Māori staff numbers at Pharmac

Thank you for your request dated 23 May 2023 under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) for information relating to Māori staff numbers at Pharmac. For ease of reference, I have included our answers in line with each of your questions of your request.

As of 14 June 2023, 92% of Pharmac staff have declared at least 1 ethnicity within our HR/payroll system. Previously our payroll system was limited to 2 ethnicity options. We have made some great improvements in the data collection space this year which will better enable us to understand our ethnicity demographics.

We now have 3 editable fields in our Human Resources Self Service (HRSS) portal, which allows kaimahi to select from the full Stats NZ level 4 listing of ethnicities(external link). If needed, each person can also select an additional 3 ethnicities by contacting HR/payroll.

1. The current total number of staff that are Māori or are of Māori heritage.
   10
2. The number of Māori staff that are currently employed in entry-level positions
   We have 1 Māori staff member in an entry-level position. We have defined entry-level positions as graduate roles.
3. The number of Māori staff that are currently employed in executive leadership positions
   We have 1 Māori staff member in an executive leadership (Director) position.
4. The number of Māori interns recruited over the last 2 years
   We have recruited 6 Māori interns over the last 2 years.
5. The number of Māori staff employed in managerial positions
   We have 1 Māori Director, 1 Māori Deputy Medical Director and 3 Māori Principal Advisors. We have defined staff in “managerial positions” as leaders in their areas of expertise.
6. Do the current numbers adequately reflect your Māori staff retention targets?
   We recently developed and published our Kia Toipoto action plan, which outlines our targets to increase the representation of Māori in our workforce and in leadership. This will be an ongoing key focus area for Pharmac.
   
   As part of the action plan, we will develop our Kaitiakitanga Framework which will support the attraction, retention, and development of kaimahi Māori (focus area Te whakawhanaketanga i te aramahi – Effective career and leadership development). Pharmac does not currently have specific Māori staff retention targets.

We trust that this information answers your queries. Please note, you also have the right to make a complaint to the Ombudsman about our response to your OIA, under section 28(3) of the OIA. Details of how to make a complaint(external link) are on the Ombudsman’s website.

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about this. To make information more freely available, we publish selected OIA responses (excluding personal details) on our website.