Progress highlighted in Eke Taumata six-monthly report

Fire and Emergency is focused on making our organisation a safe, positive and inclusive place where everyone feels they belong, where they are supported and enabled to thrive, so that collectively we can deliver service to our communities and to each other. 

Eke Taumata is helping us to reach this goal. It was established to support Fire and Emergency to achieve long-term, positive improvements, starting with implementing the 20 recommendations from the Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission review released in 2022.   

“We are making good progress,” says Janine Hearn, Deputy Chief Executive People.  

“Our latest six-monthly report to the Minister of Internal Affairs, for the period 1 January to 30 June 2024, notes we have completed seven recommendations with a further five at least 80% complete.” 

The report itself addresses recommendation 4 in the review. 

Read the full report on the Portal: Eke Taumata six-monthly progress reports | The Portal (fireandemergency.nz) 

“We know that to reach our goal of everyone feeling safe, positive and included at Fire and Emergency, and for this to be sustained over the longer term, we need to do a lot more than deliver the recommendations,” she says. 

Four pou (pillars) guiding our mahi 

The report highlights the breadth of this mahi underway right across our organisation, grouped by these four guiding pou: 

• Building trust and increasing opportunities for engagement and influence 

• Strengthening our people leadership capability  

• Providing a safe, positive and inclusive environment 

• Raising the bar on acceptable standards of conduct and behaviour 

Alongside these pou, we are starting to see improvement across some key measures, for example: 

• Our annual Whanaungatanga survey results show improvements nationally across turnover intention, cynicism, organisational commitment, pride in membership, manager support and psychological safety measures. 

• In our pulse surveys, two key measures have seen steady improvement - “I would recommend Fire and Emergency as a place to work or volunteer” has increased from 85% to 89% of respondents; “I enjoy working or volunteering at Fire and Emergency” has increased from 77% to 80%.  

“Improving our culture will take time,” says Janine. “It will require strong, active leadership and collective input from all Fire and Emergency people, but the shifts we are starting to see are positive.”