Written by Jodie King, Chief People Officer
This week was a special moment for me as Air New Zealand was proud to officially receive the Rainbow Tick Accreditation.
The accreditation is awarded to organisations which have gone through a robust set of competency checks across all areas of the business and are deemed a safe, welcoming and inclusive place for people of diverse gender identity and sexual orientations. The criteria companies must meet is thorough and it dissects and inspects internal policies, employee sentiment and perception, external content and acquisition strategies to ensure equal opportunities in the workplace from the get-go.
Since the genesis of our Diversity & Inclusion strategy in 2013, we’ve made leaps and bounds to support the sub-communities within our employee base to feel able to come to work, be accepted and thrive. A 2015 Mckinsey study shows that companies in the top quartile of ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to financially outperform their industry and companies with a high gender diversity are 38% more likely to have higher than average market share. The bottom line: creating a diverse workforce will underpin the success of your business.
The Air New Zealand Pride Network has achieved a great deal of progress over the past few years. From successfully advocating for the installation of gender neutral bathrooms, to working with the digital team to create ways for employees to identify as gender neutral in our HR systems, setting up bias busting workshops for our people leaders, running successful events with the likes of international singer/songwriter Parson James for employees to connect and find community with and producing impressive parade entries for the Auckland, Wellington and Vancouver Pride Parades, I’m extremely proud of the hard work our Pride Network has put in to create a more diverse culture within our airline.
The airline industry can often be steeped in tradition, including outdated gender stereotypes and being accredited with the Rainbow Tick not only highlights what we are on the right track with, but areas we can further strengthen and improve on to create a holistically diverse and inclusive workplace. We’re not perfect, but we are committed to fostering a safe, respectful, transparent and welcoming workplace for our 12,000 employees.
Congratulations and thanks to the Air New Zealand Pride network, our Diversity & Inclusion team and all of our very passionate employees who helped us to gain this accreditation. Thanks also to the Rainbow Tick Association for partnering with us to make the working environment for all Air New Zealanders as safe and inclusive as possible.
It’s important to me that every Air New Zealand employee can come to work feeling safe, included, respected and able to thrive, and this is another important step in bettering our culture for good.
Article initially published - LinkedIn, Jodie King 2019