More women appointed to senior leadership in the public sector

State Services Minister Dr Jonathan Coleman and Women’s Affairs Minister Jo Goodhew welcomed the release of a new survey showing positive progress for women in the public sector.

The State Services Commission has today released its 2012 Human Resources Capability Survey which has recorded in increase in the number of women appointed to senior leadership roles.

“At just over 42 per cent, we now have the highest percentage of women in senior leadership positions since the HRC survey began,” Mrs Goodhew said.

“I am also pleased to see the continuing decline in the gender pay gap within the public sector to 13.7 per cent, the lowest it has been in the 13 years the survey has been conducted,” she said.

“The record proportion of women in senior leadership in the public sector is obviously an encouraging trend,” said Dr Coleman.

“There is also a clear trend for the gender pay gap. The survey shows in the 12 months to June the average salary for men moved by 2.6 per cent while the average salary or women moved by 3.3 per cent,” he said.

Staffing
The survey also revealed that staffing levels in the Public Service fell by 250 to 43,345 with the number of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) employees decreasing for the third year in a row.

Salary
The HRC survey reported that the average base salary of Public Service employees increased by 3% to $67,119 from $65,179 in 2011.  This movement, however, is not a direct reflection of the salary increases staff received, as the increase was affected by compositional changes in the workforce, progression within the scale and promotion. The Labour Cost Index which measures changes in wages and salaries in the New Zealand workforce showed the Public Service has lagged the private sector since June 2009.

Turnover
Core unplanned turnover of Public Service employees increased to 11.4% in 2012 with the average length of service for employees rising slightly to 9.2 years.  In the year up to 30 June 2012, 764 employees in the Public Service were made redundant down from 882 in 2011.  The average redundancy payment increased to $50,650.  Redundancy payments totalled almost $39 million, down from $40 million last year. The average age of public servants continued to increase and in 2012 is 44.6 years.

Human Resource Capability Survey of Public Service Departments
Questions and Answers

What is the HRC Survey?
The Human Resource Capability (HRC) survey collects data on staff in all Public Service departments, as defined in Schedule 1 of the State Sector Act 1988, and some wider State Sector organisations.  The survey has been conducted annually since the year 2000. More information on the survey contents and structure can be found at http://www.ssc.govt.nz/hrc-survey-materials.

What does the survey report cover?
This HRC survey report covers the Public Service - the 32 core departments as at 30 June 2012. It does not cover any of the wider State Services agencies, like Crown entities, Crown Research Institutes or State Owned Enterprises. The survey includes all permanent and fixed term employees but does not include contractors or employees who work on a casual or as-required basis.

Where does the data come from?
The Human Resource Capability (HRC) survey is collected from unit-record data on staff in Public Service departments. It has been collected annually since 2000. Data from Statistics New Zealand's labour market surveys are also used to allow comparisons with the labour force as a whole.

How does this differ from the Capping data?
The capping data is collected to monitor the Government's cap on the number of positions in core government administration, which is not the same as the Public Service. The capping data focuses on the number of FTE positions within the cap on core government administration. The latest data on capping can be found on the SSC website at www.ssc.govt.nz/capping-june12. The HRC report provides more detailed analysis of the Public Service workforce.

Why is this information collected?
The survey provides capability insights into the Public Service workforce and gives information on changing workforce trends. It also allows agencies to make informed decisions about their workforce.