 19

7. Monitoring impact 21

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Purpose This guidance will help agencies eliminate bias from policies, practices, systems and workplace culture which impact career progression, career breaks and leave.

It will support agencies to achieve key milestones in the Gender Pay Gap Action Plan and give effect to the Gender Pay Principles.

Identifying and eliminating bias will also support agencies to address barriers to a fully diverse and inclusive workplace in which all workers can thrive.

1.2 ApplicationHuman resource practitioners, managers and people managers are advised to use this guidance with unions and employees when taking action to ensure all policies, processes and practices around leave, career breaks, leader development and career progression are free of bias as agreed in Gender Pay Principle 4: Sustainability and Gender Pay Principle 5: Participation and Engagement.

Agencies should apply this guidance to all employment arrangements, including contractors, in accordance with in Gender Pay Principle 4: Sustainability.

1.3 About biasOur thinking about women and men is still deeply influenced by beliefs about appropriate female and male behaviour. This includes the types of work that men and women should do, the skills, importance, and value of jobs where women and men traditionally dominate, and who should do unpaid work.

The resulting gender bias leads to poorer labour market outcomes for women compared with men. It also results in entrenched bias in systems which may be overlooked. Removing bias from processes, practices and systems around career development, career breaks and leave will address important aspects of the employment environment that contribute to poorer employment, pay, and progression opportunities for women.

Women are diverse, and it is important that policies and practices take account of these differences. Public Service data shows that ethnic and gender pay gaps compound so that Māori, Pacific, and Asian women experience greater pay gaps than European women. To change these outcomes, actions to reduce all forms of bias need to include diverse perspectives and needs.

The actions recommended in this guidance can help reduce all forms of bias, as long as agencies take into account the diverse perspectives and needs of all of their employees.

A number of recommendations in this guidance are similar to those recommended in our other guidance, e.g. Recruitment and the Flexible-Work-by-Default guidance. This is because there are some common approaches that help guard against bias in decision-making in human resource practices. These include making decisions collaboratively rather than by individual managers and increasing transparency and engagement with unions and employees. Agencies are already working to close gender pay gaps and increase diversity and inclusion. As a result, your agency may already be familiar with, and have implemented, some of the practices recommended in this guidance.

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It is unlawful to discriminate on the basis of gender, race, sexual orientation, disability or age, and equality is a universal human right. Despite this, discrimination persists. Action is required to remove bias from policies and practices.

Beyond fairness, and the legal right to equality and non-discrimination, there is a strong business case for improving employment outcomes for women and enhancing diversity within your agency. It leads to better employee engagement and satisfaction, better employee attraction and retention, more diverse leadership, and better organisational performance.

1.4 How this guidance was developedThis guidance was developed jointly by the Gender Pay Principles Working Group and the Gender Pay Gap and Pay Equity Taskforce l Te Rōpū Mahi Rerekētanga Utu Ira Tangata me te Whakaōrite Utu. The Gender Pay Principles Working Group is comprised of unions and the Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, State sector agencies, and the Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission. The Gender Pay Gap and Pay Equity Taskforce is a cross-agency team resourced by Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission, the Ministry for Women l Te Minitatanga mo ngā wāhine and the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment l Hīkina Whakatutuki.

1.5 Overview of recommendations Efforts to remove bias from policies, practices, systems and workplace culture which impact career progression, career breaks and leave should combine:

• systems, policies and practices with appropriate guidance and controls around decision-making, and

• decision-makers and leaders who are culturally competent, understand bias, and how to mitigate it in their own decisions.

Definitions

For clarity the terms used in this guidance are defined here

Career Break

A career break is any gap in paid participation in the workforce. A career break may include travelling, having and/or caring for children or wider whānau, working voluntarily, mahi aroha, engaging in further study, or any number of other activities.

Leave

Leave encompasses any and all leave provisions accessible by employees. These include all statutory provisions as well as any additional contractual provisions as negotiated and agreed.

Career Progression and Promotion

Career progression refers to how an employee advances within a role. Promotion refers to a process whereby an employee moves to a higher position or grade.

Professional development

Professional development incorporates a broad range of learning opportunities throughout a career. From ‘acting up’/higher duties at a more senior level, secondments, leading or participating in a project, through to attendance at a conference, a training course, or completing further study.

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We recommend agencies work with unions, employees and leaders to implement the following recommendations.

PLAN ACTIONS

Plan actions using the results of your review and the remaining recommendations in this guidance.

BUILD CAPABILITY WITH TRAINING ABOUT BIAS AND CULTURAL COMPETENCY

Senior leaders, human resource practitioners and people managers need to be culturally competent and understand how to counter bias in their formal decisions and their day-to-day behaviour.

REVIEW CURRENT PROCESSES

Map the decision points, where there is discretion over decisions, and therefore where bias may influence decisions. Gather data about outcomes at these decision points and compare the outcomes for different groups. Supplement data with feedback from leadership teams, people managers, diverse employees and unions.

EMBED TRANSPARENCY, ACCESSIBILITY AND ENGAGEMENT

This will help guard against bias and provide assurance to leaders, unions and employees that systems, policies and practices are designed and implemented fairly and are delivering fair outcomes.

BASE DECISIONS ON TRANSPARENT GENDER-NEUTRAL CRITERIA

Bias is more likely to affect decisions if criteria are not clear and/or are open to interpretation. Criteria need to be tested for bias, be clear and be understood by decision-makers, employees and unions.

MAKE DECISIONS COLLABORATIVELY

When supported by clear gender-neutral criteria, group decision-making provides opportunities to test and challenge assumptions, and helps ensure decision-making processes are consistent across the agency. Agencies can develop their own processes depending on their size and the scale of decision-making.

MONITOR PROGRESS

Ensure your actions have the desired impact by periodically refreshing the data and the feedback gathered at the start of your process.

MITIGATE THE RISK OF BIAS AT SIGNIFICANT DECISION-POINTS

Appointment, promotion, leave, progression, secondments and professional development opportunities are some key decision points that have significant effects for different groups.

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2. TAKING ACTIONThe sections below will help you tailor your actions to your own agency, according to the degree to which you have already taken actions in line with this guidance and earlier guidance.

The recommendations throughout this guidance don’t prescribe a linear process. For instance, agencies can begin aligning their policies and practices with the recommendations in later sections of this guidance at the same time as they build their data and information.

2.1 Assessing your Current StateThis section reflects the importance of collecting, analysing and monitoring data, reviewing policies and practices, and assessing workplace culture to identify factors contributing to gender pay gaps as stated in Gender Pay Principle 4: Sustainability.

Agencies should also take a proactive and collaborative approach to engaging with unions, employees and people leaders from the earliest stages of this process, in line with Gender Pay Principle 5: Participation and Engagement.

Step 1:

Map decision points

Decision points in the context of this guidance are any times where discretion is present in how policies or practices are enacted, or how opportunities are offered or rewarded. Mapping these within your agency will provide a comprehensive view of where bias may influence your policies and practices, and enable you to compare your current policies and practices at each decision point with the recommendations in this guidance.

All decision points are susceptible to bias. Evidence indicates that gendered assumptions are frequently made in assessing current ability and future potential of women that adversely impact their career trajectory.1 Remember to include decision points that affect:

• appointment

• all forms of leave

• promotion

• progression within salary ranges (note this is also explored in our remuneration guidance)

• access to secondments/acting up opportunities

• access to professional development such as training courses, conferences and study.

1Huang et al (2019) Women in the Workplace Mckinsey and Company

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Step 2

Gather and review data

This will:

• enable you to target any bias “hot-spots” and/or groups experiencing particularly poor outcomes, e.g. low rates of progression or promotion for women

• help identify any gaps in data recorded by your agency

• provide you with baseline data from which to monitor progress.

Examples of the types of metrics you may need to gather include:

• professional development spending (both internal and external costs)

• internal promotion applications and outcomes

• discretionary leave approved and declined

• career breaks, rates of return to work and retention post return to work

• Public Service Leadership Group membership and participation in Career Boards

• progression within role.

Review this data by gender, ethnicity, part-time/full-time, casual and fixed term status, and by employees who have taken career breaks and those who have not. Gender and ethnic bias also compound for Māori, Pacific and Asian women, so we recommend combining gender and ethnicity in your data analysis.

Step 3

Gather feedback

Data may not be available at all points so seeking feedback from employees will provide critical information to fill in data gaps and also to understand your workplace culture.

Workplace culture significantly impacts how policies are operationalised and whether procedures and processes are seen as accessible or effective. It is important that managers and people leaders don’t assume their own experience is representative.

“While overall strategies and policies can be positive in theory they rely on your manager and team to be successful. For those

with a male dominated or Pākehā dominated (or both) subculture this can mean no real impact from any

wider policy or strategy.”

- WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT

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Building a comprehensive picture of organisational culture will assist in determining what level of action is necessary to give effect to the gender pay principles within your agency.

You should seek views from employees, staff networks (where applicable), unions, managers, leadership teams and human resource practitioners. Some key questions for feedback include:

• how are career breaks and non-traditional career paths viewed in your organisation?

• do all employees (including part-time, flexible, casual) feel they have access to genuine opportunities for promotion, progression and support?

• does equitable access translate into equitable outcomes?

• is access to professional development viewed as equitable?

• if available opportunities for professional development are not taken, ask why not?

• do some employees experience barriers to accessing professional development? (e.g. if opportunities require additional hours of work or work outside established patterns of availability)

• does professional development lead to more opportunities for progression or promotion?

• how is the taking of leave, such as sick leave or domestic leave viewed by your organisation?

• are there clear and accessible ways for people leaders and managers to recognise skills and knowledge that may have been developed outside the workplace?

• is flexible and responsive training and support offered to those reorienting to the workplace on return to work?

• what positive workplace cultures are modelled by leaders in your agency?

2.2 Plan and prioritise actions with unions, leaders and employeesGround your planning within:

• the recommendations in this guidance

• the findings from your data and information gathering exercise (see Step two: Gather and review data above)

• any actions your agency is already taking as part of your agency’s gender pay gap action plan and diversity and inclusion strategy

• how these actions support your workforce and organisational strategy and organisational culture.

Informal contributors to workplace culture

There are informal or unspoken contributors to every workplace culture which can act as invisible barriers to ensuring a diverse workplace. These can be in the form of ideas or embedded beliefs, such as “a successful employee is constantly available” or in the way that events are set up, such as opportunities to network with colleagues being in the evening and/or associated with drinking or sport. Making informal contributors to workplace culture visible is an important part of making active choices about building a culture of equality, leadership accountability and diversity where all staff are more likely to be successful2.

2 Huang et al (2019) Women in the workplace McKinsey & Company

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In thinking about planning and sequencing your actions we recommend you consider:

• what you may be able to achieve in the short term, such as implementing the recommendations in sections 2.4 Transparency, accessibility and engagement and 2.5 make decisions collaboratively

• what you may be able to undertake concurrently, such as building your data and information while beginning to implement recommendations in other parts of this guidance

• the ongoing nature of some of the recommendations, like those in section 2.3 Building culture and capability

• how you can integrate the actions you take into ongoing work programmes around leadership development, culture, attitudes and engagement.

2.3 Building culture and capabilityThe capability of people leaders and managers is a core contributor to workplace culture. Your agency should have training and support resources available for all decision-makers (human resource practitioners, leaders, including union delegates, and all managers) to build a shared understanding about how bias and discrimination can occur in processes, everyday decisions, and become entrenched in systems and policies.

Training and support in conscious and unconscious bias should:

• change behaviour, not just raise awareness

• focus on gender and other forms of bias, such as ethnic bias and bias against disabled employees, and employees who are members of rainbow communities

• give attention to the compounding impacts on many employees of gender and other forms of bias, including ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation

• examine the specific values of New Zealand European culture and the nature and impact of ethnic privilege, as well as male privilege

• provide positive counter-stereotypic examples

• acknowledge that work in this area can be uncomfortable and challenging for individuals and agencies

• involve participants in identifying workplace practices that can perpetuate bias, and in reviewing their own decision-making practices for scope for bias to influence their decisions

• offer practical strategies to help participants mitigate bias in their decision-making, such as techniques to slow down thinking and create pause points for reflection

• provide follow up opportunities for participants to practice these strategies.

We recommend integrating cultural competency training with training on bias. In this way common themes can be highlighted, such as ethnic privilege in the New Zealand context and the compounding impact of gender and ethnic bias on Māori, Pacific, Asian and Middle Eastern/ Latin American/ African (MELAA) women.3 4

3 Te Arawhiti l The Office for Crown-Maori Relations has more information and resources on public sector Maori Crown relations capability. 4 There are a range of providers that offer workshops and customised training in bi-cultural confidence and cultural intelligence in the workplace. Many agencies already have memberships with such agencies as Diversity Works New Zealand.

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Your agency should be actively working to:

• understand the implications of the Te Tiriti o Waitangi for your agency

• engage meaningfully with Māori

• understand, value, and embrace a range of cultural values and practices

• reflect these understandings in your work and communications, as well as your workplace culture, and all strategies, policies, decision-making and procedures.

Building the cultural competency of all managers, leaders and human resource practitioners involved in decision-making should include an understanding of cultural and gendered norms related to:

• authority and age

• body language

• negotiation

• promoting oneself (Kāore te kumara e korero mō tōna ake reka – the kumara does not brag about its own sweetness)

• the compounding impact of gender combined with ethnicity

• how misinterpreting cultural norms can lead to poor quality decisions about the pay and progression of employees. (For instance, some cultures consider direct eye contact rude or challenging, while a manager drawing on European cultural norms may interpret it as a lack of engagement and honesty).

2.4 Embed transparency, accessibility and engagementSee: Gender Pay Principle 2: Transparency and Accessibility, Gender Pay Principle 4: Sustainability and Gender Pay Principle 5: Participation and Engagement

Building transparency, accessibility and engagement into policies and practices that inform career progression, breaks and leave will help guard against bias and ensure systems and policies are designed and implemented to support fair and robust outcomes.

Step 1 Engagement and transparency in review of policies

As agencies review and amend their policies, practices, and build workplace culture in line with this guidance, we recommend they:

• regularly gather feedback from unions and employees about current policies and practices

• regularly gather feedback from, and problem solve with, unions and employees about policies or practices about which there are concerns

• take a proactive and collaborative approach to involving unions and employees from the earliest stages of reviewing existing policies, practices or processes, or developing new ones

• are transparent about all processes, any progress, outcomes, and results from monitoring.

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Step 2 Ongoing transparency and accessibility of information

Agencies should embed transparency and accessibility of information in their policies and practices that inform career progression, breaks and leave by:

a) proactively ensuring that the following information is readily available5 to employees in readily understood language

• leave entitlements and how to access them

• policies and processes that underpin development or moves such as secondment and acting up/higher duties opportunities

• support and cover options available for employees when they are on leave

• all processes and/or criteria managers use for approving leave

• current and upcoming opportunities for professional development and how they can be accessed

• options and examples for career breaks and returning to work

• criteria for progression/promotion, both within role and between roles

• how to appeal or review decisions

• how to escalate risks or behaviours that are not aligned with the agreed workplace culture standards.

b) developing your annual gender pay gap action plans with employees and unions, by:

• involving unions, employees and leaders from the earliest stages, through working groups, workshops or focus groups

• publishing final gender pay gap action plans on intranets and agency websites

• building in evaluation processes.

2.5 Make decisions collaborativelySee Gender Pay Principle 1: Freedom from Bias and Discrimination

Decisions made by individuals are more prone to bias than those made by groups. Group decision-making provides opportunities to test assumptions and help ensure consistent decisions are made across the agency. While collaborative moderation processes can take time, they are important for ensuring fair outcomes and for overcoming biases.

Agencies can:

• retain a focus on reducing discretion in decision-making processes

• engage unions, employees and leaders on the design of decision-making processes, the development of criteria and on the review of process outcomes

• peer review decisions about leave

• moderate progression or promotion decisions by groups of managers and human resource practitioners.

5 Readily available will depend on the nature of the workforce in your agency and the systems you have available. It is envisioned that readily available is a combination of intranet, staff newsletters, team meeting discussions, and any other fora appropriate for your agency.

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2.6 Base decisions on gender neutral criteriaBias is also more likely to affect decisions if criteria are not clear and/or are open to interpretation. Base decisions about promotion, progression and performance on clearly defined, transparent, gender-neutral criteria which can be easily accessed and understood by both decision-makers and employees. Decisions, and reasons for decisions, should be made available to candidates.

In developing gender-neutral criteria agencies should align their criteria with those in the Equal Pay Act 1972 and the Reconvened Joint Working Group Principles for Pay Equity, which assesses an employee’s work according to their skills, responsibilities, work conditions and knowledge, and demands or the degree of effort required.

Be mindful of the following common risks that can contribute to gender bias, ethnic bias and bias against other groups:

• failure to recognise and value skills that are traditionally identified as female. For instance, skills like effective communication, managing work flow, connecting across cultures and stakeholders and advising colleagues are frequently overlooked, especially when performed by those outside of a management role.6 (See Recruitment Guidance for more information)

• failure to recognise and value skills and knowledge acquired in unpaid work, such as family caring, volunteer work or mahi aroha

• failure to recognise and value cultural expertise. (If specific cultural expertise is desirable, ensure it is specifically included)

• failure to recognise and therefore consider internal candidates for promotion

• if using proxies for skills and knowledge, such as experience or qualifications:

• valuing the length of experience or experience gained in paid work only will disadvantage women who work part-time or have taken career breaks

• placing too much weight on specific qualifications or experience that are not necessary for particular roles can also disadvantage women, Māori and other groups less likely to hold these qualifications, or which are currently under-represented in these roles. Employees may have acquired the necessary skills and knowledge through equivalent paid or unpaid experience.

Once developed, agencies should ensure that all the criteria decisions are based upon are understood by those using them and all parties are aware of the risks noted above.

6The Spotlight skills identification tool provides a framework and examples to help identify and categorise skills that are often overlooked and consequently undervalued.

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7 Sin et al (2018) Parenthood and the Labour Market Ministry for Women 8 Harkness et al (2019) Employment pathways and occupational change after childbirth 9Ministry of Women’s Affairs (2013) Realising the opportunity: Addressing New Zealand’s leadership pipeline by attracting and retaining talented women 10 Ministry of Women’s Affairs (2013) Realising the opportunity: Addressing New Zealand’s leadership pipeline by attracting and retaining talented women 11On average, part-time workers are paid 12% less than full-time workers on a full-time equivalent basis as at 30 June 2019

3. REDUCING BIAS IN CAREER BREAKSSee Gender Pay Principle 1: Freedom from Bias and Discrimination and Gender Pay Principle 3: Relationship between paid and unpaid work

Research consistently shows that taking a career break impacts on earnings and career progression, both for the period of the break and cumulatively over time upon return to work. This is particularly true for women taking and returning from parental leave.7 8 Employees who return to work from a break in a career often experience slower progression, or no progression at all for the period of leave, isolation from their prior cohort of peers, and a lack of professional opportunities and development. If women return part-time the impact is likely to be even greater.

Skills, knowledge and competencies developed during a career break most often go unrecognised, even where there are direct, useful applications to the work environment.9

Emphasis on continuity of employment and traditional career paths contributes to systemic bias and often means agencies disadvantage women in the labour market, and agencies miss out on talented employees.10

Normalise flexible and part time work

Flexible-work-by-default is a specific focus of the Gender Pay Gap Action Plan because women still take on most of the family caring work, and are more likely to work flexibly than men. On the plus side, flexible work helps women remain in the paid workforce while also caring for family. On the downside, working flexibly and/or part-time can limit women’s career progression and reduce their lifetime incomes, because:

• senior roles are traditionally less likely to be offered flexibly and/or part time; and

• stereotypes exist that women working flexibly and/or part time are less interested in their careers, and/or less able to undertake challenging work or senior roles.

• people working part time are paid less compared to full time workers per hour.11

• traditionally agencies have failed to put into place appropriate infrastructure to facilitate flexible / part time work.

Normalising flexible and part time working for all types of roles will help break the association between working flexibility and stalled careers. In addition, research suggests that men face barriers to accessing flexible work, which limit their ability to take on greater family caring responsibilities. Increasing men’s access to workplace flexibility therefore has the potential to even the distribution of family caring work and help close the gender pay gap (see Flexible-Work-by-Default Guidance and Resources for detailed processes).

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Recommended Actions:

a) Ensure there is a proactive process to plan for a career break.

As the needs of each employee embarking on a career break will be different it is recommended a plan be agreed by both parties to provide certainty and confidence. Planning should consider things such as:

• ways that the employee may remain connected with their workplace during their absence. This could include things such as planning “keeping in touch days” for those on parental leave, being invited to staff social functions, training opportunities or pre-planned “touching base” points

• how any pay review (if applicable) will be conducted while the employee is absent

• initial plans for returning to work, this may include any refresher training, support and/or mentoring that may be appropriate or possible changes to hours/patterns of work that may be required.

• any other matters important to both parties.

b) Develop a shared understanding about the range of skills developed through a career break, whether through caring, voluntary and community work, mahi aroha, sports representation or other experiences.

It is recommended that you work with people leaders, unions and employees to shift away from traditional thinking and language that does not see any added value resulting from working outside the paid work environment. Putting together examples of skills gained in unpaid settings can encourage people to make visible areas of knowledge they may have developed. For example, mahi aroha has been identified to draw on and build skills in a range of areas12 including:

• cultural advice

• programme management

• facilitating social connectedness

• budgets/financial management

• problem solving

• governance

• information management and distribution

• leadership.

In developing a framework for the recognition of skills from outside the workplace it is critical to engage with Māori and to ensure a culturally responsive design that can recognise this.

Your agency may have done some work on this already as it is discussed in the Recruitment Guidance.

12 Raihana & Walker (2007) Mahi aroha Māori perspectives on volunteering and cultural obligations

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4. REDUCING BIAS IN LEAVESee Gender Pay Principle 1: Freedom from Bias and Discrimination, Gender Pay Principle 3: Relationship between paid and unpaid work and Gender Pay Principle 4: Sustainability

“I didn’t ever take my full sick leave or annual leave, I didn’t attend tangihanga, because while I was entitled it would have been viewed negatively. I have had to give away who I am to succeed”

- WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT

Taking leave is something that we all need to do during our working lives. Whether it is for rest and recreation, for bereavement or crisis, to recover from illness, for physical or psychological wellness or to care for a dependant. There are legislative minimums for leave and many agencies have additional leave entitlements negotiated through collective agreements or provided in policy.

There is considerable evidence that taking leave entitlements, regardless of the reason or the type of leave, continues to be viewed negatively and that being physically present at work (presenteeism) is still seen as an important indicator of a successful and committed employee.13

A culture of presenteeism can result in employees avoiding taking leave even when they are too unwell, bereaved, stressed or fatigued to be productive.14

For women who shoulder the majority of unpaid work and caring for dependants in our society, a culture of presenteeism can present a double bind. Taking leave entitlements can result in being identified as unready for promotion or progression, or as not being a strong “team player.” On the other hand, not taking leave can result in increased mental stress and pressure, decreased wellbeing and productivity. Challenging negative perceptions of leave is important to ensure that women, particularly Māori and Pacific women, are not disadvantaged in the workplace or in their careers.

13 Chambers (2015) Superheroes don’t take sick leave: Presenteeism in the New Zealand senior medical workforce 14 Mental Health Foundation Working Well - A workplace guide

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Recommended actions

a) Ensure leaders and people managers have active cover plans for absences

Having plans and processes to cover work when employees are on leave will ensure that people feel able to take leave as appropriate. It is important that plans are also available for part-time or flexible workers and it is not assumed they can catch up by working their hours at another time. Managers and people leaders need to manaaki people to ensure they are not coming to work sick, stressed or accruing significant annual leave time. This will be especially true for family violence leave.

b) Role model leave use

Leaders and people managers should role model taking leave, including taking dependent leave. Peer and leader role modelling are the two most significant contributors to ensuring leave use is not stigmatised.15 “Leaving loudly” is an action workplace leaders can take, as it supports and normalises different patterns of work and challenges presenteeism.16

c) Consider your organisational communications regarding leave.

Consider promoting, via your intranet or other appropriate internal communications network, clear information about leave. For example, communications could incorporate information about the cultural requirements of tangihanga and roles on the marae to enhance understanding of the whānau and community responsibilities Māori employees may have at a time of bereavement. Employees can also be actively encouraged to take their leave, and men can be encouraged to take leave to care for a dependent to share caring responsibilities.

15 Business NZ and Southern Cross Workplace Wellbeing Report (2019) 16 Global Women (2018) How inclusive do New Zealand workplaces feel? And what can you do about it?

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5. REDUCE BIAS IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH See Gender Pay Principle 1: Freedom from Bias and Discrimination, Gender Pay Principle 3: Relationship between paid and unpaid work and Gender Pay Principle 5: Participation and Engagement

“Professional development has become so templated and restrictive with such hurdles to prove relevance or cost

effectiveness that it never seems to meet the needs of our staff or translate to real opportunities and growth”

- WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT

Professional development is integral to ensure that each employee can grow and progress throughout their career. In the changing world of work, professional development is a critical tool to support employees to adapt, grow, and enhance the agency’s performance. Failure to provide equitable and genuine investment in professional development can reduce employees’ job satisfaction and increase staff turnover.17

Agencies should be aware that gender differences can exist in both access to and uptake of professional development opportunities, and in how development translates into career progression.18

Recommended actions:

a) Ensure equity of access

We recommend that professional development plans are proactively and jointly developed between employees and managers to ensure that every employee has suitable development opportunities. Plans should be monitored across work groups and the organisation as a whole.

Ensure that as many professional development opportunities as possible are flexibly offered and can work with the individual goals of the employee. Where specific opportunities have limited flexibility, it is important that managers and employees discuss how access can be achieved, e.g. by supporting childcare arrangements, accruing days in lieu or accessing alternative, more flexible opportunities.

Consider whether competitive processes are involved to access development. Men, in particular Pākehā men, are more likely to put themselves forward for opportunities in a competitive/contestable framework. Women, especially those holding part-time or flexible roles are more likely to be overlooked or opt out in this type of model. There are also significant cultural barriers present in putting oneself forward.

17 LinkedIn (2018) Workplace Learning Report 18Ministry of Women’s Affairs (2013) Realising the opportunity: Addressing New Zealand’s leadership pipeline by attracting and retaining talented women

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b) Promote opportunities widely

We recommend assumptions about suitability, interest or capability do not inform who opportunities are offered to or how they are advertised. Agencies should proactively encourage people to take opportunities that lead to career progression.

For training courses, conferences and other upskilling or networking events consider utilising your staff intranet, newsletters and team meetings to ensure that information and details on how to access are widely available.

For secondments and acting up opportunities we recommend that policies regarding how these operate are developed and/or reviewed with unions and employees and are readily available to all staff.

c) Monitor uptake

We recommend monitoring uptake of professional development opportunities and addressing any inequitable outcomes by identifying barriers to uptake and removing them. Do not assume that people are not putting themselves forward because they are not interested.

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6. REDUCING BIAS IN CAREER PROGRESSION

“Many times, I have mentored and trained others who got the promotion ahead of me, and yet they relied on me to ensure they could do the job. It’s been like one step forward ten back my whole career. I have always had to do more to

be seen anywhere near the same.”

- WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT

See Gender Pay Principle 1: Freedom from Bias and Discrimination, Gender Pay Principle 2: Transparency and Accessibility and Gender Pay Principle 5: Participation and Engagement

Career progression is an important feature of any working life. It is not just important for those wishing to hold senior or leadership positions, but as a way for all employees to move between occupations, reflecting their broadening skills base and interests, to be recognised as successful within their current occupation, or to become specialists in a subject area.

There is a significant body of research that tells us that how success is identified and measured is extremely vulnerable to bias. Being considered ready for progression or promotion is often linked with behaviours such as extroversion and individualism and actions such as presenteeism and constant availability.19 This favours men because men are more likely to promote themselves and their abilities and are unlikely to share the same level of unpaid work or caring responsibilities as women. Even in agencies which have policies around balancing personal and professional lives, the advent of 24/7 expectations and ‘crisis-oriented work patterns’ can impact on who is seen as ready for promotion.20

Linear career pathways in which full-time, continuous employment is the norm will create a barrier to advancement for all staff but especially women who have taken breaks, work part-time or work flexibly.

Recommended action

Ensure progression frameworks are gender neutral

Just as bias is more likely to affect decisions made by individuals than those made by groups, bias is also more likely to affect decisions if criteria are not clear and/or are open to interpretation. We therefore recommend that agencies check their progression criteria for gender-neutrality and other forms of bias, if this has not already occurred.

19 Kolb & McGinn (2008) Beyond Gender and Negotiations to Gendered negotiations 20 Hewlett & Luce (2005) Off-ramps and On-ramps: Keeping talented women on the Road to Success

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There are distinct points in progression systems where bias and discrimination can have an impact, and this may vary dependant on the system/s operated by your agency. Key points to review are:

• Where progression is linked to the completion of a test or assessment

Tests and assessment processes can codify bias, preferencing traits, behaviours and competencies exhibited by men and by Pākehā. Where testing exists this needs to be accompanied by evidence demonstrating how the process has actively mitigated potential for bias.

• Where progression is linked to years of experience or qualifications

If years of experience in paid work are used to indicate the level of skill and competence of an employee, women who have taken breaks from paid work could be unjustly disadvantaged. We recommend that paid work experience is not used as a proxy for capability as this can disregard other skills and knowledge an applicant may have. Similarly, agencies should be mindful of not placing too much weight on specific qualifications that are not necessary. Doing so could disadvantage women or other groups less likely to hold these qualifications or who are under-represented in these roles.

• Where progression relies on employee’s self-promotion

Many progression frameworks require employees to self-promote and identify their readiness to take on more responsibility. Evidence indicates that men are more likely to identify themselves as ready and able to do more senior work and progress through their career, even when they are less skilled or experienced than a female peer.21 When women do engage in self-promotion there is a tendency for this trait to be viewed negatively in women with the perception being they are arrogant or aggressive.22 There are also significant cultural barriers present in putting oneself forward. We recommend that managers work proactively with employees to identify goals, strengths and opportunities for progression, and that development is promoted as a shared responsibility.

• Where progression relies on performance ratings

Performance decisions may be subject to gender, ethnic and other biases. If agencies link performance ratings with readiness for progression, we recommend that:

• performance decisions are based on transparent gender-neutral criteria developed with unions and employees (see 2.6 base decisions on transparent gender-neutral criteria). Decisions and reasons for decisions are recorded and provided to employees.

• part-time employees are assessed against the same transparent gender-neutral performance criteria as full-time employees and delivery expectations must reflect their part-time hours. Further advice on managing employees working flexibly, including part-time, can be found at Flexible-work-by-default Guidance.

• agencies are aware that performance-based pay increases disadvantage employees who are hesitant about promoting themselves. For instance, women may give less favorable self-assessments of their performance and potential, than similarly performing men because of gendered norms about promoting oneself. This is compounded in some cultures.

21 Exley &Kessler (2019) The Gender Gap in Self-Promotion NBER Working Paper No. 26345 NBER Program(s): Economics of Education, Labor Studies 22 Eagly & Karau (2002). Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders.

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7. MONITORING IMPACT This section reflects Gender Pay Principle 4: Sustainability

Agencies can ensure their initial changes have the desired impact by working with unions and employees to:

• periodically refresh the data and feedback gathered at the start of your process. (See 2.1 Assessing your current state)

Agencies can then consider:

• whether the results of monitoring suggest that policies need further adjustment in line with this guidance and/or whether further work is needed to strengthen your agency’s capability (see 2.3 Building culture and capability)

• how data analysis and review findings can be made accessible to employees and unions, while maintaining employee privacy (see section 2.4 Embed transparency, accessibility and engagement)

• recording their progress and any changes they plan to make in their annual gender pay gap action plan.

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GUIDANCE ON CAREER PROGRESSION, BREAKS AND LEAVE

V1.4 August 2020