Te Whakapuaki Kōrero Model standards: Speaking Up

New Zealand is held in high regard for the standards of honesty, openness, transparency and integrity in the public sector, but our reputation depends upon our ability to build and maintain a culture that promotes speaking up about wrongdoing. 

Good policies and processes that encourage staff to speak up about possible wrongdoing are vital for maintaining the integrity of our public sector. 

These model standards outline the Public Service Commissioner’s minimum expectations for organisations to support staff who speak up in relation to wrongdoing (i.e. concerns about behaviour that could damage the integrity of the public sector). They comprise all the key elements for promoting a ‘speak up’ culture, operating good processes including timely investigations, and keeping people safe from reprisals or other detrimental impacts. 

These are the standards expected of all organisations within the public sector [1] – organisations will determine whether additional policies and processes are required. ‘Your Complaint, Your Rights’ supplements these standards by reinforcing the expectations of agencies while focussing on what a complainant needs to know. All public sector organisations should ensure that these standards, and ‘Your Complaint, Your Rights’, are integrated into policies and processes for reporting wrongdoing within their Human Resource, Employment Relations, and operational management systems. 

Note: We will review the standards and ‘Your Complaints, Your Rights’ at regular intervals to make sure that these documents are as useful as possible for everyone involved.

[1] For the purposes of these model standards “public sector” refers to the organisations these model standards have been issued to as set out in section 19(1) of the Public Service Act 2020, excluding school boards and Crown entity subsidiaries.