20 October 2022

A leading-edge public service needs a diverse group of strong and capable senior leaders — and the data shows we’re making real progress.

Diversity in the top 3 tiers of leadership continues to improve. Female, Māori, and Pacific representation is in these roles have increased substantially over the past five years, although Pacific leaders continue to be under-represented.  Asian leaders are also under-represented, and their rate of growth is slower.  This is taking time and deliberate effort to increase, as Asian employees are also under-represented at lower levels of management.

Investing in senior leadership development ensures our leaders are equipped with the capabilities required for these senior roles. By gathering more comprehensive data on our leaders, we’re increasingly able to see the impact of our investment sooner. This helps us to develop new initiatives to strengthen our leadership in the right areas, and to deliver better outcomes and services for New Zealanders.

Leadership