The Service sector has a huge variety of roles, ranging from highly skilled and highly paid to those that have traditionally been very low-paid and seen as low-skilled.
Entry-level service sector roles, such as cleaners and supermarket shelf stockers, are often taken for granted but are critical to New Zealand on a day-to-day basis. There is a significant opportunity to maintain and build the mana of people in these roles, recognise the value they bring, and create opportunities for progression within the sector or beyond.
Uplifting workers not only has individual benefits but also contributes to economic resilience, business productivity and community prosperity.
The Service sector includes many entry-level roles that provide opportunities for employment for a range of people, including school leavers, new migrants, and people returning to the workforce. Many people use these roles as a stepping stone to other roles, either within the sector or beyond. If people understand the pathways and possibilities, they will be better able to make informed choices around training, development and future employment. Employers can enable pathways for their kaimahi by providing clear progression within the business and being realistic and supportive when people move on to other opportunities.
Explore career opportunities and learn how to achieve your goals. Tahatū provides information on over 800 possible career ideas and 4,000+ qualifications and courses to help you on your journey. Watch tips on how to get the job you want and inspiring stories from people in different careers.
Good leaders can help improve productivity, performance and impact. Workplaces benefit from developing leadership at all levels and for people from all backgrounds, including Māori, Pacific and women. But even though there is wide recognition of the value of leadership, leadership skills often aren’t taught or deliberately developed. Businesses that actively nurture leaders are likely to see returns to the business, as well as wider benefits for individuals, customers and communities.
How to be a good leader – Business.govt.nz – Find out what good leadership looks like, why it’s important and fine tune your skills.
Ministry for Women Leadership Learning Hub – shows a range of courses and resources to grow your leadership and governance skills in Aotearoa New Zealand, with links to provider websites
Leadership Development Centre – a range of programmes and resources for aspiring and emerging leaders within the Public Service and member agencies.
Building the mana of Service sector roles has benefits for businesses, whānau, and the community. For businesses, having staff engaged in more meaningful work is likely to lead to lower turnover and more highly productive staff. Building staff capability and skills helps build resilience and enables people to adapt more readily to changes. For whānau and communities, the benefits of having more highly paid and highly valued Service sector roles include the direct benefit of people having increased money to spend and wider impacts like increased esteem and aspirations for children and others connected to people in Service sector roles.
We want to build a resilient and capable workforce that enables economically, socially, and culturally thriving people, businesses, and communities.
