Port of Auckland’s transformative approach to diversity and inclusion has seen the company take out the Diversity and Inclusion Leadership category in this year’s Deloitte Top 200 awards.
The port company acknowledges it has been through some difficult times with poor health and safety records, operational and financial performance and low staff morale between 2018 and 2022 adding to strains felt by the board, shareholder Auckland Council, the unions and the workforce as a whole.
A “radical transformation” was in order, starting with the company’s culture, which was described as “the root cause” of problems.
“Port of Auckland’s bold cultural reset was centred on leveraging diversity, equity, and inclusion to drive transformational change,” the judges noted.
“By prioritising a people-centred approach, they created a high-performance/high-engagement culture that recognised and served the unique needs of their diverse workforce and stakeholders.”
A new organisational strategy, “Regaining Our Mana”, was implemented along with a new and comprehensive culture pillar, called Whānaungata nga, to leverage the diversity of everyone in the port community to help the port thrive, succeed and be a great place to work. This followed a change in board and a new chief executive and executive team in 2021.
Whānaungatanga (a relationship through shared experiences and working together which provides people with a sense of belonging) was one of three key pillars in the Regaining Our Mana strategy. The other two focused on customer and commercial aspects. The cultural overhaul utilised a High Performance, High Engagement (HPHE) methodology, focusing on inclusive problem-solving and collaboration across all levels, including unions, management and front-line workers.
“The Whānaungatanga pillar leverages the power of people working together, from union members, management, frontline workers and subject matter experts to help solve problems collaboratively,” port representative Shelley Ashdown explains. This extensive collaboration required “strong relationships with unions and a mindset shift for leaders”, fostering trust and mutual respect across all levels.
Collaboration between union representatives, executives and staff led to a comprehensive health and safety strategy that reduced workplace injuries by over 50% between 2023 and 2024.
“The introduction of initiatives like the Māori Outcomes Framework and dynamic rostering reflects a genuine equity lens and a collaborative ‘hearts and minds’ approach,” the Deloitte Top 200 judges added. “These efforts demonstrate how deeply embedded cultural values and stakeholder partnerships have been in driving sustainable transformation.”
The upshot is the port company’s safety metrics improved significantly with net profit after tax soaring from a $10.3 million loss in FY22 to $40.5m in FY23, and employee engagement reaching record highs. The strategy has been widely recognised in New Zealand, resulting in wins for the 2023 Safeguard NZ Safety Collaboration Award and the HRNZ Future of Work Award.
“We have seen safety, financial and engagement measures all significantly improve since we launched Whānaungatanga,” Ashdown said. “It has broken down silos, fostered strong, respectful and collaborative relationships among management, unions, frontline workers, Māori and Pasifika, leading to better inclusion and diversity of thought to solve issues.”
Said the judges: “The results have been remarkable, with transformational improvements in health and safety, engagement scores, employee retention, union relationships, and an extraordinary turnaround in financial outcomes.”
“Port of Auckland’s transformation shows that embedding Whānaungatanga into the organisation’s core has not only driven cultural change but also delivered impressive operational and financial results. We are confident that this DEI-driven strategy will remain a core pillar of the port’s success in years to come.”
ANZ garnered praise for its Te Ao Māori Strategy Tākiri-Ā-Rangi strategy – an 18-year plan to “make the Māori world view part of our organisational culture, and to build personal wealth and business prosperity for our Māori customers”.
The Deloitte judges recognised its importance not just for the bank, but for the wider industry and country as a whole, noting it as “an impressive, sophisticated and innovative long-term strategy to integrate Te Ao Māori into the core of the organisation and its services, and transform the banking industry as a whole, recognising the demographic shifts happening in Aotearoa”.
The strategy is not just about cultural integration; it also makes good business sense. With one in three under 25-year-olds in New Zealand identifying as Māori, ANZ acknowledges the importance of engaging this key group, which represents the future workforce and customer base.
Peter Parussini from ANZ said: “Tākiri Ā Rangi is more than morally doing the right thing.
“It makes good business sense when considering our future customers and workforce,” he explained.
The programme was initiated in 2022 and is set to continue through until 2040, which will also mark the bicentenary of the Treaty of Waitangi, with the intention to “look out for a generation”, where most companies set three- to five-year plans for similar initiatives.
ANZ states: “Our long view aligns with our Te Ao Māori approach, acknowledges the scale of the transformation challenge ANZ has taken on and ensures this transformation will be embedded in the fabric of the organisation beyond the tenure of the current ANZ leadership.”
There were early challenges, including scepticism about the need for a separate Māori strategy.
However, ANZ’s leadership took a collaborative approach. “When Tākiri Ā Rangi was developed, we worked across the business with over 1000 staff providing direct feedback.
“The previous chair, Sir John Key, and CEO Antonia Watson convened a hui with Māori and iwi leaders, receiving strong support for the direction we were heading,” said Parussini.
The strategy has been divided into seven phases with this year marking the end of the initial two-year phase Ngā Tau Tuatahi (the Early Years). The strategy as a whole is driven by three core principles:
●To develop strong relationships with Māori as part of ANZ New Zealand’s long-standing purpose to “shape a world where people and communities thrive — kia hanga i te ao e ora ai, e tupu ai te tāngata me te kāinga”.
●To seek and improve the financial well-being and sustainability of all our customers — kia whakamanahia te oranga o tātou.
●To enhance our understanding of Te Ao Māori as we grow as a company and as a nation.
ANZ has also introduced initiatives like Hohou I Te Rongo, a Tikanga Māori-led programme designed to support staff in dealing with extreme events like robberies and deaths.
“The anecdotal feedback from staff has been very positive,” Parussini said.
The organisation has also incorporated local Māori imagery and partnerships into branch openings and refurbishments. “Whenever we open a branch now or refurbish it, we engage local iwi and hapū in the process, and staff and communities have responded positively,”
The judges were impressed with the results.
“Even in its early phase, the strategy has delivered tangible business outcomes and has had outstanding engagement across the organisation,” as well as the bank’s wider intention to the nation, noting the strategy “is beautifully expressed using a Te Ao Māori worldview, linking to the bank’s own history and foundation document of 1840 which emphasised a purpose of mutual prosperity for all in our country”.
In 2020, Powerco set out to fix longstanding participation, pay and power gaps within the organisation.
Female representation in senior roles was low at 37%, employee psychological safety was lower than they wished it to be with only 75% of staff feeling that their opinions counted, an Employee Net Score (ENS) at 13%, Māori participation a lowly 3% and a gender pay gap of 19.3%.
The power company looked to address the issues and create a workforce “that reflected the community we served”.
It was expected that by fixing these issues they would also tackle connected negative impacts to their financial and customer performance.
“We set our sights on participation, pay, and power gaps, aiming to increase Māori participation, reduce the gender pay gap, and improve employee psychological safety and belonging.
“The strategy was tailored to reflect the diversity of the community we serve and to create an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued,” said the Powerco head of people and culture, Leile Sims.
The organisation decided a multifaceted approach was needed and divided requirements into the following categories: policies and procedures, organisational values, recruitment strategies, remuneration practices, organisational culture and creation of the right development opportunities.
The power provider initially used external expertise to assess the situation and how they could resolve the problems, starting with policies and procedures and creating clear diversity & inclusion metrics and clear targets: Achieve the accessibility tick, rainbow tick, and advanced gender tick; close the gender pay gap year on year; increase Māori participation to 10% by 2025; improve engagement and psychological safety metrics.
“We got buy-in by involving employees in developing cultural values and providing training to create leadership commitment to inclusion and diversity.
“It was also achieved through proven success of programmes like our psychological safety training and ultimately delivering results for our business and our people,” says Sims.
The judges praised the organisation’s values.
“In addition to the moral imperative, it recognises the connection between DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion], broadening talent pools and improved long-term business outcomes”.
They selected Powerco as a finalist for its efforts and “wide-ranging impact with outcomes including significantly improved workforce and leadership diversity (women in leadership at 50% and more than doubling their Māori participation), much-improved employee net promoter scores and psychological safety metrics, and a large drop in their gender pay gap.”
The Diversity & Inclusion Award is sponsored by Barfoot & Thompson.
The change may add $25m annually to costs during a cost-of-living crisis.