New Zealand Work Research Institute releases 2014 Workplace Diversity Survey
AUT University’s New Zealand Work Research Institute (NZWRI) has released a report on diversity in the New Zealand workplace. Undertaken in partnership with the EEO Trust and the Chamber of Commerce, Northern, the report documents findings from the first four surveys sent out quarterly to employers and business owners within the networks of the EEO Trust and Chamber of Commerce, Northern.
The research explores diversity issues affecting New Zealand workplaces, such as the ageing workforce, ethnicity and flexibility, and aims to establish a benchmark of diversity practices in New Zealand.
Survey respondents, averaging approximately 1000 individuals representing hundreds of organisations, were asked about what diversity issues were most important to them. The responses revealed wellbeing, ageing workforce and flexibility were rated as the top areas of concern. Other issues reported included bias, ethnicity, gender, bullying, and employment transition for younger staff.
Director of NZWRI Professor Tim Bentley says, “one pleasing finding from the survey was that most organisations had female representation within the leadership team (>80% of organisations) and at the governance level (>75% of organisations). Indeed, females held just under half of the roles within leadership teams or at the governance level, although the proportion of female representation decreases with increasing organisation size”.
The research found that organisations had policies or programmes to address many of the diversity issues regarded as important by respondents. This was particularly the case for bullying and harassment, where more than 80 per cent of organisations had initiatives in place. The most notable exception was the ageing workforce, where less than 40 per cent of organisations had a relevant policy or programme.
The most commonly reported barriers to policies or programmes to address important issues were a lack of resources, lack of senior management support, resistance to change, lack of perceived need, small organisational size, and issues around specific types of staff needed in the organisation.
Flexible working arrangements were the most commonly reported diversity practice, offered by nearly 90 per cent of organisations.
The Survey aims to provide up to date information about diversity practices, and to provide a source of data for research carried out by the NZWRI, including a study of the perceptions and experiences of individual older workers in New Zealand organisations. A 2015 study will look at the the challenges of managing an inter-generational workplace and its diverse and potentially conflicting working expectations.
Professor Bentley says, “The New Zealand Diversity Survey has revealed many opportunities for further research to be carried out so we can better understand the increasingly diverse New Zealand workplace.”
Read the 2014 New Zealand Diversity Survey: www.workresearch.aut.ac.nz/nzdiversitysurvey