Jessica Retter
University of Otago
Joe Cooper
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Kiwa is KPMG NZ’s network of Māori and Pasifika colleagues. Kiwa was developed to create an inclusive environment that demonstrates genuine interactions with Māori and Pasifika languages, cultural practices and customs; to build a pipeline of young Māori and Pasifika, through mentoring Māori and Pasifika tertiary students; and to support new Māori and Pasifika KPMG’ers to ensure they feel welcomed and a sense of ‘belonging’ at KPMG.
Kiwa provides a network to encourage young Māori and Pasifika through university and into professional jobs. This directly contributes towards Goal 4: Quality education, Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth and Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries.
Kiwa is a network within KPMG NZ for Māori and Pasifika colleagues to connect and support one another at KPMG. In addition to being an internal support network for Maori and Pasifika employees, a Kiwa Mentoring Program was developed in 2017 to connect Māori and Pasifika students with Māori and Pasifika employees at KPMG. The Kiwa Mentoring Program provides a mechanism allowing tertiary and high-school students to see themselves reflected in roles within KPMG and break down any preconceived ideas about professional services. Mentoring is based on a tuakana-teina model, which is a Māori societal model wherein an expert (tuakana) guides a less experienced person (teina).
Kiwa organically grew from a small group of Māori and Pasifika employees who provided pastoral care to each other and tertiary students with no initial monetary support from the firm. In 2021, four leaders in the Kiwa group gave a presentation to the KPMG leadership outlining the impact that KPMG could have on Māori and Pasifika communities within New Zealand, which aligns with the firm’s mission of ‘fuelling New Zealand’s prosperity’. Subsequent to the presentation, the firm provided funding to Kiwa to allow Kiwa to upscale and expand.
Last year, Kiwa had over 80 mentees sign up for the Kiwa Mentoring Program, with the program now including structured workshops around key topics such as CV writing and networking. Kiwa mentors also support mentees through the KPMG job application process. KPMG is in the process of implementing a system where a senior Kiwa member is involved and present during interviews for Māori and Pasifika applicants.
Kiwa is actively increasing diversity within KPMG. At the time of establishment, KPMG had around 1200 employees, of which 10 were Māori or Pasifika. KPMG now has over 160 Māori or Pasifika employees, showing real progress towards SDGs 4, 8 and 10.
Kristal noted that “the network started prior to [her] joining the firm”. In the early days of the network, it was known as Te Rōpū Kaitiaki. KPMG had “only 10 Māori or Pasifika employees”. When pitching for work for Government, Māori, or Pasifika organisations, KPMG would often miss out on the work due to the firm “not reflecting the communities that the organisations seek to serve”. Based on this feedback, KPMG wanted to develop and enhance its Māori or Pasifika representation across the company.
As more Maori and Pasifika entered the firm, the network determined that there should be a name change to acknowledge the increase in both Maori and Pasifika employees. The inspiration behind the growth of Kiwa is to act as a “central connector” for Māori or Pasifika both within the firm and beyond. “Kiwa gets its name from Te-Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa, which is the Pacific Ocean. Like the Pacific Ocean connects Aotearoa to the rest of the Pacific, Kiwa connects Māori and Pasifika both within and beyond KPMG.”
Kristal’s high point in relation to her time involved in Kiwa is the recent inaugural Fiafia night hosted by Kiwa. In December 2022, Kiwa hosted its first Fiafia night, which was a celebration of Māori or Pasifika culture. Kiwa’s Fiafia night was “the first Fiafia night in a corporate environment”. Fiafia night was attended by KPMG employees and their families, as well as employees at other nearby businesses and their families. For Kiwa, Fiafia night was a way to thank “both the firm and the families of the employees for their support”.
The short-term impact of the implementation of KIWA is the noticeable increase in the representation of Māori and Pasifika across KPMG. In 2017, there were 10 Māori and Pasifika employees at KPMG. There are currently 184 employees of Māori and/or Pasifika descent, with representation in all service lines across the business. Staff retention is also a focus of Kiwa. Kiwa has developed a network in which Māori and Pasifika staff are connected, with the intention that this will enhance staff retention.
Kiwa has also had a significant scale-up in university mentorship. In the first year of mentorship, 10 Māori and Pasifika students were mentored through the program. In 2022, there were 80 mentees. This shows a tangible impact on Māori and Pasifika students.
KPMG also has learning and development opportunities that have been structured towards more Māori and Pasifika approaches.
There is also an increase in the growth of KPMG’s ability to meet the needs of clients in the Māori sector. By enhancing the Kiwa network within KPMG, KPMG has gained a resource base of employees who are culturally competent in the needs of the Māori sector and can work through a Matauranga Māori lens.
By supporting the Kiwa network, KPMG has developed an internal network of Māori and Pasifika employees in a sector where Maori and Pasifika are significantly under-represented. In response to this network, KPMG is better placed to assist with engagements in the Māori sector. As a result, KPMG has had a significant uplift in the amount of work won in the Māori sector when compared to levels prior to Kiwa. Through Kiwa and Kiwa initiatives, KPMG is building a workforce that is prepared to serve a growing Māori and Pasifika population within the main economic centres in New Zealand.
Through the establishment of Kiwa, KPMG has also managed to increase its Māori and Pasifika headcount. Māori and Pasifika headcount has increased by around 174 FTEs through the establishment of Kiwa. KPMG also has greater visibility of Māori and Pasifika students within universities.
KPMG also won the Diversity Works 2022 Diverse Talent award for a medium-large organisation. This award represents external recognition of Kiwa’s progress towards creating a more diverse and inclusive environment.
Māori and Pasifika tend to be overrepresented in New Zealand’s unemployment statistics. A 2017 report titled “Māori in the Labour Market” found that the Māori unemployment rate was 10.8%, while the national unemployment rate was 4.9%. Unemployment tends to be even higher in Māori youth, with 20.4% unemployment in 2017. In the December 2021 quarter, when the national unemployment rate was 3.2%, Māori unemployment remained significantly higher at 7.0%, and Pasifika unemployment was 5.4%. This represents significant disparities in employment across ethnicities.
Across New Zealand in 2017, Māori and Pasifika were underrepresented in the business services industry, with business services representing just over 10% of the employment share of each ethnicity, which is significantly less than both the Asian and European contribution. By increasing Māori and Pasifika representation, Kiwa is actively attempting to amend this balance and provide Māori and Pasifika with equal opportunities.
Through Kiwa, KPMG is able to help Māori and Pasifika university students develop connections between themselves and other Māori and Pasifika professionals. It allows these students to gain an understanding of what working in a corporate environment is like, to allow students to decide if careers in professional services are what they would like to pursue. This has significantly increased the percentage of Māori and Pasifika in the KPMG workforce.
The upskilling of the Māori and Pasifika workforce at KPMG has also allowed KPMG to develop a Māori sector, which is able to effectively partner with Māori organisations, government and business to develop solutions that help to transform outcomes for whānau and communities. Without the appropriate skills, KPMG would be unable to create real and meaningful change through its engagement.
Sources:
- https://www.mbie.govt.nz/assets/c71b557b32/2017-monitoring-report-maori-in-the-labour-market.pdf
- https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2203/S00679/maori-pasifika-young-people-and-small-regions-hardest-hit-in-job-downturns.htm
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Kristal Pihama, Director & Co-Chair of Kiwa
The innovation is Kiwa, which is KPMG NZ’s network of Māori and Pasifika colleagues. KPMG is a professional services firm offering a range of services across audit, tax and advisory. KPMG NZ is the New Zealand owned arm of the global KPMG network and provides services to organisations including private businesses, publicly listed companies, Government and public sector organisations, and not-for-profits.