Our Platinum Partners, PwC New Zealand, have committed to an impressive new step in boosting their workforce’s diversity: an increase in the number of Māori and Pasifika people in their team.
PwC is gearing up to scale their workforce by a third in the coming five years, creating 500 new roles in Aotearoa over this time while globally creating 100,000 roles. Part of this new global strategy for the New Zealand branch is to actively bring more Māori and Pasifika people into PwC’s fold.
“We are very aware the broader community is at 24% – 16% Māori, 8% Pasifika. We want to make significant progress so that we look more representative of our clients,” says Mark Averill, PwC New Zealand’s Chief Executive. At present, 7% of their 1,700 team identify as Māori or Pasifika.
A key part of this movement cited by Mark Averill, a Champion for Change, is prioritising how to make the people of PwC feel culturally confident. This will be through continuing the Te Maramatanga programme: a programme which has helped 700 of PwC’s staff improve their understanding of te ao Māori through history and language.
This new strategy has stemmed from a response to some fundamental global changes: technological disruption, climate change, the fractured geopolitical situation and of course, the pandemic.
“What that means for our clients and our communities is their needs are changing. The key things they want to face and lean into is how do they as organisations build trust, and then also looking to deliver sustainable outcomes so that their businesses change, position themselves for the future.”
This next level of expansion will feature a multi-pronged approach to mark this shift in gear.
Non-traditional recruitment methods will be part of this: such as recruiting school leavers and people without tertiary qualifications to come on board via PwC’s apprentice-style Ignite programme. The 12 month programme is designed to create strong technological capabilities and foundations, and develop a certification for workers to take with them into key technology areas — like in a tech consulting team. They’re also partnering with GirlBoss New Zealand to facilitate training and placements for women to learn about emerging technologies. Additionally, they’ll be investing $8 million over the next three years to digitally upskill their existing workforce through their ‘Reimagine Digital’ programme.
Read the full original coverage by Tamsyn Parker, Money Editor at NZ Herald HERE