have to be worked on within office hours but so long as it didn’t affect your usual responsibilities. If you did do a free course and fell behind on your day-to-day, you’ve got poor time management and don’t know how to prioritise things. But if you didn’t do a free course – you guessed it – you’ve got poor time management, don’t know how to prioritise things AND you must not be interested in career progression so we won’t invest any more time on you. (S282) A Pacific public servant shared her view that the best opportunities were reserved for Pākehā people: Most of the best training, like leadership development, was only available for managers who were 99 percent Pākehā. So missed out on the best growth training but got the standard training available for all staff. (S245) Another common barrier we heard about was the promise of training opportunities that did not eventuate – and this was the case across the different sectors. One Pacific construction worker told us “I have been promised to undertake leadership training, however none has eventuated to date” (S209). A Pacific health worker told us: They agreed that they would help me begin my training for level 3 healthcare assistant, which was never mentioned again. When my CNM talked to me about it, it was to say that I’d have to wait three months because they didn’t have the availability to fulfil my training or supervise it. (S134) Training does not lead to remuneration increases Even though several Pacific workers shared positive stories of gaining opportunities to train and develop, many shared that there was no pay increase once training was completed. These sentiments were shared by workers in the manufacturing sector who commented that “yes, they love training us by other employees so that we know how to do everything in the workplace but refuse to pay us with the rightful pay rate we deserve” (S010) and “I completed some trainings but no reward like pay rise” (S011). Experiences in other industries were similar. One healthcare worker shared that “I did all the training they provide but didn’t make any different to my pay” (S123). In another situation, one Pacific worker from the arts sector shared her experience of being given extra responsibility as part of development but no remuneration: The opportunities seem to be there but they are dragged out or seen as a way to give you more responsibility but not the remuneration because they think you benefit as much if not more from the upskill. (S723) These views imply that there was an expectation by Pacific workers that fulfilling training and development would result in a pay increase. However, information on what the agreement was when training was undertaken by a Pacific worker was not explicitly provided by Pacific workers during the Inquiry. Very few Pacific workers said they had received a pay increase as a result of further training and development. Training does not lead to advancement Taking up professional development opportunities did not necessarily lead to promotion, even where that had been indicated beforehand. Pacific workers in the education sector, for example, said they received training opportunities but that promotion did not follow. These workers had an expectation that, at the end of their training, there would be opportunities for promotion. One education worker thought that bias played a part in this: This has always been supported in my current role. But the problem is when it comes to promotion, these senior leaders are afraid of promoting Pacific peoples due to their own biases. (S679) In healthcare, one worker said that her main issue was not the access to training opportunities but rather the lack of promotion once she received training: Getting training opportunities has never been a problem. However, getting paid for those opportunities is where things become a different story. I receive the training, but a promotion to follow is another story. (S137) Voices of Pacific peoples 53