Boosting productivity growth by creating equal workplaces for all

Promoting equal opportunity in the workplace is often framed around fairness. Fairness is important, but this narrow focus overlooks the ways pay gaps and other inequalities affect the wider economy.

This project is about identifying how much the lack of diversity and inclusion costs Aotearoa New Zealand in lost outputs/productivity, and developing practical tools businesses can use to capture the benefits of a more equal workforce.

What we'll do

  • Use the Census data going back to 1981 and the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) to evaluate productivity gains from increasing workplace diversity
  • Evaluate impact for social workers affected by pay equity settlements using the IDI
  • Examine barriers and enablers to intergenerational occupational mobility
  • Conduct qualitative research with Māori and Pacific business leaders
  • Use the IDI and LBD to identify workplace policies/practices associated with more diverse workplaces
  • Conduct case study analysis of change agents using UNWEPS data
  • Use the IDI to examine gender and ethnic representation of leaders based on the top 10% of earners
  • Conduct in-depth interviews with (i) change leaders in community and not-for-profit organisations; and (ii) HR managers and directors in SME businesses
  • Use the IDI to examine the relationship between gender and ethnic representation of organisation leaders on the outcomes of their employees
  • Evaluate long term impacts of pay equity settlements for social workers and short-term impacts for teachers using the IDI
  • Turn our findings into actionable insights for the benefit of businesses and policy makers

For research participants

Information for Pacific businesses

Outcomes and findings

As the project progresses, we’ll turn our findings into tools for businesses, papers, working papers, and reports. These will be published on this page.

Check back soon, or follow NZPRI on LinkedIn to hear when new tools are available!

Project details

Timeframe: October 2024 to September 2029

Project team

The project is being led by the New Zealand Policy Research Institute (NZPRI) at AUT | Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau.