Retirement commissioner won’t be leaving quietly
Diane Maxwell tells Tamsyn Parker the firestorm over a ‘handful’ of bullying claims she was cleared of has taken a huge toll on her family and the inquiry was an ordeal that no one should have to go through
It would have been easy for Diane Maxwell to quietly slip out the door in a few weeks time hoping the furore over her wrongly accused bullying allegations also disappeared as fast.
But the woman who has been New Zealand’s Retirement Commissioner for six years isn’t going to leave quietly, or let the Government off the hook for how she was treated during a six-month investigation in which she has been cleared but will still walk away with no job.
Maxwell, who was initially seconded to the Retirement Commissioner’s role from the Financial Markets Authority in 2013, found herself the subject of two anonymous bullying allegations in November last year.
The allegations by former staff left Maxwell shocked and hurt and she claims she even felt the security of her family was threatened after the allegations were repeated across the media and spiralled into social media.
Maxwell, who could not hold back her tears during our interview, recounted the toll on herself and her family.
“I was incredibly hurt. I knew those things hadn’t happened. I knew I had never ripped up work. I knew I hadn’t sent those texts. I thought, well hopefully I will be cleared.”
She was stood down from her position while the State Services Commission appointed a Queens Counsel to investigate.
The hardest part, says Maxwell, was being isolated from her staff at a time when the Commission For Financial Capability was meant to be undertaking its three yearly review of retirement income policies.
“The problem for me I was so isolated. I wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone. Then, by the time you get to say your bit you have kind of reached a point where you can’t even speak.
“By the time I got to my interview I was a blithering wreck. I couldn’t articulate myself. I hadn’t slept. I hadn’t eaten. So you have got to say where was the natural justice in any of that?”
‘Flawed process’
Maxwell, who says she knew she had been cleared of the allegations three months ago but had to wait while Commerce Minister Kris Faafoi bided his time in releasing the report, believes the process was hugely flawed and questions why a personal grievance case wasn’t taken by the former employees instead.
“I think SSC [the State Services Commission] and MBIE [Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment] and the Government all need to do some serious soulsearching on that.
“It affected myself, my family — and I think the real issue is the issue around proportionality. At the end of all of this after all the scrutiny, it was down to a small handful of things I was meant to have done.
“So for that small handful of things all of this has happened — it’s had a massive impact on me. There is clear lack of proportionality and perspective. They need to do some serious reflection on that.”
While Maxwell was off work on full pay during the investigation, she believes it will have an impact on her future career and earnings potential.
She is still waiting to find out if the money she had to shell out in legal fees defending herself will be reimbursed to her by the Government.
“This has affected my ability to earn a living and support my family. It has impacted my mental and physical health and my family’s health. And my teenage daughter — it has impacted her terribly.”
And she believes it could have negative consequences for other bosses in the public sector.
“My fear is in light of my situation, government managers will not performance manage, will not restructure, will not move offices.
“Usually if someone is not doing a great job in government they will just get moved to another department which is a pity for the taxpayer, but I think we will see more of that.”
Maxwell also believes she would not have faced the allegations if she was a man.
“Women have a likeability penalty. They are not seen as admirable, they are seen as unlikeable.”
Losing the fight
Straight-talking Maxwell who prefers to wear jeans to the office, says she has faced criticism over her “male energy” as well as how she dresses, sits, walks and talks.
“It shouldn’t be offensive that I am the woman I am. I shouldn’t have to sit like a woman or wear dresses so everyone feels better. There is something wrong with that — I don’t have a male energy.”
While conditions for working women are meant to be getting better Maxwell worries that the fight is getting a bit lost.
“There is a thing I keep hearing that women shouldn’t try to be like men to be successful in the workplace. But let’s be careful here that we are not just scooping up women and that is just who they are.”
Regardless of the tough ending Maxwell has faced in her role as the Retirement Commissioner she will leave with no major regrets.
“I have certainly done some things that were unpopular. That’s okay.”
“Closing the Wellington office — not a regret — it needed to be done.”
Maxwell says she also got a lot of criticism for her change in focus away from the Kiwis who just needed annual check-ups to get their financial health sorted to those “on the ward” and in need of critical care.
She did it because that group are going to be the future retirees who get to retirement still renting and will have very little savings.
“And the New Zealand of the future will not be able to sustain that. Focusing on vulnerable New Zealanders is not about being politically correct but understanding the risk for NZ.
“I have had an extraordinary amount of flack for that decision — largely from white middle class New Zealanders who think it is an example of political correctness when it is actually recognising economic necessity.”
Ironically, the thing she is most proud of — her revamp of the 2016 retirement policy review — is also the thing she has received the most criticism for.
“That is because of what I did with the 2016 review. I decided the only way to get the government to shift on these important changes was to get the public to understand.”
She hit the streets of New Zealand to talk to people about the ageing population and the cost of New Zealand Superannuation — currently around $39 million a day.
“What we needed and still need and I really hope the next commissioner does is make this subject relevant, interesting and a dinner table conversation. There is no point if this is just discussed in academic circles.”
But that high public profile has not been easy.
“The down side of all of that is that profile comes at a cost to myself and my family — as I have just experienced. But, I still wouldn’t change it.
“I had women saying to me ‘when I hear you telling stories about your life, I get it in a way I hadn’t before. It works’.
“But in New Zealand that can be misread as self-aggrandising, which is a pity because God knows we need courage. We need leaders who are prepared to say stuff and front. But if we denigrate them for doing so where is that going to lead us?”
She says her single best moment in the job was when former Prime Minister Bill English announced the National-led Government would increase the age of eligibility for superannuation from 65 to 67.
“Bill English said in his speech he
valued the work of the review. So for all the critics who said the 2016 review wasn’t what they wanted it to be it was exactly what I wanted it to be.”
The Labour coalition Government has since ruled that out.
But for Maxwell the ageing population remains her biggest worry for New Zealand.
“I think the ageing population and lack of preparedness for it is going to be a problem. I think that in 20 years we will look back and say ‘did we do enough — knowing what we knew?”
“I know the stark reality of the growing number of people reaching retirement renting with little savings who are finding in the workplace they can’t get a job because of ageism.”
Asked if there is one thing the government could do now to make a difference she clear on her message.
“Understand the connection between financial capability and wellbeing and fund financial capability better.
“I get so frustrated because we are circling around all these big social problems . . . one of the blindingly obvious things we are still underecognising and underfunding [is financial capability] because we think it is a nice to have.
“And because we are frightened of saying to people you would be in a better position if you managed your money better.
“We are frightened of that statement. Because it is seen as a judgment on people. We are frightened to say it is because for a small group it is income inadequacy but we are saying that to everyone.”
But Maxwell has never been afraid to speak out and that isn’t going to change.
It shouldn’t be offensive that I am the woman I am. I shouldn’t have to sit like a woman or wear dresses so everyone feels better.