Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council is confident it’s well positioned for its gender balance at the executive level, when compared to other New Zealand organisations, ensuring it’s on the right path towards cultivating a safe, diverse and inclusive workplace.

The council has committed to working with Champions for Change - a group of 55 New Zealand CEOs and Chairs, each with a personal mission to accelerate inclusive and diverse leadership in our workplaces. Bay of Plenty Regional Council joined the programme in 2020, providing the organisation with a way to benchmark and monitor its progress in this area.

Regional Council Chief Executive Fiona McTavish said the results were positive news for the council.

“We will continue to build on our focus of being a truly inclusive workplace, that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve, both now and in the future,” Ms McTavish said.
“During the next year we have a plan in place to work with our people to develop further flexible working options, and have a focus on enhancing our recruitment process so that it is truly inclusive and brings out the best in all or people and potential new colleagues.”

The report highlighted that Toi Moana achieved gender balance in its leadership and senior management and is very close to achieving gender balance in all other categories.
Currently at the executive level Toi Moana has four females and two males, while across the organisation 34 leaders are female, and 46 male.

“Research shows that organisations that harness the knowledge, skills and diverse experiences of a wide talent pool come out on top.”

She said Toi Moana was aware that by being representative of the community it serves, the opportunity it had of making an impact on that community increased.

“Our focus now is on building an inclusive workplace for all of our people to thrive, building on being representative of our communities, and through this work we aim to reflecting region’s ethnic diversity.

More information about Champions for Change is found at www.championsforchange.nz

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