Vector Limited won the Supreme Award this yeah. Photo / Supplied
Vector Limited won the Supreme Award this yeah. Photo / Supplied
The Equal Employment Opportunities Trust is proud to celebrate organisations across New Zealand who are leading the way in workplace diversity.
I have been lucky enough to have been a judge of the awards over the past few years and this year we have seen better overall integration of organisational programmes than ever before. Each year we see increasing representation in the types of industries and sizes of businesses who are standing up to be counted and actively making diversity and inclusion a part of everyday practice.
This makes me feel extremely encouraged about the future diversity landscape for business in New Zealand and reinforces what we are doing here at the EEO Trust: helping to support business on its journey towards truly inclusive workplaces.
Cultivating a culture that is inclusive for all people regardless of ethnicity, age, gender, physical abilities or sexual orientation has proven beneficial to the organisations as a whole. Businesses that have policies and processes to support employees in these areas have seen improvements in productivity and engagement. Indeed, many of the entrants in this year's awards are reaping the business benefits of a more inclusive approach - businesses such as Co-Ed Cafe and Coffee Educators, winners of this year's Diversability Award.
Based in Wellington, Co-Ed is a training facility for baristas, training individuals, corporate groups, schools and coffee companies.
The cafe itself is a unique environment where customers can see baristas in training, ask questions and learn more about their coffee experience. Founders and coffee enthusiasts Claire Matheson and Daniel Burford aim to provide information and education on all aspects of coffee preparation.
What makes this business stand out is that 50 per cent of the staff are profoundly deaf.
Thanks to Claire's vision, the business has greatly benefited from a diverse workforce. It has helped to win new training contracts, while Co-Ed has a regular customer base of people who are also deaf or have a hearing impairment who come to support the team and see what they are doing. Others come to practise their sign, or just to enjoy fantastic coffee made by a unique team.
Co-Ed Cafe and Coffee Educators won the Diversability Award. Photo / Supplied
An award category that appears to be reflecting a definite cultural shift is the Empowerment Award, recognising businesses doing great things to create a more equitable workplace. This year has seen a marked increase in the number of entries - almost double from 2014 - which I believe is a clear indicator of the growing numbers of organisations committed to empowering women in the workplace and tapping into a wider talent pool.
Having a gender-balanced workforce has become a key priority for organisations across the world. Increasingly the discussion is turning to issues such as: women face poorer retirements, with on average around 28 per cent less retirement savings than men; women are paid around 14 per cent less than their male counterparts (and the gap is not closing); the small number of women in management or on boards.
This year's Empowerment Award winner, ANZ, has established a variety of initiatives designed to empower its female employees, hiring and promoting more talented women under a proactive approach. It has worked hard to develop a deeper talent pool, remove bias from recruitment policies and secure the best possible person for a role. It gives them more talent to choose from, leading to diversity of thought and far greater variety of leadership styles.
One thing a number of our award entrants have in common is the realisation that to move forward, you have to understand your starting point and where you want to go.
Many of the businesses we talk to say that they are not sure where to go next. This is where the EEO Trust is glad to step in and offer the support and tools to facilitate this journey.
In 2014, the EEO Trust was engaged to provide organisation-wide training on the benefits of promoting diversity and inclusion to Vector Limited which was introducing a new diversity policy and had designed a training module combining key messages with a Vector-specific context. One year later and Vector has not only taken out the Tomorrow's Workforce category but also the overall Supreme Award at the Diversity Awards NZ 2015.
This is a fantastic achievement for the organisation.
The recruitment and training of a diverse pool of employees continues to be a major priority for Vector. By planning for a future workforce that is from a varied range of backgrounds and influences, Vector is not only future-proofing its business but creating opportunities for the youth of today and the leaders of tomorrow.
We congratulate all our winners and entrants and applaud all those organisations who develop an inclusive and empowering workplace where employees feel valued and appreciated.
Winners
• Tomorrow's Workforce Award - Vector Limited • Cultural Celebration Award - Bupa Care Services NZ Ltd. • Empowerment Award - ANZ bank New Zealand • Skills Highway Award - Goodman Fielder NZ Ltd. • Positive Inclusion Award - Simpson Grierson • Diversability Award - Coffee Educators • Work Life Balance Award - Sovereign • Walk the Talk Award - Russell Stanners, Vodafone NZ Ltd.
Highly commended awards for: ASB Bank Ltd. - Cultural Celebration Award SSC Service Stations - Diversability Award Etel Ltd. - Skills Highway Award Connexis - Empowerment Award
