A healthcare worker’s story A Pacific worker in the healthcare industry, currently based in the regions, told us her story. She had originally trained in another field, receiving tertiary qualifications in that field. Despite this, when she applied to do a healthcare course she was interested in, she was discouraged by a lecturer on her interview panel. This lecturer told her she might not be able to manage the workload, particularly the theoretical material. She persisted in her chosen field despite her lecturer’s lack of confidence. In her cohort of tertiary study in health, she was the only Pacific student, as most others came from Asian or Pākehā backgrounds. She has kept in touch with her fellow students in the years since the course finished, witnessing the differences in their careers as they have gone into the workforce. Several now earn more than she does, and some are now in management roles. By contrast, after five years, she is still in roles at a similar level to when she started, although she acknowledges her pay has increased over that time. When comparing her salary with those of her colleagues, however, she found that she was paid several thousand dollars a year less than them. An example that particularly stung was when a former student from her course joined her workplace a few months after her, and their starting salary was $5,000 higher. This was despite the fact the new person had the same qualification as her but slightly less experience in the workplace. She chose not to raise this issue with her employer. One of the reasons for this was that her employer at the time had told her that her qualification was considered not as high-quality as others, despite the fact that other people from her course were employed there. She was also keen to keep her job and did not want to be seen to be making trouble. She told us she did not negotiate her pay when she first started in the job and was not shown any information about pay scales during the recruitment process. As a Pacific worker, she often has a good rapport with her clients and is able to relate to them holistically – a strength that her non-Pacific colleagues may not have. She feels this particular strength of hers is overlooked when it comes to promotion or other opportunities for advancement and in one example has actually worked against her. In this case, her employer had promoted a colleague who did not have people skills into a management role. She believes that racism had a role in this decision – the colleague promoted was Pākehā as was the person who promoted them. The person had been chosen via an informal process where the employer had a conversation with each staff member – she did not realise at the time that this conversation was really more like an interview. When she asked her employer why the new manager was promoted ahead of her, she was told it was because they did not have the same people skills and would work better in management rather than with clients. She has since left this job and has worked for other employers. Her experiences during recruitment have been different. For one role, she received information about the pay scale for the role. She saw that their offer to her placed her towards the top of the band. For another role, however, she asked for more information about pay and tried to negotiate a higher rate. In this case, her employer told her that they could not offer her anymore. This was despite the fact a non-Pacific colleague had recently negotiated and received a higher rate of pay. Again, she felt discouraged and did not want to pursue the matter. She says she feels embarrassed asking for more money. She has not sought other work because she wants to be able to support her family and not see them struggle. Her husband is currently not working so she is the sole breadwinner for the family, and she also supports her parents who are retired. Despite her experiences, this Pacific worker is passionate about her chosen field and she loves working with her clients. She just wants to be paid fairly for what she does and to have her strengths and skills recognised. 70