Fire and Emergency New Zealand CEO Kerry Gregory ‘upset’ over levels of workplace bullying and racism

• Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s chief executive Kerry Gregory has addressed bullying, harassment, racism and sexism within the organisation in a video message to staff.
• Gregory emphasised the need for respect among staff, acknowledging some feel unsafe at work.
• He committed to ending the unacceptable behaviour, following feedback from two independent cultural reviews.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s chief executive says the levels of “bullying, harassment, racism and sexism” in the organisation this year are genuinely upsetting.

It comes after two independent reviews of the agency’s culture found incidents were not addressed properly.

During a video message to staff published yesterday, Kerry Gregory acknowledged that some feel “anxious” to come to work.

“I recognise that some of you who have witnessed or experienced bullying, harassment, racism and sexism feel that at times, these issues have not been addressed as they should have been.”

Gregory said the feedback was “difficult to hear” but he did not dispute the findings. He said they were “accurate and necessary”.

He said that as proud he was of the service Fire and Emergency provides, poor behaviour was present in the organisation’s stations, brigades, offices and communication centres.

“Some of you don’t feel safe at Fire and Emergency. That genuinely upsets me and it should upset all of us.”

Fire and Emergency New Zealand chief executive Kerry Gregory says the workplace culture of the organisation needs to be improved. Photo / George Heard

He said the organisation’s reputation is being “disrespected” by the actions of a few and everyone should be showing the same respect to each other as they do for the people they help.

“The respect and manaakitanga [kindness, support] we show to the community should be the same that we show to each other. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.”

He said he believed the behaviour had carried on because there was a “sense that it was acceptable” or that those responsible were “untouchable”.

“Let me be clear, for the safety of all of our people, this needs to end now.”

Gregory said they were committed to doing better in the new year.

This is not the first time Fire and Emergency has come under fire for its workplace culture.

An independent review in 2022 following a damning 2019 report showed “unacceptable” levels of bullying and harassment and worrying levels of homophobia, sexism and racism.

The 2019 report revealed nearly 90 complaints, which include bullying and sexual harassment, had been upheld against Fire and Emergency staff since 2016.

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