SkyCity's Claire Walker.
SkyCity Entertainment Group’s Project Nikau initiative has taken out the Deloitte Top 200 Diversity and Inclusion Leadership award for 2020.
Project Nikau is an initiative to employ and develop career pathways for youth (15- to 24-year olds) with a focus on Māori and Pasifika.
Te Roopu Māori o SkyCity, a Māori resource group, sits alongside and supports the Project Nikau initiative.
This is the second year that the entertainment company has snagged the award. In 2018, SkyCity earned top spot for Tahuna te Ahi.
Former CEO Graeme Stephens and Chief People and Culture Officer Claire Walker decided to target Māori and Pasifika youth employment to help deliver on the company’s character and culture goals.
A SkyCity team discovered that 13.6 per cent of young people aged between 15-24 were not in education, employment or training in 2018; the year the programme was conceived. Of these 29,400 people, 35 per cent were Māori and Pasifika.
The team’s objective was to employ 30 young people in sustainable full-time roles giving them an employment opportunity where previously they had experienced exclusion or difficulties in getting a job. The overall goal was to create a proven Community and Corporate Pathways Model which can be scaled and replicated.
SkyCity engaged with over 30 external organisations, assessed available internal support, employed a youth mentor and worked with the Ministry of Social Development to source suitable participants.
The Diversity and Inclusion judges said “SkyCity has recognised the importance of partnerships and have tested and iterated their programmes, demonstrating good innovation.”
The team worked on getting managers and employees within SkyCity’s 2860-strong workforce to understand the need for engagement with youth employment.
A toolkit — “Ngā Kete e Toru” (Three Baskets of Knowledge) — was used to aid understanding on how to best support disadvantaged youth in the workplace. The first 15 participants were enrolled in June 2019. A further 15 followed in September, with 20 more enrolled in February 2020 bringing the total to 50 and exceeding the initial target of 30 participants.
The participants go through a personalised training and upskilling programme for the initial 6 months of their employment. Each participant receives a dedicated support person, mentoring and pastoral care as well as cultural support.
Since its launch, the Auckland-based programme has been evaluated twice.
One external evaluator said, “It is clear that the team driving the project has taken the notion of ‘village’ to heart, and the practice of whanaungatanga was prevalent through all levels of the programme.”
The SkyCity team are pleased with the results to date, especially when taking into account the difficulties that Covid-19 has brought to the business community.
Some 66 per cent of participants remain employed with 32 per cent of these employed for 12 or more months, 36 per cent were employed for 7 to 11 months and 48 per cent for 6 months. This is a 20 per cent higher retention rate than that of the company’s general employee retention rate.
The D&I judges were impressed with the scalability of the programme as well as the lasting effects this will give to those enrolled under the initiative, even in the event they do not continue with the programme: “The strategy to change and modify will change the lives of the youth they have in their cohorts,” the judges said.
SkyCity’s Claire Walker explains, “Covid has impacted everyone but for some the implications are far greater. The analogy that, due to Covid everyone has taken a step down a rung on the ladder, is a good one.
“For those already on the bottom of the ladder, the consequences are far greater; this being the group who were most disadvantaged pre-Covid.”
Walker says while it’s tempting in these challenging times to reduce investment in community, environment and people-related initiatives that bolster social license, social license is more critical than ever.
At the beginning of 2020, SkyCity’s team of 5000 employees was made up of 58 per cent under 36 years old. The eldest employee was 83; 56 different languages were spoken, 6 per cent identified as being part of the LGBTQI+ community, and the workforce was evenly split male and female. The top three ethnicities were Chinese, New Zealand and Indian in that order.
“Overnight, our business shrank by 25 per cent and, consequently we reduced our workforce by 900 team members,” said Walker.
The management team modelled the impact on gender balance and minority groups of the different ways to approach the selection criteria for redundancy such as ‘last in, first out’, or skills-based selection.
“Of real concern was the impact of using ‘last in, first out’ on Project Nikau, our youth employment programme which had seen 50, predominantly Maori, young people from disadvantaged backgrounds join SkyCity in what was for many their first experience of employment.
“Ultimately, by offering voluntary redundancies to other employees who wanted to leave, we were able to offer redeployment options to all these vulnerable young employees.”
Finalist: Synlait Milk
Synlait Milk is a finalist in the 2020 Deloitte Top 200 D&I Leadership award for their Mātua and Tāwariwari (Parental and Flexible Working) Policy.
Synlait Milk’s company mission is “doing milk differently for a healthier world”. This prompted Synlait director Ruth Richardson and CEO Leon Clement to ask how the company could deliver the mission without more female representation within its leadership.
Synlait Milk has over 1000 employees throughout New Zealand. In early 2019, 34 per cent of senior leaders were women. There was a 16 per cent pay gap with male colleagues. The goal is to close this gap to five per cent or less by 2023.
Synlait discovered parents who went on parental leave, wanted to stay informed; to be able to attend special events; assured their income wouldn’t drop to the statutory rate; wanted more flexible working arrangements, and also to not have to worry the cost of childcare would prevent their return to work.
The new policy was announced to employees at an all-staff meeting.
Synlait has committed to:
● top up the primary caregiver’s government-paid parental leave to full salary for 26 weeks;
● give partners two weeks of paid leave (on top of annual leave); and
● continue KiwiSaver contributions, ensure annual leave accrual (holding the monetary value prior to taking leave) and annual pay reviews for employees who are on leave.
They will also help those on parental leave to stay connected if they wish to, aid the transition back to work with their Tāwariwari (Flexible) Working Policy, and pay up to $154 per week per child for childcare if the primary caregiver returns to work for at least 20 hours a week, up until the child turns three (when the government subsidy kicks in).
So far, Synlait has paid out over $290,000 in parental leave top-ups, $117,000 on partners' leave and a further $65,000 on childcare.
The category judges were impressed by how far the policy surpassed government requirements.
“The initiative goes well beyond statutory requirements — including topping up paid parental leave, providing partners with paid leave, and continuing KiwiSaver contributions and annual leave accrual.”
They also say the benefits of the policy to the company include staff retention, employee loyalty, connectedness and a culture of fairness and kotahitanga (unity).
Company HR Manager Trish Telfer said of the policy: “Research shows that women’s career progression is often impacted by taking time off to raise children. This is one way we’re trying to mitigate that.”
On being a finalist she said: “We’re thrilled to be a finalist in the Deloitte Top 200 Diversity and Inclusion category.
Synlait is committed to ensuring an inclusive workplace and our Mātua policy is aimed at helping parents, particularly mothers, return to the workforce and ease the financial burden of childcare.
“We thought we had something special; being a finalist confirmed that we did.”
They have seen a 100 per cent return to work since launching the policy and have seen an increase of the number of women in leadership roles rise by 38 per cent which they say is a direct result of attracting more women thanks to the policy. They have also closed the gender pay gap from 16 to 13 per cent, which the judges praised.
One of the company’s “new mum” employees, who utilised the policy, said: “I used to think having a child could be career-limiting — not at Synlait.”
Finalist: Kathmandu
Kathmandu’s Rainbow Inclusion initiative has seen it chosen as a finalist in the Deloitte Top 200 Diversity and Inclusion award.
The global outdoor lifestyle brand specialising in clothing and equipment has a strong foundation built on sustainability. Its core values lie strongly in its “diverse team of different backgrounds, experience, and identities”.
The Rainbow initiative was born of a company-wide understanding that team members and customers represent many different sexual and gender identities in the LGBTQI+ community.
Kathmandu saw this as an opportunity to differentiate themselves by being inclusive, raising awareness and recognising the contribution of the rainbow community.
They set out a three-year plan to make themselves the “Next Level Inclusive Employer”, aiming to establish both a rainbow employee network and Rainbow Tick accreditation — a certification that ‘is about accepting and valuing people in the workplace, embracing the diversity of sexual and gender identities’, which they achieved in March 2020.
Kathmandu showed that they were fully successful in the certifications' five areas: strategy and policy, employee engagement and organisational support, external engagement, organisational development, and monitoring.
The initiative is led by Learning and Development Manager Kelly Hopkins. Kelly’s starting point was to form a “Kampers” team including as many identities as possible and seeking out employees with varied diversity including sexuality and gender identities.
The scheme was broadened to the rest of the company’s 2000 team members located in Australia, the US and the UK. More than 12 per cent of the global workforce that have become Rainbow Kampers.
A November 2019, survey revealed 17.4 per cent of respondents identified as belonging to the LGBTQI+ community, with identities ranging from gay/lesbian, pansexual, gender fluid, transgender to sapiosexuality.
The same survey also showed that 87 per cent of Kathmandu’s global workforce “do not feel the need to hide, mask or downplay any aspect of their physical, cultural, spiritual or emotional self at work” and 93 per cent feel trusted and respected.
With the help of the then team’s only transgender employee, Alannah, the Kampers created a logo for the initiative that incorporates both the Rainbow and Trans Pride flag colours as well as a video entitled “This is Me” which includes a diverse array of people from within the company, including Alannah. Posted on the company’s Facebook page inspiring positive comments including one customer that said: “What a great post no wonder I love this store you are such a positive example for your diversity and ethical perspective. Thank you”.
Hopkins is proud of this: “We can see from the reactions of our team members and customers how much our initiatives mean to them personally.
When a team member feels safe to bring their whole selves to work and various stresses associated with that are removed, they can focus on their work, and contribute more to the business. There is a shared sense of pride in Kathmandu and we see teams working together more effectively and producing greater innovation."
Since they initiative began they have created a ‘transitioning at work’ policy as well as supporting two team members in their transition journey and sponsored LGBTQI+ community events outside of the organisation including the Christchurch Pride Stonewall 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner.
They have also looked to engage the Rainbow community outside of the brand, partnering with Rainbow organisations Qtopia in New Zealand and Minus 18 in Australia and have worked with companies Health Quality & Safety Commission and Vodafone Rainbow Whanau in Christchurch sharing ideas and creating plans for potential future collaborations.
The judging panel said, “Kathmandu is working hard to build rainbow community inclusion and celebration. It has demonstrated great enthusiasm and energy…
“There has been great buy-in and engagement and the programme has been supported by senior leaders within the company, which has resulted in a clear culture shift.
“This is a ground-breaking programme in the Rainbow community.”
Going forward, the company looks to spread further awareness across its other brands Oboz and Rip Curl in order to bring their group portfolios in line.
OPINION: Tensions are likely to become more evident next year.