Governance Report for year ended 30 June 2012
11. Good Employer cont.
11.1 Employment Policies and Procedures cont.
As well as Health & Safety training, the DHB provides other staff well-being training – Dis-stress to De-stress,
Working with Aggression, and Restraint Minimisation and Manual Handling. The latter course has seen a
marked decrease in the number of back injuries.
The DHB has a staff gym on the Tauranga site. A campaign to increase membership and further improve staff
health has been run in 2011/12. In 2011 the gym organised a weight loss and improved fitness challenge
(Biggest Loser) – this was participated in by 51 staff teams with excellent results.
Employees receive training on cultural issues and the Treaty of Waitangi. Te Reo classes are available for
Board members and staff. In addition, training is provided for managers and staff on the Human Rights Act
1993, health and disability rights, Shared Expectations (State Services Code of Conduct), and the DHB’s
employment policies.
The DHB has amended its Recruitment policy so that it can place people recommended by Work and Income in
appropriate roles and up skill those staff via in-house training.
Māori make up over 22% of the Bay of Plenty working age population however only 10% of the DHB
employees. There are a number of strategies in place to grow this segment of the DHB employee population.
The DHB completed a Pay & Employment Equity Review in late 2007 and again this year the DHB has reviewed
the recommendations to ascertain the progress that has been made:
Participation: new roster patterns were trialled in 2009/2010 and due to the success of these they
have been extended to other areas in 2010/2011. Staff working the new rosters have fed back that
they are enjoying a better work-life balance as a result of the change. Analysis has been undertaken
on whether the new 10 and 12 hour shifts in these rosters are altering patterns of sick leave taken –
there has been some change in the 12 months following the introduction of the rosters but by year 2
the hours change appears not to affect sick leave taken. The DHB is a pilot site for Safe Staffing,
Healthy Workplace and through this is continually exploring improvements in work patterns & rosters.
Remuneration: the DHB has confirmed that no gender pay gap exists.
The Human Resources Strategic Plan is aligned to the seven key elements of the “Good Employer” programme
to form an Equal Employment Opportunity plan.
In 2011/2012 70 staff went on paid parental leave. In addition to the government paid parental leave the DHB
provides between 6 weeks and 14 weeks paid parental leave to most employees.
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