Workforce Data — Senior leader composition 2021

As of 30 June 2021, 11.4% of the Public Service workforce were management staff, led by 37 Public Service Leaders (which included 32 departmental secretaries and departmental agency chief executives, 4 acting secretaries and chief executives, and the Deputy Public Service Commissioner).

There were a further 1,288 senior managers (tier 2 and tier 3), and 5,867 other managers. The remaining 88.6% (55,661) were non-management staff.

Current Public Service leaders

As of 30 June 2021, there were 1,325 senior leaders in the Public Service (defined as the top 3 tiers of managers with chief executives being tier one). This compares to 1,279 senior leaders last year.

The percentage of women in the top 3 tiers of senior management was 53.5% (up from 39.8% in 2010), while male representation is 46.3%.

Senior leaders reported being 80.1% European, 13.5% Māori, 4.3% Pacific peoples and 2.9% Asian (these add to more than 100% as it includes those with multiple ethnicities).

Annual sick leave usage for senior leadership is very low, at 3.8 days in 2021. This compares with 5.9 days for the ‘other managers’ group and 8.5 days on average for non-managerial staff.

Senior leader composition Senior leader trends 2021(XLSX, 34 KB)

Te Pae Turuki Public Service Leaders Group (PSLG) is about working together and providing strong collaborative leadership. They enable continued innovation to tackle some of the biggest and most complex issues facing New Zealand today.

Members of the PSLG are nominated by chief executives according to role-based criteria that we set. Members must meet one or more of the following criteria:

• is a member of an executive team
• runs a Public Service business for New Zealand or a significant region
• heads a corporate function in a medium or large organisation
• creates high strategic impact, working across larger organisations and, in concert with other organisations.

As of 30 June 2021,  there were 1,170 members of the PSLG, 51% male and 49% female.

Te Pae Turuki Public Service Leaders Group 

As of 30 June 2021, leaders reported being 89.2% European, 16.2% Māori, 2.7% Pacific peoples and 2.7% Asian (these add to more than 100% as it includes those with multiple ethnicities).

At that same point in time, women held 18 of the 37 Public Service leader roles. Current information can be found on the Public Service Leaders page.

Current Public Service leaders