NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business / Small Business

Small Business: Company conferences - Myah Preston

NZ Herald
4 Sep, 2013 03:00 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

CQ Hotels staff.

CQ Hotels staff.

Myah Preston, Human Resources Advisor at CQ Hotels Wellington talks about the business's staff retreats

The CQ Hotel complex in Cuba Street, a renovated heritage building, comprising the 3.5 star Comfort Hotel Wellington and a contemporary 4.5 star hotel Quality Hotel Wellington. In 2012, the CQ Quality Hotel was named as one of the Top 9 Quality Hotels in the world.

What are your beliefs around staff retreats?

As we are a company with many different departments, it is important to ensure that strong communication and relationships are encouraged between them. It is not always easy to achieve this in the workplace on a day to day basis, therefore we like to take the team out of the workplace to meet and socialise with one another on a more personal level. We find that by doing this, it creates a more community-like atmosphere within the hotels and employees meet with others and management that they wouldn't usually on a day to day basis. We like to encourage a healthy team and understand that shift work can often influence one's health so our retreats vary between sporting events and quiet socialising.

Where do you go for the retreats and how long?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

We make a point not to go to the same place all the time as it's not refreshing for the employees and it is not always suited to all employees. Instead we mix it up depending on the choice of event but we ensure that we can assist with transport if is not within walking distance from the Hotel. In addition, we have woven it into the business plan to ensure that there is at least one a month if not more.

Sometimes they are two hours long, half a day or even a full day.

What sorts of ideas have you come up with on these retreats?

A couple of months ago on a Head of Department retreat, we created a new strategic 10 year plan and we have been focusing on this in the more recent retreats and figuring out ways to get there by breaking it down further into five year and one year plans. We find that people are more refreshed and focused when we go off site for this kind of planning and it's less disruptive. It is also a good way to ensure we have everyone's full attention so that communication is strong and ideas are understood and built on.

At "all staff" retreats we have come up with the following initiatives and/or events to take part in to further boost staff morale and relationship building;

• AMI Round the Bays (we organised T-Shirts, lunch and entries for employees that wanted to take part)
• Drinks and nibbles, then a movie at the Light House cinema
• Tough Guy and Gal Challenge (organised T-shirts, transport, lunches and ran it as a team)
• An evening of bowling
• We are in the middle of our internal interdepartmental WOW competition
• Armstrong half marathon
• Green Day - we give the employees the opportunity to give back to the community. For example, volunteering at Zealandia.

Discover more

Small Business

Small business: Event organisers - Amanda Magnus

30 Aug 01:45 AM
Small Business

Small business: Event organisers

26 Aug 07:45 PM
Small Business

Small Business: Technology firm targets Australia

01 Sep 07:30 PM
Agribusiness

Firms must push Kiwi link

01 Sep 05:30 PM

What is the feedback from staff?

We get a lot of positive feedback from staff - the retreats enable them to build stronger relationships with their colleagues away from the office and this ultimately improves our workplace culture. We also make sure we run a range of different styles of retreats at different times to ensure everyone has an opportunity to take part.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

What tips would you give to other SMEs about taking staff retreats?

• Be enthusiastic and open minded whilst organising and encouraging the team to attend
• Mix it up, not everyone enjoys/ can do sporting events so keep an open mind
• Ensure that everyone has an opportunity to attend. If you have shift workers, choose a quiet time of the week and change it every month. Sometimes invite their partners and children (as this often holds some people back)
• Listen to and encourage suggestions that the team have as they are the key players in the event

Some SME owners would say they are too busy for getaways with the staff, what would you say to them?

Make time, your employees are the future and success of your business.

Many people tend to find their self-actualisation through these kinds of retreats and events. It is important to remember that: "Success is not the key to happiness; happiness is the key to success."

Next week: The characteristics or the DNA of an entrepreneur is something which has fascinated many business schools around the world. At this week's Morgo conference, the event designed purely for entrepreneurs, I will see these people up close and find out what makes them tick.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Small Business

Premium
Banking and finance

'Firepower to help': Small business lender raises $200m capital for new loans

Premium
Small Business

On The Up: Speak eyes $4t market with personalised shopping tech

Lifestyle

The secret sauce of the bar named NZ's best


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Small Business

Premium
Premium
'Firepower to help': Small business lender raises $200m capital for new loans
Banking and finance

'Firepower to help': Small business lender raises $200m capital for new loans

The funds will support financing in sectors like construction and healthcare.

14 Jul 03:00 AM
Premium
Premium
On The Up: Speak eyes $4t market with personalised shopping tech
Small Business

On The Up: Speak eyes $4t market with personalised shopping tech

13 Jul 05:00 PM
The secret sauce of the bar named NZ's best
Lifestyle

The secret sauce of the bar named NZ's best

08 Jul 10:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP