Champions for Change summit in Northland: Inclusive workforces vital for NZ’s future

Champions for Change held a summit at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds to discuss fostering inclusive and equitable workplaces. Photo / Fred Rood, Elite Image Ltd

Creating inclusive workplaces has become “mission critical” as New Zealand’s demographics are expected to turn on their head.

The insight comes from Champions for Change - a collective of more than 80 business leaders, who aim to foster inclusive and equitable workforces.

The collective held its first summit on Thursday at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in Northland as a symbol of its commitment to its purpose.

ANZ chief executive and Champions for Change co-chair Antonia Watson said New Zealand’s demographics were rapidly changing.

“By 2030 there will be more Māori, Pasifika and Asian New Zealanders than those with European backgrounds.

“One in three under 25-year-olds will identify themselves as Māori and women have always been about half the population.”

These people will be businesses’ new customers and future workforces, Watson said.

“As a business community, if we can’t attract them to work in our organisations we’re going to be leaving out a big chunk of the population.”

ANZ chief executive and Champions for Change co-chair Antonia Watson. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Watson said the research was clear that better representation of a customer base led to better decision making.

“Being inclusive is not a nice-to-do but mission critical.”

But what does an inclusive workplace look like?

Watson spoke from her perspective as a woman who is a chief executive - a feat traditionally less common but said that was changing.

“Inclusion makes me think I’m comfortable sitting around a board table having a conversation about menopause instead of having a conversation about the rugby and what their cars are and all that sort of thing.

“Inclusiveness is not just being there but that you feel like you’re part of the organisation,” Watson said.

She believed understanding cultural nuances that help people feel welcome in an organisation was crucial.

“Frankly, we’ve not been very good at it over time.”

Watson noted the backlash against inclusion and diversity happening nationally and globally.

US President Donald Trump earlier this year ordered a rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies at Government and corporate institutions.

Then Winston Peters and NZ First hoped to follow Trump’s anti-DEI path when they proposed new legislation to rid “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” regulation from the public service.

“This isn’t about being goody-two-shoes,” Watson said.

“It’s real. It’s about having an economically sound society where people do feel included.”

She said improved economic growth was one of the many outcomes, from a business sense, when people felt included in a workforce.

“This isn’t about being woke. This is about fairness, equity and actually good commercial sense.”

Especially for people trying to future-proof their businesses, Watson said.

Among the organisations at the summit was Northland owned Northpower.

The company’s chief executive, Andrew McLeod, said it joined Champions for Change to team up with others focused on building great workplaces.

While Northpower has a gender imbalance leaning more toward men, things are improving, says chief executive Andrew McLeod.

He said Northpower had a progressively diverse workforce of more than 1400 people that increasingly represented the communities’ demographics.

McLeod acknowledged that being a network and construction company, there tended to be a gender imbalance leaning toward more men.

He believed the imbalance was improving but said it was important to find ways to ensure women were coming through trade and engineering schools feeling there was a future that was compelling and positive for them.

“That’ll take time but it starts with us having that conviction that it will be true over time.”

McLeod said the women entering Northpower were ambassadors for future generations.

He felt the summit was “an honest discussion on our past” but more importantly a positive and hopeful reflection of what is possible.

McLeod, who is the Northland Corporate Group (NCG) co-chair, said NCG was invited to speak at the summit.

The group took the opportunity to showcase the increasing impact and opportunity in the North through energy, logistics, food production, construction, and cultural tourism, he said.

“We’ve always been a country and a region that shaped its own future, and that’s the opportunity now.”