Research Update: Creating a culturally safe workplace

Creating a culturally safe workplace

Anna Earl and Jarrod Haar outline research and statistics on Māori employment and unemployment and ask how we can grow a genuine sense of cultural safety, wellbeing and identity for the Māori workforce.

Research on indigenous HR practices has highlighted the need for evaluation and exploration of tikanga Māori (Māori customs and beliefs) in the New Zealand workplace. This is important because while the Māori population accounted for nearly 17.1 per cent in 2021 (Stats NZ), the Māori workforce accounts for around 14 per cent. Despite Aotearoa New Zealand having strong employment data in 2022, Māori unemployment remains high (6.3 per cent) compared with New Zealand Europeans (3.0 per cent). While many factors are likely to explain this, it could be an indication of not having a safe workplace and culturally appropriate policies and practices in the workplace.

Recent studies provide interesting insights. The main findings suggest that New Zealand has made a lot of progress in providing and supporting Māori culture and language into organisational practices. However, these practices need to be aligned with tikanga Māori, to create a genuine sense of belonging and cultural identity for the Māori workforce. So the question we pose is: how can organisations integrate tikanga Māori and create a more culturally safe workplace environment?

For HR managers, it is important to understand the attitudes and beliefs of Māori workers to build a pathway for Māori employees to feel worthy and valued.

Cultural competence and identity in the workplace

From a Māori perspective, cultural competence can be built collectively through a value-based approach or training, which includes connecting people to Māori values and beliefs. For HR managers, it is important to understand the attitudes and beliefs of Māori workers to build a pathway for Māori employees to feel worthy and valued. Having cultural aspects in the workplace can also help employees feel empowered and enhance their mana. Intact mana is essential for the positive cultural identity of an individual and community. Building, enhancing and achieving these aspects are likely to raise the importance of the organisation to Māori workers and so improve their retention.

HR managers need to understand that Māori view the existing policies, practices and everyday behaviour as a product of individualistic values and customs, which is not the way Māori build their living and working environment. Indeed, collective thinking is crucial for Māori and should guide HR managers. Research indicates that practising whanaungatanga (family centric values) by HR managers is crucial because it provides support and stability to employees. Creating family centric practices can also motivate people to unite and be more loyal to an organisation, as well as gaining greater reciprocity. Reciprocity is crucial because it enhances wellbeing. Finally, a study of non-Māori found that leaders with a collectivistic orientation were viewed more positively, which also helped retention. So such an approach is not necessarily in conflict with other members of a workforce.

Cultural safety and wellbeing

The culture of reciprocity is crucial for cultural safety, because it helps to develop strong relationships among the employees. Health Quality and Safety Commission New Zealand defined cultural safety as: “Cultural safety is recognising and respecting the cultural identities of others, and safely meeting their needs, expectations and rights, contributing to the achievement of positive health outcomes and experiences.” From a Māori perspective, this can be achieved by HR managers creating space and opportunities for employees to share, collaborate and cooperate. Developing and nurturing relationships requires time. So it is important that organisations allow time for building relationships. This can help ensure the wellbeing of employees is taken seriously.

Wellbeing, or mauri ora, of the Māori workplace incorporates health factors of physical, intellectual, spiritual and relational. The holistic approach can help employees to feel empowered. Organisations with a strong mauri ora environment can be a powerful tool to discover talents and skills that Māori have but do not talk about, because it is not in their nature.

Having space for Māori employees to have mana-enhancing conversations is crucial because it allows for collective thinking and can enhance self-worth and cultural identity in the workplace. Lack of self-worth and identity can significantly affect individual and collective wellbeing. So it is crucial that HR managers understand the aspects of a mauri ora workplace environment and weave these into the foundation of the workplace.

If in doubt, start by having a hui (meeting) with key Māori staff to get their feedback on how this might be developed.

References

Haar, J, WJ Martin, K Ruckstuhl, D Ruwhiu, U Daellenbach and A Ghafoor (2021) A study of Aotearoa New Zealand enterprises: How different are Indigenous enterprises? Journal of Management & Organization 27(4): 736–750.

Spiller, C, G Craze, K Dell and M Mudford (2017) Kōkiri Whakamua: Fast tracking Māori Management: A short report on Human Resource

Practice. Auckland: University of Auckland.

Wilson, D, E Moloney, JM Parr, C Aspinall and J Slark (2021) Creating an Indigenous Māori‐centred model

of relational health: A literature review of Māori models of health. Journal of Clinical Nursing 30(23–24): 3539–3555.

Anna Earl (PhD) teaches advanced human resource management. Her main research interests revolve around the relationship between government and multinational enterprises, and the practices of qualitative researchers. Her current research interests are in emerging economies and stakeholder relationships, and, in particular, organisational change under complex institutional conditions, as well as the role of leadership styles and multinational enterprises.

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 Ngāti 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.