2002 EEO Trust Work & Life Awards Winners
The winners of the EEO Trust's annual Work & Life Awards were announced on 22nd August at the Crowne Plaza Auckland Hotel. For the third year running the Awards were presented by the Prime Minister the Rt Hon Helen Clark.
Once again the event was sponsored by Blackmores New Zealand Ltd and there were a total of 26 entries. EEO Trust Executive Director, Trudie McNaughton, who is also one of the awards judges, said that this year's record number of entries and the range of organisations represented showed that work and life balance is increasingly a key concern for New Zealand organisations.
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"Last year we had no entries in the category for organisations with fewer than 50 employees, this year there were nine entries in that category," she said. "Smaller organisations are obviously well aware of the business benefits of helping their staff achieve work and life balance.
"We had entries from all sectors - private, public and not-for-profits. While some work and life initiatives were common to almost all entries, some were developed to address a particular workplace challenge.
For example, joint winner of the First Steps category, Taranaki-based Methanex New Zealand, has a very stable, mature workforce. Their key challenge is to retain their workers and ensure their skills are passed on. By adopting a more flexible shift system, they've given workers the option of tailoring their hours to meet their needs.
Older workers who otherwise may have left Methanex are more likely to remain with the company.
EEO Trust Work & Life Awards 2002 sponsor, Alison Quesnel of Blackmores New Zealand, says Blackmores is pleased to see a broader range of organisations encouraging work and life balance.
"In the three years Blackmores New Zealand has sponsored the EEO Trust Work & Life Awards, it has become clear that work and life balance is a realistic goal for everyone, regardless of what they earn or where they work.
"The awards align with Blackmores' philosophy of looking to nature to address health issues and I'm delighted that more New Zealand businesses are realising the benefits of a natural approach by promoting individual and organisational wellness.
"I congratulate all the entrants in this year's EEO Trust Work & Life Awards. They have demonstrated their commitment to their employees and their recognition that employee wellbeing is critical to business success."
Large Organisation Award
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Trudie McNaughton says AUT's comprehensive range of work and life measures, including a four for five scheme where staff can work full-time for four years at 80 percent of their normal salary and then take the fifth year off, and the obvious commitment of Vice Chancellor, Dr John Hinchcliff, made it an outstanding winner.
AUT's entry included dozens of letters from AUT staff recording their gratitude to AUT for the university's work and life policies and for Dr Hinchcliff's warmth and generosity.
AUT says that staff turnover is low and both staff and students are generally satisfied with the university. Some new staff have said that the reason they wanted to work for AUT was because of the culture of support the university offers staff.
Runner-up in the Large Organisation category was the Treasury which impressed judges with the changes it had made to its organisational culture since 1997. At that time, staff turnover was high, especially among women. A study found that there were tones of an overly aggressive atmosphere that inadvertently excluded many staff members, especially women.
Chief Executive, Alan Bollard, says, "We have made changes to allow staff to have flexible working arrangements, and have moved to an open plan environment and a flatter management structure to build teamwork. The aim was to provide important benefits to our people while still ensuring that our business needs were being met.
"I believe the Treasury's EEO management programme and work and life initiatives will continue to bring gradual change to the Treasury's culture. This will help managers encourage and enable people to achieve their full potential, so that our staff become a more diverse group with a wider range of experience and professional skills."
Trudie McNaughton says that the Treasury's entry into this year's Awards shows that it has successfully created a more welcoming, supportive and responsive culture. "Chief Executive Alan Bollard is thoroughly committed to the wellbeing of his staff and it shows."
Small To Medium Organisations Award
Winner of the category for organisations with fewer than 50 staff was Netball New Zealand, the Auckland-based governing body of netball. It employs 28 full-time and three part-time staff and relies heavily on volunteers.
"Netball New Zealand is a complex organisation with its combination of staff and volunteers spread throughout the country, plus teams at many levels," said Trudie McNaughton. "Staff carry heavy workloads with limited resources but Netball New Zealand has a thoroughly integrated passion for health and well-being with an emphasis on time-out for sport and personal development.
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"Staff, players and volunteers are all encouraged to achieve a balance in their lives. This is an example of an organisation that maintains congruence between external goals and internal policies and behaviour."
Joint runners-up of this category were the Bakers & Pastrycooks Union, with three employees, and SC Johnson, which employs 34 people in its Mount Wellington plant, mainly in sales and marketing and warehouse and distribution roles.
"One of the challenges of judging this category was the diversity of entrants," said Trudie McNaughton. "SC Johnson is the New Zealand arm of a consumer goods company operating in 60 countries. It has excellent work and life policies which demonstrate a systematically applied concern for staff wellbeing and company success. This was recognised by the judges of Australian equivalent of the EEO Trust Work & Life Awards last year.
The Bakers & Pastrycooks Union is a small workplace, typical in size of most New Zealand businesses. Its range of work and life initiatives is impressive and so is its staff retention rate. The shortest serving employee has been with the union for 18 years.
The union says that as a result of its work and life initiatives, its employees are flexible and productive, providing effective and efficient service.
First Steps Award
Joint winners of the First Steps category were Methanex New Zealand and Kapiti Coast District Council.
Methanex owns two methanol manufacturing plants in Taranaki and employs 230 staff. Taking last year's EEO Trust Work & Life Awards as the starting point, Methanex management and workers explored ways of offering staff non-traditional benefits that would give them more flexibility.
Management worked alongside staff and unions to develop a range of work and life initiatives including flexible working hours, the ability to sell and buy leave and extra bereavement leave.
Business benefits include increased staff morale and improved performance.
Kapiti Coast District Council also offers flexible work hours to its 174 employees. Its workplace culture promotes work and life balance with family oriented social activities, encouragement to ensure meetings are held within core hours, a free school holiday programme and a room available for breastfeeding or time-out.
Manaaki Tangata Innovation Award
Winner of the Manaaki Tangata Innovation Award is Te Utuhina Manaakitanga Trust (Addiction Resource Centre), a Rotorua-based drug and alcohol counselling service with a national reputation for the quality of its work.
All its counsellors are trained in kaupapa Māori as well as mainstream counselling skills.
Trudie McNaughton says Te Utuhina Manaakitanga is an extremely successful organisation whose success is solidly based on a foundation of Māori values as well as excellent business practices.
"As a health focussed organisation, its work and life initiatives naturally developed out of the four Māori cornerstones of health - physical, mind, spirit and family/social. Balance, particularly work and life balance, is therefore a fundamental part of its strategic direction and operating values.
"It is very exciting to see the natural alignment of work and life principles and Māori values embodied in Te Utuhina Manaakitanga. And there's no doubt that the success of the organisation is based on this commitment to balance."
A private school in Ohope for young teenagers who have been excluded from mainstream schools was highly commended for its entry in the Manäki Tangata category. Ama School was established in 1999 and was initially run mainly by volunteers. It now employs 10 paid staff and has two full-time volunteers.
The workplace culture of non-monetary rewards for volunteer staff has been retained even though most staff are now paid. Family are welcome at all school activities, working hours are flexible, meals are provided during work hours and staff can use the school vehicle.
"The judges were impressed with the way Ama School enabled its staff to lead thoroughly integrated lives," says Trudie McNaughton. "This is good for them and good for the students as staff exemplify the benefits of a balanced life. One staff member who had given up smoking told me her students were inspired by her example, saying if she could give up, so could they."
Walking the talk
Joint winners of the Walk The Talk Award for senior managers and CEOs who model work and life balance and encourage their staff to achieve it were Donella Parker of R Cubed Global Ltd and Gary Allis of Waikato District Council.
Donella Parker founded R Cubed Global, a research based consultancy, in 1996 with two other directors. They were keen to create a company with a dual emphasis on achievement and balance. "The philosophy was that work is not a place you go to earn a crust so as to enjoy the rest of your life," said the R Cubed Global entry. "Work is as integral to life as fishing."
Donella Parker has two children. Her staff say that Donella's role modelling of successfully combining work and family means that they feel comfortable finding ways to achieve the same balance for themselves, knowing that R Cubed Global will work hard to make it work.
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Gary Allis is Community Assets Group Manager at the Waikato District Council. He and his wife have three teenage children and have both combined family life with work and university study.
As well as encouraging his own staff to achieve a balance, Gary Allis strongly advocates work and life balance and family friendly policies at management team meetings.
One council staff member said, "I believe that Gary has changed the culture and immensely boosted the morale of the staff. He treats staff the way they should be treated and respects staff members' skills and abilities."
The award ceremony included the launch of the 2002 edition of New Zealand's Best Employers in Work and Life. This 84 page book details all the entrants to the 2002 EEO Trust Work & Life Awards. It includes case studies, a work and life policies check list, initiatives and contacts for all entrants, as well as detailed profiles of the winners.
EEO Trust Work and Life Award Entrants and Winners
First Steps Award
Kapiti Coast District Council (Joint winner)
Methanex New Zealand Ltd (Joint winner)
ACI Glass Packaging New Zealand
Auckland Central Remand Prison
Small to Medium Organisation (less than 50 employees)
Netball New Zealand (Winner)
Bakers and Pastrycooks Union (Joint runner-up)
S C Johnson (Joint runner-up)
BT Funds Management
Information Tools
Moneyworks
Muscular Dystrophy Association
R Cubed Global Ltd
Strategy Recruitment Consultancy
Large Organisation
Winner Auckland University of Technology
Runner-up The Treasury
Entrant 3M New Zealand Ltd
Entrant Auckland Regional Council
Entrant Ford Motor Company
Entrant UDC Finance
Entrant University of Auckland
Walk the Talk
Joint winner Donella Parker - R Cubed Global Ltd
Joint winner Gary Allis - Waikato District Council |
Entrant Superintendent Howard Broad - New Zealand Police
Entrant Dr John Hinchcliff - Auckland University of Technology
Manaaki Tangata Innovation Award
Winner Te Utuhina Manakitanga Trust
Highly commended Ama School
Sponsored by Blackmores (New Zealand) Ltd
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