He whakapapa, he mokopuna, he tamariki, he mātua, he tūpuna. He aha te mea nui. He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata.
Our people are central to all we do. Our people are what drive our organisational culture. The five organisational Values are what we pride ourselves on. They are the foundation of our culture that we continue to build on.
Profile Type | Statistics |
Northland DHB Workforce | Total workforce: 3,661 active employees |
Age | Female average age: 46.23 years Male average age: 45.90 years |
Ethnic |
Māori 18.08 percent Pasifika 1.23 percent Asian 12.40 percent Other 65.09 percent Not stated 3.20 percent |
Disability | Specific data is not currently held for this category. Individuals with disabilities applying for vacancies are given full consideration based on the needs of the position. |
Gender | Female: 2,954 employees (80.7 percent) Male: 707 employees (19.3 percent) |
Northland DHB strives to provide an organisational culture that has strong leadership and accountability. A culture where everyone can contribute to the way the organisation develops, improves and adapts to change. Northland DHB is committed to meeting its statutory, legal and ethical obligations to be a good employer.
Collaboration and leadership is encouraged across services, occupational groups and supported at all levels of the organisation. This multi-disciplinary approach contributes significantly to staff engagement, innovation and a sense of belonging. As our people are our most valuable resource, staff safety, health and wellbeing is paramount.
A key focus and priority for Northland DHB is achieving equity within the New Zealand health system. We require our workforce to be mindful of this. Evidence shows patient outcomes improve when they are treated with a higher level of cultural safety, and cared for by a skilled workforce that reflects the community we serve.
This year the Board and Executive Leadership Team acknowledged the misinterpretation of the agreement recorded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Since 2014, the Waitangi Tribunal has upheld their claim that the treaty their ancestors signed, confirmed and guaranteed their tino rangatiratanga and that no cession of sovereignty had taken place for Māori of Te Tai Tokerau.
Therefore Northland DHB now uses Te Tiriti and/or Te Tiriti o Waitangi to replace and dispel any further use of The Treaty of Waitangi. Use of Te Tiriti and/or Te Tiriti o Waitangi replaces the ‘principles’ with the original four articles in the Tiriti document itself.
The DHB’s positive relationship with its union partners remains. A Bi-Partite Forum meets regularly and remains integral to maintaining a cooperative working environment. The objective of the forum is for on-going constructive engagement between Northland DHB and the unions that represent its employees.
Northland DHB continues its commitment to its sustainability responsibilities whereby there is continuous focus on reducing carbon emissions from operations.
A further commitment for 2020 has seen the Chief Executive and Executive Leadership Team sign up to the national Accessibility Tick programme. This programme is designed to support the organisation to become more accessible and inclusive employer. The programme has been designed in consultation with a broad range of New Zealand employers and disability sector experts.
Achievements in 2020-21 include:
- There were 20 leadership initiatives with 116 attendees over the last 12 months
- A series of education interventions have been developed to feed into the ‘achieving equity’ programme of work:
A number of initiatives have been put in place to reduce carbon emissions:
Northland DHB remains committed to supporting more Māori into Northland DHB’s workforce. Northland DHB is committed to encouraging more Māori into health and disability fields. This applies particularly to areas where Māori are under-represented as health professionals and over-represented in their health needs. Our objective to grow the capacity and capability of our Māori workforce’ has led to a number of development projects which have been implemented with much success.
Northland DHB is the Northern regional lead for the national Māori Health Workforce Development programme – Kia Ora Hauora (KOH). The northern region encompasses Counties Manukau DHB, Auckland and Waitematā DHBs and is the highest performing region in the country. Thirty-nine percent of the KOH northern membership lies within Northland DHB. As at 30 June 2021 the KOH national membership was sitting at 4,282. The Northern region makes up thirty-four percent of the total membership with 1447 members and maintains the largest database across the country at this time.
Sixty percent of the northern regions’ membership are made up of people aged 25 years and under and sixty-eight of the members are in tertiary education settings.
Kia Ora Hauora regions have three targets that they must meet quarterly and/or annually. These are:
Our longstanding arrangement with the University of Auckland witnessed another cohort of 23 Year 5 and 6 medical students’ progress through our Pūkawakawa programme. The programme theme this year was Engaging effectively with Māori. Students were given opportunities to experience, explore, define and create their own interpretation of Māori advancement in the context of health. Emphasis was placed on a Kaupapa Māori approach to health and Māori perspectives on health. This will be achieved through dynamic and authentic learning experiences.
Attract, recruit and develop a talented workforce strategic objective underpins our commitment to future-proofing our service delivery. This has led to a number of initiatives in the recruitment improvement project to streamline the staffing process.
Achievements in 2020-21 include:
We support staff to participate in various internal and external training courses, conferences, workshops, and other developmental opportunities to build capability and support career and personal development objectives. We provide medical staff with continuing medical education (CME) support and nursing and midwifery staff with professional development recognition programmes. Health Workforce NZ funding continues to be provided for postgraduate study for nursing and midwifery and the non-regulated workforce. The Workforce Development & Wellbeing department offers a range of professional and personal development training opportunities.
Northland DHB has put ‘Achieving Equity’ front and centre and has undertaken several moves that demonstrate accountability to
this kaupapa, especially under employee development. For example, Te Kaupapa Whakaruruhau / The Māori Health Cultural Quality Programme provides opportunities to gain cultural competencies. Northland DHB has also committed to implementing an equity lens overall organisational training.
E-learning development and implementation continued to enable greater access to our primary healthcare and community partners to share learning, communication, knowledge transfer and skill development. This supports best practices across Northland DHB and the wider health sector.
Northland DHB’s turnover has increased from 9.9 percent to 10.6 percent. The national average is 12.4 percent.
An improved Exit Survey was implemented, enabling more accessible access for staff to provide feedback when leaving the organisation or transferring to another department.
Since implementation, the survey has been updated to include ethnicity, which will provide analysis regarding leaving reasons and enable the DHB to action solutions to retain our staff where possible.
Achievements in 2020-21 include:
The tsunami threat, national COVID-19 Alert levels and various industrial actions has seen the DHB move into an Incident Management phase on more than one occasion in the last 12 months. During these phases many initiatives were either established or enhanced in order to support the wellbeing of our workforce and community.
Northland DHB also sought to assist its colleagues at the Auckland DHBs while they were in Level 4, re-deploying 20+ staff members to the region for several weeks during this challenging time.
Northland DHB operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing full-time and part-time opportunities. Flexible work hours based on employee needs and the requirements of the position are available. Any specific impairment is recognised and is suitably provided for where possible.
Northland DHB has fostered an environment where our key partners can evolve the development of the primary care health system across Northland that eliminate health inequities for Māori, promote wellbeing and self-determination, provide value to the system and measure success through achieving population outcomes across a health and social care spectrum.
Northland DHB continues to be committed to a holistic primary-secondary partnership. This includes working closely with the PHE Mahitahi Hauora which was formed from representatives of the previous PHO boards as well as community and iwi representatives and the DHB Chief Executive as a non-voting member.
Achievements in 2020-21 include:
Northland DHB adheres to the good employer requirements in section 118 of the Crown Entities Act 2004 which covers:
The concept of the ‘good employer’ is bound up with the principles of natural justice and requires employment procedures to be ‘fair in all circumstances’. Northland DHB recognises that all individuals and groups should have opportunities without barriers or biases.
Northland DHB’s workforce is covered by 23 collective employment agreements. This increased from 22 in the previous year. A smaller proportion of staff are on individual employment agreements. Transparent job evaluation criteria, developed in consultation with relevant unions, are in place for a range of employee groups. This includes specific merit programme criteria which are available for most employee groups.
Northland DHB has participated in the national Pay Equity process. The Equal Pay Amendment Act 2020 has provided principles and allowed for a framework which addresses systemic gender based pay discrimination in female dominated roles. This is a collaborative process between the unions and DHB employers. Pay equity claims have been lodged by unions for the Clerical/Administration, Allied/Technical, Nursing and Midwifery work groups.
In 2021 there was an interim settlement for the Clerical and Administration work group that saw the majority of employees in this workforce receiving an interim adjustment to salary.
Achievements in 2020-21 include:
Northland DHB’s zero tolerance to bullying and harassment is reinforced by its Managing Unacceptable Behaviour in the Workplace Policy. This supportive document provides all staff with clear guidelines.
The ‘DATIX’ electronic reporting tool continues to be the vehicle for reporting incidents of alleged violence, bullying and harassment. We have continued engagement with our union partners to refine and increase confidence in the tools and process to ensure that all employees are safely able to raise concerns.
Achievements in 2020-21 include:
Northland DHBs Values are centred round Safety, Health and Wellbeing. The organisation is committed to providing a culturally and physically safe workplace for employees, patients, whānau, visitors and contractors.
Legislation and contractual obligations ensures the organisation has effective emergency and corporate risk management systems and processes in place.
Staff wellbeing continues to be a focus for Northland DHB with full support from its Executive Leadership team. Wellbeing is promoted in various ways across the organisation with extra dedication from the Workforce Development & Wellbeing department.
Achievements in 2020-21 include:
In July 2021 Northland DHB chose to mark Matariki with a week of various events that staff could attend to learn more about this special Aotearoa season.
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