Update: Pay and Employment Equity Reviews in the Tertiary Sector, No. 4

4 February 2009

Happy New Year and welcome to UPEERTS No.4. By now sadly, the summer holidays are receding, but I hope you each got to savour some rest and relaxation. The good news is that staff being back on deck means that the PaEE review process can be kick-started again.

News!
TST steering group update
PEEAT update
Update from ITPs
Universities and wānanga
Project managers’ corner
Key dates

News

New ITPs in 2009

The following ITPs will be undertaking PaEE reviews in the first half of 2009:

NorthTec, Unitec, Wintec (Waikato Institute of Technology), The Open Polytechnic, Whitireia Community Polytechnic, and Christchurch Polytechnic and Institute of Technology (CPIT). Project manager training for these new ITPs was held in Wellington on 10 December 2008.

Department of Labour focus for 2009

During 2009 the Department of Labour will be developing further options for undertaking reviews with a wider range of businesses and services.

TST steering group meeting – update

The Tertiary Sector Tri-partite steering group met last Tuesday 28 January. One of the agenda items focused on how best to support committees in analysing their PEEAT and survey data from a gender equity perspective. This task requires asking critical questions and getting ‘under’ the data, and some committees and some individuals have struggled with this. Despite this, few committees have availed themselves of the gender expertise available from Rae Torrie or Janice Burns. Union representatives on review committees can also contact the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) Women’s Officer, Suzanne McNabb (http://scr.im/suzannem). The steering group resolved that all project managers should forward their first cut of survey and PEEAT information to Rae, so that initial support could be automatically provided.

The steering group also considered a draft work programme for the tertiary sector for the period January-June 2009, and the work that needs to be undertaken in the latter half of the year to complete the report on PaEE reviews in the tertiary sector. The report is due with the Minister in December, meaning that a first draft will need to be completed by mid-November. In order for the report to be written by then, it is highly desirable that all reviews are completed by end August, and imperative that they are completed by 30 September. Between September and November, information from these reviews and action plans will be collated into a tertiary sector-wide report.

The collation of the tertiary sector report is not meant to signal a cessation of activity in the tertiary sector. Rather it will signal the cessation of a centrally-led and coordinated approach through the Ministry of Education, and in particular, the position of Project Manager, PaEE Reviews in the Tertiary Sector. The legacy that will remain for those institutions still to complete a PaEE review, is a workable approach for undertaking PaEE reviews in each of the sub-sectors, and robust and abundant supporting information, such as templates, that will facilitate the task of completing a PaEE review. Individual institutions will be able to apply, under their own auspices, to the PaEE Contestable Fund. The tertiary sector report will also provide a baseline against which institutions can compare their practice with others in their sub-sector.

PEEAT update

The last UPEERTS focused on plans to address some of the problems that ITPs had been experiencing with PEEAT. Robyn Bailey has been working since then as a PEEAT ‘coach’, and has supplied the following information.

An updated version of PEEAT (2.1), and associated documentation, was produced and distributed just prior to Xmas to the seven ITPs who participated in the December project manager training and to the five ITPs who were still working on PEEAT. This new version addressed issues with:

calculation of FTEs and hourly rates through adaptation of the formulas and the addition of a ‘contract hours’ column;
occupational classification by inserting new and clearly labelled columns – ITP job title, Strategic Pay Job Title and Code, ANZSCO Job Title and Code – which enables a record of how ITP jobs were classified into ANZSCO. Three ‘dictionaries’ were provided to assist ITPs with coding their jobs: ITP – ANZSCO, Strategic Pay – ANZSCO, and an Academic Dictionary, along with a Guide to Occupational Classification.

The new version of PEEAT also enables ITPs to choose the ‘level’ of occupational analysis appropriate to their organisation.

Robyn contacted all ITPs in mid-Jan, and now ITPs are contacting her on as required basis. She will work with Tim O’Flaherty from the Department of Labour to ensure that all queries addressed via phone and email support, or an on-site visit if needed.

Once ITPs have successfully used PEEAT and produced charts and tables, queries in some cases have shifted from data input queries to data management enquiries such as what is the best level of occupational analysis and how do we ensure confidentiality for those in occupations with small numbers. Please contact Rae to discuss these, and to be put in touch with those ITPs that have worked through these questions.

Update from ITPs undertaking a PaEE review

All ITPs which began reviews in 2008 have completed their surveys and PEEAT. Some committees are still in the process of identifying the key gender equity issues for their institutions, while others are at the stage of developing their action plans. Three of the ‘new’ ITPs – The Open Polytechnic, CPIT, and Wintec – have booked PaEE review committee training during February. Training for the remaining organisations will be completed in March.

Universities and wānanga

One university is hoping to complete a review in 2009. A definite decision will be taken in the middle of February.

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa is completing its PaEE review in early 2009. No other wānanga will be in a position to complete a review this year.

Project managers’ corner

Teleconference

The first teleconference for 2009 was held on 28 January. Six project managers and Rae Torrie participated, with a good mixture of new project managers and ‘old hands’. The next teleconference is timetabled for Thursday 12 February from 10-11.30am.

Absolute deadline for completing ITP PaEE review reports

All PaEE review reports and action plans are due by the end of August 2009. There is an absolute deadline of 30 September, so that the tertiary sector review report can be completed.

Gender analysis of PEEAT and survey data

Project managers are asked to send Rae a copy of the gender profile template once completed. This can be sent at the same time (or before) it goes out to committee members.

Writing the review report and action plan

A project manager has recently asked whether there is any gender equity information about the tertiary education sector as a whole. I am attaching to this UPEERTS a piece of research that the steering group commissioned prior to the commencement of the reviews, which captured all the information currently available about gender equity in the sector. This may provide some useful context for your reports.

Remember that there are large chunks of the review report that you can draft ‘as you go’. One of the project managers at the last teleconference talked about having done this, and how it made the task of writing the report less onerous.

Reimbursement of travel costs

This is a reminder that project managers who attended the project manager training day in Wellington on 10 December are eligible to have your flight costs reimbursed. Send an invoice, and copy of your flight details and costs, to Kristine Kilkelly, Deputy Secretary People and Business Capability, Ministry of Education, PO Box 1666, Wellington.