Screen-print illustration of Titahi Bay Beach, Porirua — Illustration generated with AI.

41.12° S, 174.87° E. Porirua City, Wellington (Te Upoko o te Ika a Māui)

Microsoft Copilot training in Porirua

Porirua town organisations move work between production, service desks and training offices. Copilot training can follow a controlled file from its owner to a checked Word note or Outlook reply.^3,4,5

Enquire Read the local brief

66.4% of Porirua’s employed residents are in desk-based roles.

	A	B	C	D
1	Role type	Porirua	NZ	Diff (pts)
2	Desk-based	66.4%	63.6%	+2.8
3	People-facing	10.0%	9.0%	+0.9
4	Hands-on	23.7%	27.4%	−3.7
5	Employed residents	30,222	2,622,534

About 20,100 people in desk-based roles. 2023 Census, counted where people live.

Rows 2 to 4: ANZSCO major groups 1, 2, 5, 6 / 4 / 3, 7, 8. Stats NZ 2023 Census, employed residents. Proxy per ILO 2025; not a forecast.

Residents: 58,1002023 Census
Business locations: 4,833Feb 2025, +11.5% since 2020
Employees (jobs here): 19,460at local businesses, Feb 2025
Self-employed or employers: 13.3%of employed residents, NZ 16.2%
Drive to Wellington: 21 min21 km by road

What AI means for work in Porirua

5 findings from Stats NZ data for Porirua, and what each means for Microsoft Copilot training.

Workforce by occupation group, Porirua against New Zealand

66.4% of employed residents in Porirua work in desk-based roles, against 63.6% across New Zealand. Desk-based roles live in Outlook, Teams, Word and Excel, which is where Copilot works. A broad rollout has plenty of people to benefit: plan the pilot group and the champions first.

Employed residents by occupation group, Porirua and New Zealand, 2023 Census
Occupation group	People	Porirua	NZ
Managers	5,205	17.2%	18.3%
Professionals	9,273	30.7%	26.8%
Technicians and trades workers	3,360	11.1%	12.5%
Community and personal service workers	3,006	10.0%	9.0%
Clerical and administrative workers	3,492	11.6%	10.8%
Sales workers	2,109	7.0%	7.8%
Machinery operators and drivers	1,476	4.9%	5.9%
Labourers	2,310	7.6%	9.0%

Desk-based = ANZSCO major groups 1, 2, 5 and 6 (managers, professionals, clerical and administrative, sales): roles where AI assistance is most applicable. Broad proxy informed by ILO 2025; not measured adoption or an employment forecast. People-facing = major group 4. Hands-on = major groups 3, 7 and 8.

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people; ILO, Generative AI and jobs: a refined global index of occupational exposure (2025).

Education: 18.0% of local jobs, 2.1× the national share

Top employer: health and social care, 3,599 jobs (18.5%). Heat cells mark industries over-represented against New Zealand. Plan Copilot use cases by department in the largest employers first.

Share of paid jobs by industry, Porirua and New Zealand, February 2025
Industry	Jobs	Share	NZ	×
Health and social care	3,599	18.5%	12.0%	1.5×
Education	3,508	18.0%	8.5%	2.1×
Retail	2,442	12.5%	9.3%	1.4×
Hospitality	1,919	9.8%	7.2%	1.4×
Construction	1,877	9.6%	8.2%	1.2×
Public administration	1,124	5.8%	6.4%	0.9×
Manufacturing	973	5.0%	9.4%	0.5×
Professional services	894	4.6%	8.3%	0.6×
Admin and support services	792	4.1%	4.6%	0.9×
Other services	705	3.6%	3.5%	1.0×

Share of paid employees at business locations in the area, by ANZSIC06 industry division. × is the local share divided by the national share.

Source: Stats NZ, Business Demography Statistics, February 2020 and 2025.

Business locations +11.5% and employees +9.3%, 2020 to 2025

Paid employees 17,810 (2020) to 19,460 (2025), +9.3% against +5.0% nationally. Business locations 4,335 to 4,833. Largest job gain: hospitality (+804). Largest loss: construction (−127).

Business locations: 4,3354,833 in 2025, from 2020; +11.5% NZ +9.6%
Employees (jobs here): 17,81019,460 in 2025, from 2020; +9.3% NZ +5.0%

Change in employees by industry in Porirua, February 2020 to February 2025
Industry	2020	2025	Change
Hospitality	1,115	1,919	+804
Health and social care	2,969	3,599	+630
Education	3,321	3,508	+187
Construction	2,004	1,877	−127
Finance and insurance	178	82	−96
Transport and warehousing	278	198	−80

Geographic units (business locations) and paid employees, February of each year. Small counts are randomly rounded by Stats NZ, so small changes can be noise.

Source: Stats NZ, Business Demography Statistics, February 2020 and 2025.

Remote readiness: work at home and household internet

Both on-site and remote sessions work. Most teams start with a half-day on-site.

18.1%

Mainly worked from home, census day 2023

New Zealand 17.7%

93.0%

Households with internet access

New Zealand 90.5%

Main means of travel to work on census day, and access to the internet in occupied private dwellings.

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people.

Self-employed and employers: 13.3% (New Zealand 16.2%)

Most workers here are employees of organisations, the setting where Microsoft 365 Copilot rollouts are planned centrally, with licences, policy and champions.

13.3%

self-employed or employers

New Zealand 16.2%

Employed residents whose status in employment is employer, or self-employed without employees.

Source: Stats NZ, 2023 Census, usually resident employed people.

Copilot for Porirua’s largest employers

The local factory and hospital need different permissions and reviewers. A Microsoft 365 exercise can make file access, the next step and the final checker explicit.^3,4

Manufacturing

Use a fictional Excel packaging register to prepare a Word exception note, then check it against an approved product sheet.^3,10

Tertiary education

Turn a sample Whitireia staff meeting into Teams actions, with course owners confirming dates and responsibilities.^5,11

About Porirua

The supplied Porirua urban-area town record gives a 2023 population of 58,080 and 4,833 business units employing 19,460 people in 2025; these are town totals, separate from Porirua City territorial-authority figures. Manufacturing has a visible local anchor in Whittaker's Porirua factory, while Kenepuru Hospital and Whitireia's Porirua campus are substantial local health and training institutions. A Porirua City capacity assessment identifies construction, health care, education and retail as together accounting for 56% of city employment in 2022, and names North City as a retail anchor; that measure is city-wide, not the town boundary. Ngāti Toa Rangatira's BizHub is running a founding coworking trial in Porirua from 28 August to 20 December 2026, with business workshops, mentoring and shared workspace.^1,2,3,4,5,6

Microsoft Copilot ideas grounded in Porirua

Food and confectionery manufacturing

Check a sample chocolate batch sheet
A production coordinator can use Microsoft 365 Copilot in Excel to compare a synthetic batch sheet against approved ingredient and packaging specifications and flag missing fields for review. The quality lead checks every flagged item against the controlled source before updating a record.³

Why here: Whittaker's confirms that all its products are made at its Porirua factory, making a confectionery production worksheet a locally specific practice exercise.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot in Excel
Keep packaging claims aligned during a redesign
A packaging lead can use Microsoft 365 Copilot in Word to draft a change summary from approved packaging specifications and Microsoft 365 Copilot in PowerPoint to prepare a review slide. The team verifies each sustainability, recycling and product-quantity claim against substantiation before it reaches customers.¹⁰

Why here: A 2025 report on Whittaker's Porirua-made Chocolate Pods describes a packaging change made with local suppliers, a clear local case for controlled change communications.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot in Word
- Microsoft 365 Copilot in PowerPoint
Summarise a supplier review for the operations team
An operations manager can use Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams to draft actions from a discussion about a packaging or ingredient supplier, then organise approved follow-ups in Loop. The manager verifies supplier commitments and keeps commercially sensitive information within authorised systems.¹⁰

Why here: Whittaker's says it worked with local packaging suppliers on its Porirua factory's 2025 Chocolate Pods change, making supplier coordination a locally grounded exercise.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams
- Microsoft 365 Copilot in Loop

Health care and social assistance

Turn a mock Kenepuru service meeting into actions
A service coordinator can use Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams to draft decisions and owners from a simulated meeting about a non-clinical service improvement. Staff check every action and use no identifiable patient information in the practice material.⁴

Why here: Kenepuru Hospital lists medical, mental-health, maternity, surgical and psychogeriatric services, giving a local setting for practising careful service hand-offs.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams
Review a de-identified clinic planning table
A service analyst can use Microsoft 365 Copilot in Excel to summarise a synthetic appointment or staffing table and mark patterns for human review. The analyst confirms calculations and follows health-service rules before using any real operational data.⁴

Why here: The Ministry of Health lists 131 beds and five service types at Kenepuru Hospital; a mock operational table can practise analysis without drawing on patient records.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot in Excel
Find a current staff process in approved files
A staff educator can use Copilot Chat grounded in approved internal files to draft an answer to a non-clinical process question and point colleagues to the source document. The owner checks access, tests difficult questions and provides a human contact when the answer is uncertain.⁴

Why here: Kenepuru's listed range of hospital services makes current staff-process information important; the exercise uses authorised guidance, not patient records.
- Copilot Chat
- Microsoft Graph grounding on company files

What Porirua does

Food and confectionery manufacturing. Whittaker's confirms that all of its products are made at its Porirua factory. In 2025 it reported reducing the Chocolate Pods pack size while keeping the amount of chocolate the same, working with local packaging suppliers as part of a sustainability programme. Stats NZ-derived February 2025 business-demography data lists 135 manufacturing geographic units across Porirua City territorial authority; that count is not town-specific.^3,8,10 Named in public sources: J.H. Whittaker & Sons³.
Health care and social assistance. Kenepuru Hospital is a 131-bed public hospital at 16 Hospital Drive, Porirua. The Ministry of Health lists medical, mental-health, psychogeriatric, maternity and surgical services. The Porirua City 2023 Housing and Business Development Capacity Assessment identifies health care as one of four sectors that together accounted for 56% of city employment in 2022; the combined share is city-level context, not a town-specific measure.^4,6,8 Named in public sources: Kenepuru Hospital⁴.
Construction and infrastructure. Construction is one of the four sectors that the Porirua City capacity assessment identifies as accounting for 56% of city employment together with health care, education and retail in 2022. The assessment describes Elsdon and Broken Hill as general-industrial areas and Judgeford Flats as a possible future industrial area; a later government economic assessment estimates that Porirua City employment grew 37% from 2015 to 2024. These are city-wide findings, not town-boundary counts. Figure.NZ's Stats NZ-derived 2025 table lists 891 construction geographic units across Porirua City.^6,8,9
Retail trade and hospitality. The Porirua City capacity assessment describes North City shopping centre as the anchor of the city's retail offering and identifies retail among the leading employment sectors. It also describes Porirua City Centre as the primary commercial centre, with local centres including Mana, Plimmerton, Whitby, Cannons Creek, Ranui and Titahi Bay. Stats NZ-derived 2025 territorial-authority data lists 327 retail and 189 accommodation and food-services geographic units across Porirua City, not just the Porirua town boundary.^6,8 Named in public sources: North City shopping centre⁶.
Education and training. Whitireia's Porirua campus at 3 Wi Neera Drive, Elsdon offers community-driven courses; the institute's programme listing includes health, social practice, trades, business, IT and screen production. Education is one of the sectors in the city-wide group representing 56% of Porirua employment in 2022. The 2025 Stats NZ-derived business table lists 150 education and training geographic units across Porirua City, not at the town boundary.^5,6,8,11 Named in public sources: Whitireia Campus (Porirua Campus)⁵.
Professional, scientific and technical services. The Porirua City assessment notes that many business and commercial services are clustered in Wellington City, while Porirua residents commute there and some work from home locally. In 2025, Stats NZ-derived territorial-authority data lists 1,050 professional, scientific and technical-services geographic units across Porirua City. A 2025 Gold Awards report names Plimmerton-based consultancy Parttime Professionals among local finalists; no town-boundary employment count was verified.^6,8,12 Named in public sources: Parttime Professionals¹².

Organisations are named for local context only. No relationship with them is implied.

Training venues in and near Porirua

Most training happens at your own workplace. For a public workshop day or an off-site session, these places hire out rooms.

Porirua RSA, Conference Room and Governor's Lounge¹⁶

45 people, largest layout

Conference room seating is 20-25; the separate Governor's Lounge holds 40-45. Confirm the selected room and arrangement with the venue.
- whiteboard
- flat-screen TV
- audio visual equipment
- on-site catering
5-7 McKillop Street, Porirua
Porirua Club, Phyphers Lounge¹⁷

50 people, largest layout

The club describes the lounge as suitable for small to medium conferences and functions and says it accommodates up to 50 guests; a minimum or 20-40 layout was not stated.
- on-site catering
- equipment available for hire or supply
1 Lodge Place, Porirua
Pātaka, Helen Smith Community Meeting Room¹⁸

80 people, largest layout

A 140 m² room advertised for training sessions and lectures; the source lists 80 seated or 100 standing, without a smaller layout option.
- built-in data projector
- screen
- speaker system
- Wi-Fi
- whiteboard
Corner Norrie and Parumoana Streets, Porirua
BizHub Porirua²

Coworking space

Founding trial runs 28 August-20 December 2026 on weekdays. Includes coworking desks and private rooms for up to four people; not a 20-40-person workshop venue.

7 Hartham Place South, Porirua

From the venues’ own public listings. No booking or relationship is implied.

In the local business news

28 Aug 2026
BizHub Porirua launches its founding coworking trial Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira
Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira says the founding trial runs to 20 December 2026 and includes shared workspace, business capability workshops, mentoring and monthly founder sessions. The programme page says it is open to Porirua pakihi and that the rooms seat up to four, so it is a business-support and coworking story rather than a public workshop venue.
24 Mar 2025
Your support is needed: Chamber funding under review Porirua Chamber of Commerce
The Porirua Chamber said council funding supported 11 annual events, its newsletters and local-business advocacy, and reported that this support was under review. The page describes the Chamber's view at that time; the current funding position was not verified.
4 May 2025
Porirua Businesses Shine as 2025 Gold Awards Finalists Announced Porirua News
Porirua News reported seven Porirua-based businesses and one Māori enterprise among regional Gold Awards finalists and showcase recipients. Named local examples included Whittaker's, Plimmerton consultancy Parttime Professionals and food innovator Mushroom House.
13 Jan 2025
Porirua Business Gears Up for 2025 with Economic Update Breakfast Porirua News
Porirua News announced an Economic Update Breakfast hosted by the Chamber and ANZ for 11 February 2025 at The Supply Room in Mana, bringing local businesses together for economic commentary and networking. The event has passed, but shows local demand for practical business and economic discussion.

Around Porirua

Porirua, New Zealand by Aidan Wojtas from Wellington, New Zealand, CC BY-SA 2.0.

About 19 km in a straight line to Wellington, the nearest large centre. Dots are towns covered on this site.

Porirua City and Microsoft Copilot training across Wellington, or Wellington. Distances are straight-line.

A Porirua session can test two permitted handovers and see whether each output still points to the right source file.^3,5

Public Microsoft Copilot workshops near Porirua

There is no public Copilot workshop near Porirua on the calendar yet. Register interest below and we will tell you when one is scheduled. Organisations can book private training for their own staff at any time.

Tell me when there is a workshop near Porirua

We will email you when a public workshop is scheduled nearby. No other mailing.