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Joint Report: Gender Pay Gap and Pay Equity Taskforce Progress Report for April 2020

Date: 6 May 2020 Report No: SSC2020/0067

Contact: Alex Chadwick Telephone:

Action Sought Deadline Minister of State Services Hon Chris Hipkins

Note this report None

Minister for Women Hon Julie Anne Genter

Note this report None

Enclosure: Appendix One (A3 on page 7)

Executive Summary

Overall Taskforce work programme

• International evidence shows that pandemics magnify existing gender-basedinequalities and have a disproportionate economic impact on women as theyearn less on average and are concentrated in the most affected sectors. Giventhis evidence and the impact of COVID-19 on agencies and unions, we arereviewing the remaining milestones in the Gender Pay Gap Action Plan (ActionPlan) and our wider work programme to ensure that we continue to target theareas that will have the most impact for women and support the recovery of theeconomy.

• We do not anticipate any significant change to the overall work programme butwill brief you on our review and any proposed adjustments we may recommendlater this month.

Gender Pay Gap work programme

• The Taskforce is revising the Progress Report to take account of the changingenvironment due to the COVID-19 pandemic and response, and we will sendyou a new draft report in mid-May. Some options for the release of the Reportare set out at paragraph 11 below.

• We continue to support agencies in the development of their individual ActionPlans, which are now due at the end of May. Despite the extended deadline, 14agencies have already submitted either draft or final Plans. We expect thatsome agencies may need to seek a further extension to the current deadline asagency resources have been diverted due to the COVID-19 response. We willprovide an update following the end of May deadline.

9(2)(a) privacy

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• We continue our support for the 11 remaining agencies that are working to ensure that gender is not a factor in salaries for the same or similar roles (equal pay).

• Work on the Flexible Work, Remuneration and Career Breaks, Progression and Leave guidance continues.

Pay Equity work programme

• The progress of pay equity claims has slowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic as:

o employer and union resources have been diverted to respond to the pandemic

o the physical distancing requirements temporarily preclude some aspects of the claims process

o some employers were initially unsure about whether to progress pay equity claims at this time.

• The State Sector Pay Equity Oversight Committee is scheduled for 11 May 2020.

Minister’s Office Comments Comments:

Date returned to SSC

Recommended Action

We recommend that you:

a note the progress being made by the Gender Pay Gap and Pay Equity Taskforce

b agree that SSC release this briefing once it has been considered by you, with matters under active consideration withheld under section 9(2)(f)(iv) of the Official Information Act (OIA), including the attached Appendix One, and information related to pay equity in the Executive Summary and paragraphs 16 to 26 under

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section 9(2)(j) of the OIA, to enable agencies to carry on without prejudice or disadvantage negotiations.

Agree/disagree. Agree/disagree.

Hon Chris Hipkins

Minister of State Services

Hon Julie Anne Genter

Minister for Women

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Joint Report: Gender Pay Gap and Pay Equity Taskforce Progress Report

Purpose of Report 1. This is the eighteenth monthly report on the progress of the Gender Pay Gap

Action Plan (Action Plan) and Pay Equity in the State sector work programme.

2. A dashboard outlining progress against each of the Action Plan milestones is attached as Appendix One.

Overall Taskforce Work Programme 3. International evidence shows that pandemics magnify existing gender-based

inequalities and have a disproportionate economic impact on women as they earn less on average and are concentrated in the most affected sectors, including caring work (both paid and unpaid). Gender-based inequality in pay and employment means that women, households, the economy, and society are less able to weather an economic crisis.

4. Ensuring that State sector workplaces treat women and men equitably in pay and employment is necessary to help ensure that:

• the response to COVID-19 does not exacerbate the gender pay gap in the State sector, including sex-based differentiation in the remuneration of work performed predominantly or exclusively by women

• New Zealand women, families, the economy, and society are well positioned to weather future economic shocks,

• New Zealand harnesses the economic and social benefits of making the best possible use of all skills available to our economy.

5. Given this evidence, and the impact which COVID-19 has had on agencies, particularly their HR teams, we are reviewing and reflecting on the remaining milestones in the Action Plan and our wider work programme. We will consult with unions and system leaders as part of this review and aim to brief you on any recommended adjustments to the work programme, later this month.

Public Service Gender Pay Gap Action Plan

GPG Action Plan Progress Report and publicity options 6. The Taskforce is revising the Progress Report to take account of the changing

environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic and response, and we will send you a new draft report in mid-May. The report will be ready for release by the end of May or early June as an online resource.

7. In consultation with the Ministry for Women, we have developed some options for releasing the report, for your consideration. We will work with your offices and the Ministry to develop these options further. Options include:

• a media release, which could include a longer form op-ed piece, for example on the factors which have contributed to success so far

• a virtual event with a stakeholder group such as the Government Women’s Network, and an associated media release

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• a virtual presentation on the gender pay gap work in the Public Service as part of a series of presentations looking at women in employment under COVID-19. This series is being convened by NACEW and the Ministry for Women and will include exploring the gender pay gap. The events are planned for June and the audience would be mostly private sector

• there is also the option of releasing the report in two tranches, one which summarises the work to date, another focussing on the future (including post-COVID-19) challenges.

2020 Agency GPG Action Plans are now due at the end of May 8. We continue to support agencies in the development of their Action Plans, which

are now due for submission at the end of May 2020. Several agencies have advised us that staff working on their Action Plan have been redeployed due to their agency’s response to COVID-19 and so we expect that some may seek an extension to this deadline.

9. On 27 March, when we advised agencies of the extended deadline for submitting their Action Plans, we also encouraged them to share their draft Action Plans with us so we could continue to provide feedback and support agencies with their Action Plans.

10. So far, we have received 14 draft and/or final Action Plans from Public Service agencies. Although wider State sector agencies are not bound to submit plans, we have also received final Action Plans from ACC, Tourism New Zealand and a draft Plan from New Zealand Police.

11. We will provide an update following the end of May deadline on the number of Action Plans received and will commence jointly reviewing the Plans that we have received so far, with the PSA.

Equal pay milestone 12. As noted above, we are reviewing and reflecting on the remaining milestones in

the GPG Action Plan, including the equal pay milestone. Of the 11 agencies which were aiming for the 2020 equal pay milestone, five agencies have signalled that they may now have difficulty meeting the milestone this year due to the impact of COVID-19. Supporting all 11 agencies who are still working towards the equal pay milestone remains a priority for the Taskforce.

13. We note that the current messaging around pay restraint does not prevent corrections being made to pay to address sex-based undervaluation (including like-for-like gaps) and we have clarified this point with agencies.

Completing the final three pieces of guidance for agencies

Flexible Work by Default

14. The flexible-work-by-default guidance (which was due for imminent release pre-lockdown) is being updated to reflect the high level of remote working experienced by the Public Service at Alert level 4. A deep dive session with pilot agencies will be held next week to gather feedback on this experience. Feedback from this session will help us to ensure the guidance continues to be fit-for-purpose in the post-Covid working environment.