Lifting the Living Standards of Aotearoa

SBC members are collectively improving the living standards of workers and employees through fair wages and employment practices, such as pay parity initiatives and generous parental leave policies.

In our ‘Lifting the Living Standards of Employees’ webinar series, we looked at three key areas; living/sustainable wage, pay parity and parental leave. This series offered insights from members who have implemented work in these areas along with guidance documents to support you and your organisation on the journey.

Part one in our series ‘Lifting the Living Standards of Employees’ was a webinar about living and sustainable wages, what they are and how to implement them. Claire Walker, then Chief People Officer at SkyCity, facilitated the kōrero and was joined by Richard Greenaway (CEO Anderson Lloyd), Greg McNair (GM Employees Services Skycity) and Brenda Talacek (Chief Operating Officer Metering & OnGas Vector). Download the Implementing Fairer Wages Toolkit here.

Part two in the series focused on pay parity, what it is, how to calculate your pay gap and what you can do as an organization to reduce your pay gap. Marc England, then Chief Executive Officer at Genesis Energy, facilitated the kōrero and was joined by Alana Pearce, Culture and Change Leader at Lion, and Penny Rush, Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Manager from Aurecon. Download the pay parity toolkit here.

Part three looked at pay parity and collected insights from five SBC members; Aurecon, DB Breweries, Fonterra, KPMG and Lion. It outlined the drivers for implementing parental leave, the different policies organisations currently have in place, and the teams involved in the process of developing them. We hope other businesses can utilise these insights to implement their own additional parental leave policies. Thank you to all the members who shared their valuable insights for this work. Download the Parental Leave Toolkit here.

Previous Mahi

Welfare to work

Businesses have an interest in ensuring a diverse and productive workforce and healthy society. Through SBC’s Social Impact projects, business is collectively increasing their positive impact on communities in which they work.

SBC’s Welfare to work pilot helped nine single parents find full-time work in Auckland. The project gave SBC some important insights into the challenges young job seekers face, especially the most excluded and disadvantage.

Addressing the childcare gap

One of the main barriers to work for single parents is access to affordable and flexible childcare. SBC and Barnardos partnered to develop CareEd4, a high quality childcare and education service that is fully responsive to the needs of working parents. It offers a more flexible, affordable and accessible childcare service, which available when parents need it.

The project was successful in getting Ākina Foundation Contact Launchpad funding in 2014. Read more here.

Work Starter Internship

SBC collaborated with industry training organisations (ITOs) on the Work Starter Internship that guides employees through the first three months of employment – the period when most new employment relationships with vulnerable young people fail.

Youth support initiative

SBC worked with the BusinessNZ Major Companies Group and the SBC Future Leaders’ Alumni to identify other youth initiatives companies can collaborate on for greater impact.