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Feature - The future of the Māori workforce is now
What will the Aotearoa New Zealand workforce be like in the future? What role does the Māori economy play? And, specifically, what employment and HR approaches can help the Māori workforce? Professor Jarrod Haar from Auckland University of Technology seeks to provide some answers.
He aha te mea nui o te Ao? He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata.
What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people.
The above whakatauki (or proverb) highlights the importance, the critical and central role of people to te ao Māori (Māori worldview). This whakatoki is more complex than simply referring to the importance of people or employees (in our HR context). It highlights the importance of organisations and leaders in their role of sheltering people until they grow and become strong. That is a useful analogy to Māori in the workforce of Aotearoa.
Work for Māori
In Aotearoa, Māori presently make up over 17 per cent of the population, although only 14 per cent of the workforce. Māori, and other minority groups like Pacific peoples, have a higher birth rate than New Zealand Europeans, and population growth in Aotearoa will include more Māori. Indeed, as we move into the middle of the 21st century, the Māori workforce will grow considerably.
We have empirical evidence showing that Māori experiences from work can be radically different from non-Māori. Indeed, some of these effects, including the beneficial nature of self-esteem built from work, are impressively higher than for New Zealand Europeans. This includes job satisfaction, which is a strong predictor of retention and job performance.
So, why might Māori have different effects from their work experiences? Well, unique cultural values might account for some of these differences, including a more collectivistic ideology (‘we’ versus ‘I’), the role of whānau and the importance of whakapapa (genealogy). However, not all workplace challenges for Māori are positive.
Challenges to a successful and fruitful future
It must be acknowledged that serious issues still exist around discrimination and racism in the workplace. Managers and organisations are encouraged to explore these and take remedial steps. Such experiences do drive Māori from the workplace. Beyond being a good employer and meeting HR law, the retention of skilled and rare workers is important and valuable for both employee and employer. But there are specific cultural challenges too. Aronga takirua refers to the cultural doubleshift, and while the original study focused on a Māori scientist doing a double duty in their work roles, these findings resonated with other groups, including media and lawyers.
So, Māori in the workplace might be under unique pressures to provide cultural guidance while also performing their 9 to 5 job! Returning to the whakatoki above, organisations in Aotearoa need to support these cultural pressures far better. This might include greater job sizing of cultural roles and paying extra for the cultural skills of Māori staff, especially when these roles might occur outside their normal jobs.
Case for improvement
So, why do managers and organisations need to do better for Māori? Well, there are equity and equality obligations from Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi), and we know Māori suffer wellbeing deficiencies, such as poorer mental health. HR law highlights the importance of addressing stressful workplace factors (eg, discrimination, aronga takirua), and so there is legislative encouragement to address these challenges.
Māori are also more likely to be low skilled, and when they are highly skilled, they are less likely to be paid as well and promoted, including in leadership positions. Even in the context of Aotearoa having the lowest unemployment rate in history and a tight labour market, Māori are disadvantaged. For example, the unemployment rate for the quarter ending March 2022 is 3.0 per cent for New Zealand Europeans but 6.3 per cent for Māori. This should be of particular concern to HR managers in Aotearoa. To contextualise, despite making up 14 per cent of the workforce, Māori represent only 5 per cent of the research, science and innovation workforce. This highlights a critical issue that will require a multigenerational focus to address. If we want Māori to be a genuine partner in the Aotearoa workplace, then organisations will have to make a greater effort.
Solutions
So, how can we get the best out of the labour market that creates equality for the Māori workforce? One suggestion was the steps taken by an Auckland district health board around the recruitment of Māori (and Pacific) employees, where they automatically interviewed candidates who had the required set of skills. They provided feedback to unsuccessful candidates, including insight into their CV and interview techniques to help their development.
This approach led to a significant increase in Māori and Pacific employees gaining employment. This provides a true way that he tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata can be facilitated and realised in Aotearoa. Like most HR approaches, this is an additional requirement, but organisations wanting to play a vital role in the development of Aotearoa and the future workforce are strongly encouraged to embrace a more positive approach to the Māori workforce. Such actions are also likely to make these employers more desirable to work for.
Benefit to all
This is important because the Māori economy has provided growing interest and support for Māori development. While a recent valuation puts the Māori economy asset base at $68.7 billion, it is important to acknowledge that, while this is positive, as a proportion of assets in all Aotearoa, this is less than the 17 per cent that Māori make up in the Aotearoa population and still less than the 14 per cent of Māori in the workplace.
So, while currently a great achievement, this represents a much lower proportion than that held by New Zealand Europeans. Universally, we must understand that when the situation of minority groups is improved, then this benefits the whole of society.
Finally, recent research has shown that some Aotearoa organisations are beginning to provide culturally aligned HR practices. These were found to help both wellbeing and work outcomes, including retention. Embracing a more te ao Māori approach to work and culture in the workplace is likely to improve the recruitment and retention of Aotearoa organisations and the Māori workforce.
The research found that these HR practices that target Māori employees and their cultural beliefs are simply more aligned to Māori cultural values. Specifically, the practices identified, and a useful starting place for organisations, are as follows.
• Recognising the contribution of employees’ whānau in the workplace. Bringing whānau into the workplace reiterates a wider collective nature, which can cement important ties between the employee, their whānau and the organisation.
• Encouraging manākitanga (caring, support) between Māori staff and customers. Encouraging interactions between Māori staff and customers or clients is likely to provide a more culturally appropriate work experience for Māori staff but also a more valued experience for customers.
• Encouraging Māori staff to develop strong relationships (whakawhanaungatanga). Organisations are encouraged to help Māori staff to get a chance to know their organisational workmates and co-workers more. This might help break down barriers and benefit all staff. But for Māori, the cultural importance of whakawhanaungatanga is critical and should be encouraged.
• Using te reo Māori (Māori language) in the workplace should be encouraged. Other research has shown this benefits Māori employees’ perceptions of their organisation but similarly for non-Māori. As an official language of Aotearoa, it also makes sense to normalise and encourage te reo.
• Appropriately using tikanga Māori (Māori customs), which is related to use of te reo Māori, is also encouraged. This might include appropriate blessings (karakia), powhiri (welcoming ceremony) and so on. Related to the earlier warnings around aronga takirua, it is important that Māori staff are simply not ‘shoulder tapped’ to run such activities. They are likely to want to be involved but may suggest more appropriate expertise, such as a kaumatua (elder). Providing appropriate koha (gift) also reinforces a tikanga Māori approach.
• Applying work and associated recognition in a more collective sense. Aligned with the collectivistic values of Māori, organisations might want to apply work and associated recognition in a more collective sense, such as teamwork over individual work. That said, high-performance teams are typically more beneficial for all workers, so, again, this shouldn’t be viewed as ‘only for Māori staff’. This might appeal to many workers.
• Developing tino rangatiratanga (self-determination). Finally, organisations might use their HR practices to develop tino rangatiratanga of Māori staff. This might include selecting work projects – especially those with Māori – but also around the use of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori in the organisation. It might include engaging Māori staff for career advice, promotion and recruitment ideas.
Organisations in Aotearoa are encouraged to recognise that these Māori-centric approaches to HR, while likely to benefit Māori employees, might also apply beneficially to other people in the workforce. Pacific employees are more likely to be similarly collectivistic, and evidence shows elements of te reo and tikanga can be positively received by non-Māori.
As the workforce of Aotearoa grows, it would be wonderful to see organisations embracing a te ao Māori approach to work, to the workforce and to the planet. The future will see more and more Māori in the workplace, with that 14 per cent rate growing rapidly. Workplaces that support he tāngata – and especially Māori – are likely to help create a prosperous Aotearoa society that will benefit all.
Jarrod Haar (PhD) is a Professor of Human Resource Management in the Department of Management at Auckland University of Technology, and has tribal affiliations of Ngati Maniapoto and Ngati Mahuta. His research approach spans a wide range of management topics, but with a strong focus on human resource management and organisational behaviour. In particular: (1) how employees manage their work, family and life roles such as work–life balance; (2) the role of cultural factors in the workplace (especially for Māori) and mātauranga Māori in business; (3) team functioning and its influence on team member wellbeing and job outcomes; (4) leadership and its influence on followers; and (5) innovation and entrepreneurship.
