employers with the tools to build a bridge between themselves and their employees, which in turn can develop accountability and consistent evaluation that would see Pacific employees progress through their workplace.364 Cultural competency training often requires that employers meet their employees halfway by making conscious efforts to understand Pacific framings of knowledge production and practice to improve workplace environments for both the employer and employee.365 However, non-Pacific employers rarely receive such training.366 For employers, it is strongly encouraged that cultural competency training is provided from Pacific perspectives.367 The literature argues that, if employers understand Pacific values and the importance of community and family, they will be able to recognise the wider levels of responsibility that Pacific workers occupy as providers for their families beyond solely financial means.368 Cultivating this deeper understanding would, in theory, enable managers to improve employment policies in such a way that would better account for Pacific perspectives and further support their Pacific employees.369 Moreover, training non-Pacific employers in cultural competency would help to challenge the deficit narratives through which many employers appear to interpret their Pacific workers. It is crucial that employers understand that such narratives are fragmented stories that fail to take into account Pacific perspectives and render other valuable work that they carry out within the community invisible.370 52 7.3.2 Limitations of cultural competency training Diversity programmes like cultural competency programmes do not guarantee the elimination of racism in the workplace.371 This is evidenced in Pacific workers’ observations that non-Pacific managers display a lack of willingness to learn about and engage with Pacific culture to support them in the workplace.372 Pacific workers have reported being frustrated by this, recognising that it impedes their career progression and upholds negative stereotypes about Pacific workers.373 Conversely, Pacific workers place high value on having Pacific managers, specifically because they understand Pacific culture and how it affects Pacific workers in the workplace.374 Currently, many employers express a desire to engage in cultural competence training but are uncertain of where to begin and what to cover.375 As a result, ad hoc solutions are often put in place by workplaces, but because they are not systemic, they are often ineffective and poorly monitored, producing few positive results.376 Many of these approaches demand extra unpaid labour from Pacific workers who are asked by their managers to engage in extra work outside their job description such as translation. Pacific workers are particularly vulnerable to overworking due to a strong desire to please superiors.377 Removing the onus to do such work is critical to Pacific peoples’ workplace success, and so, as the Ministry for Pacific Peoples notes, implementing full wraparound and tailored cultural competency training is necessary.378 The 364 Came et al., “Ethnic Pay Disparities,” 79. 365 Tunoa, Pacific Peoples’ Progression in the Labour Market, 35. 366 Equal Employment Opportunities Trust, Specifically Pacific, 39. 367 Tupou, “The Effect of the Glass Ceiling,” 96. 368 Equal Employment Opportunities Trust, Specifically Pacific, 43; Department of Labour, In Harm’s Way, 62. 369 Brougham, David, Jarrod Haar, and Maree Roche, A Kaupapa Māori Approach to Human Resource Management Practices in Aotearoa Workplaces. Auckland, New Zealand Work Research Institute, 2020, 4; Auckland Co-design Lab, The Attitude Gap Challenge, 96-97. 370 Ministry for Pacific Peoples, Pacific Aotearoa Lalanga Fou, 14; Vui-Talitu, Sara. “The Pacific’s Contribution to the NZ Economy.” Radio New Zealand, November 29, 2019. https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/two-cents-worth/story/2018724446/thepacific-s-contribution-to-the-nz-economy. 371 Came et al., “Ethnic Pay Disparities,” 73. 372 Feilo, “Talanoa,” 52, 66; Auckland Co-design Lab, The Attitude Gap Challenge, 45, 66, 114. 373 Radio New Zealand, “Workplace Challenges for Pasifika Peoples.” 374 Equal Employment Opportunities Trust, Specifically Pacific, 29-31. 375 Auckland Co-design Lab, The Attitude Gap Challenge; Equal Employment Opportunities Trust, Specifically Pacific, 39-42. 376 Radio New Zealand, “Workplace Challenges for Pasifika Peoples”; Came et al., “Ethnic Pay Disparities,” 80. 377 Chen, National Culture, 43. 378 Ministry for Pacific Peoples, Pacific Employment Action Plan, 5.