What we know about racial discrimination in the workplace As discrimination is a factor in the Pacific Pay Gap – in both its explained and unexplained portions – we briefly outline here what we know about the discrimination Pacific peoples’ experience in employment. This includes: • research we commissioned on the prevalence of bullying and harassment • our own data relating to discrimination in employment • data from MBIE • data from the General Social Survey run by Stats NZ • data from Diversity Works’ Workplace Diversity survey • findings from the engagement the Commission undertook to inform the development of a National Action Plan Against Racism. Research into bullying and harassment In June 2022, we commissioned Kantar Public to undertake a national survey of 2,512 workers in Aotearoa New Zealand to understand the prevalence of the experience of sexual harassment, racial harassment and bullying in the workplace.36 The survey asked people to respond to a range of listed behaviours under each of these headings. When disaggregated by ethnicity, the survey showed that Pacific workers fared the worst for all of these forms of workplace mistreatment. For example, 35 percent of Pacific men and 43 percent of Pacific women identified having experienced at least one type of behaviour associated with sexual harassment in the last five years. This compares to the rate of 30 percent experienced by the workforce overall. 36 36 For racial harassment, 62 percent of Pacific peoples reported experiencing at least one of the 12 racial harassment behaviours measured in the survey. Asian workers also reported the same rate of racial harassment, followed by Māori at 52 percent. Pacific workers were the most likely ethnicity to report experiencing multiple racial harassment behaviours. Over a third of Pacific workers (37 percent) were found to have experienced four or more of the types of racial harassment the survey captured over the last five years. Pacific peoples were the ethnic group most likely to report that they had often or always experienced at least one workplace bullying behaviour listed in the survey. For Pacific workers, 26 percent reported this prevalence of bullying, while for Māori, it is 22 percent, NZ European 20 percent and Asian 18 percent. Given that Pacific workers disproportionately experience these forms of workplace violence, they are therefore likely to disproportionately suffer the impacts. For example, the same study found that workers who experienced bullying or harassment reported that they found it harder to do their job (29 percent), resigned from their job (21 percent), left the industry (10 percent), had their job or career prospects affected (9 percent) and found it difficult to get another job (5 percent). In addition, many of these impacts continued to affect workers in an ongoing way (63 percent), resulting in longer-term impacts. Very few accessed external complaints mechanisms, with 1 percent reporting that they contacted the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, the Employment Relations Authority or MBIE respectively. This evidence suggests that New Zealand Human Rights Commission. Experiences of Workplace Bullying and Harassment in Aotearoa New Zealand. Wellington: New Zealand Human Rights Commission, 2022. https://www.hrc.co.nz/files/3816/6233/0960/New_Zealand_ Human_Rights_Commission_-_Experiences_of_Workplace_Bullying_and_Harassment_in_Aotearoa_New_Zealandcompressed.pdf.