Fire and Emergency’s goal is to be a place where our people feel they belong, and are supported and empowered to thrive, so we can better serve our communities and each other. We believe people thrive and feel they belong in an environment that is safe, positive, and inclusive. 

We want our organisation to be a place where all people feel they belong and are safe. Achieving this goal will take some time, but we are making good progress. 

Eke Taumata is the programme supporting Fire and Emergency to improve the experience people have volunteering or working for us. It was initially established to implement the 20 recommendations from Te Kawa Mataaho | the Public Service Commission review (2022)(external link) into Fire and Emergency’s culture and complaints handling practices. 

We are doing more than delivering the review’s recommendations, to ensure everyone experiences a safe, positive and inclusive environment over the longer term. We’re also focused on supporting people to maintain the improvements we’ve already introduced, and on identifying and progressing other actions we need to take to support the desired culture for our organisation. 

Four pou (pillars) are guiding this mahi: 

• 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.

Fire and Emergency is making good progress to improve our people’s experience, with a broad range of initiatives already completed, well underway, or in their planning stages. 

Eke Taumata six-monthly progress reports

Fire and Emergency formally reports to the Minister of Internal Affairs every six months on how we’re tracking to address the 20 recommendations in the Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission Review and other initiatives to improve our organisational culture. 

• Eke Taumata six-month report to 30 June 2024 [PDF, 796 KB]
• Eke Taumata six-month report to 31 December 2023 [PDF, 681 KB]
• Eke Taumata six-month report to 30 June 2023 [PDF, 330 KB]

Te Tikanga Whanonga | our Code of Conduct 

In July 2024 we launched Te Tikanga Whanonga | our Code of Conduct. [PDF, 2.8 MB] Our Code sets out the behaviour and actions expected from all Fire and Emergency people, supports them to make the right decisions and judgements, and sets out what will happen if they act outside those expectations. It is a key foundation of our work to create a safe, positive and inclusive environment for all those who work and volunteer with us. 

Complaints Management

We have reviewed and updated our complaints and issues management processes. We’ve partnered with Fair Way, experts in disputes resolution, to deliver Speak Safe @ Fair Way. All volunteers and employees can access this external and independent service to raise any issues in a safe and confidential way. 

In 2022, Fire and Emergency Board Chair, Rebecca Keoghan, asked Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission to review our progress towards building a positive organisational culture and our complaints handling practices. This review would also help us plan the next steps to continue improving the experience for all our people. 

The review, led by Belinda Clark QSO and published in December 2022, found that we had already done a lot of work to address recommendations from the Positive Workplace Culture Review (Shaw Report, 2019), but that we had some way to go to address poor behaviours and achieve lasting organisational culture improvement. 

The review included 20 recommendations, which Fire and Emergency’s Board accepted in full. You can read the full review and recommendations(external link) on Te Kawa Mataaho’s website. 

The Eke Taumata programme was established to respond to the review’s recommendations and to support Fire and Emergency to improve its organisational culture in the longer term. 

“Eke Taumata” is abbreviated from 'Kia eke ki ngā taumata' – to aspire to a greater level.  'Eke' in our context means to climb or embark upon. 'Taumata' refers to a pinnacle or higher level. So together the words describe our journey to our desired or improved state.