Wintec makes significant progress in reducing gender and ethnicity pay gaps
Wintec | Te Pūkenga, which last year was the first tertiary institution in Aotearoa to announce its gender and ethnicity pay gap information on the Pay Gap Registry, has made substantial progress in reducing both its gender and ethnicity pay gaps over the last 12 months.
Launched on International Women's Day last year, the Pay Gap registry, created by Mind the Gap, encourages organisations to measure and share their pay gaps publicly.
"We are proud to have led the way for the tertiary sector last year in sharing our pay gap results and delighted that our continued focused effort on pay equity over the last 12 months allows us to share these great results the week after International Women’s Day,” Wintec's executive director, People and Culture Katrina Van de Ven said.
“Our results show that the strategies we have in place and the considerable work we have been doing in the pay equity space are producing positive outcomes. We pride ourselves on our innovative approaches around diversity and inclusion, and we are committed to continuing to drive these strategies while always looking for new and innovative ways to help us make even further gains,” she said.
Wintec’s gender pay gap
Wintec’s median gender pay gap as of 1 January 2023 was 5%, a solid improvement on the 2022 figure of 7.4%. That means that across Wintec’s 652 permanent kaimahi, the median pay for a woman was 5% less than the median pay for a male.
At 5%, Wintec’s gender pay gap is 4.2% lower than the national gender pay gap of 9.2%, and 2.7% lower than the public service gender pay gap of 7.7%.
“63% of our permanent kaimahi are women and women are over-represented in the lowest bands, which means in practice, comparing like for like roles, our pay gaps for women are really lower than the reported median figure indicates.
"However, we’ve made a firm commitment to reduce the gender pay gap and we will continue to monitor our progress,” Katrina said.
Wintec, which is currently in the process of working towards Rainbow Tick accreditation, has been leading the way on their journey of understanding and addressing gender pay equity for many years. Wintec was the first education provider in New Zealand to achieve GenderTick accreditation in 2020, going on in 2022 to achieve advanced GenderTick accreditation. Its efforts were also recognised in 2018 and 2019 at the YWCA Equal Pay Awards, where Wintec won best practice and innovation awards, acknowledging its commitment to being a fair employer.
“Alongside our gender pay equity work, we are also focused on ensuring equity of access and achievement for our female and rainbow learners, so that barriers are removed for the next generation moving into the workforce,“ Katrina added.
Wintec’s ethnicity pay gaps
Wintec’s median ethnicity pay gaps across Wintec’s 591 permanent kaimahi who provided ethnicity information were Māori 2.7%, Asian 0.1% and Pacific 0.4% as of 1 January 2023.
“We are proud of the significant gains we have made for our kaimahi Māori over the last 12 months, having halved the pay gap for our kaimahi Māori, from 5.7% in 2022 to 2.7% this year. We also compare positively to the Te Kawa Mataaho public service Māori pay gap of 6.5%.
"We are also extremely proud of our figures for Asian and Pacific kaimahi, where we are close to eliminating the pay gap, with both falling below 0.5%. This compares with the overall public service which still has substantial pay gaps for Pacific and Asian kaimahi, of 17.7% and 12.4% respectively,” Katrina said.
As with the gender pay gap, there are numerous factors that contribute to organisations’ ethnicity pay gaps. These are driven by a combination of things like over-representation of certain ethnicity groups in low paid occupations, and under-representation in leadership.
"We have made good progress in lifting Māori and Pacific management representation - 24% of management kaimahi are Māori and 7% Pacific. Taking action to close gender, Māori, Pacific and other ethnic pay gaps will help make workplaces fairer, and more diverse and inclusive,” she said.
We’re committed to achieving equity for all our staff
Wintec's Business Division Lead, Leon Fourie said Wintec was driven by its values and commitment to equity for both ākonga and kaimahi, alongside honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in all areas of the organisation.
"One of our Te Pūkenga values, Manawa nui | We reach out and welcome in, speaks directly to our drive to actively seek diversity and support equitable decision-making and outcomes. Eliminating pay gaps and achieving equal pay across all of our diverse kaimahi, will benefit our ākonga and ultimately help to strengthen our communities and Aotearoa.
“Alongside our own work within Wintec and the wider Te Pūkenga network, we will also continue to advocate for all organisations in Aotearoa to share their pay gap results, as through transparency we can drive change,” Leon said.
