Barriers to Recruiting a Diverse Workforce: Literature reviews

This report responds to a request by New Zealand Police to produce two literature reviews on the barriers to the recruitment of (i) women, and (ii) Māori, Pacific and ethnic groups. It has been prepared by the Crime and Justice Research Centre (CJRC) in collaboration with the Institute of Criminology.

The purpose of the literature reviews is to provide a fuller picture from the literature of recruitment issues both in New Zealand and internationally, and initiatives that have been implemented to address and/or mitigate these barriers. The reviews are to help New Zealand Police to identify good or innovative practice that might inform local approaches to recruitment.

In particular, NZ Police are interested in identifying: the most effective strategies to encourage people to join the Police; ways in which NZ Police can encourage growth in diversity without compromising standards; and the barriers to recruitment, and ways to remove them.