Department of Conservation wins Randstad Award

Department of Conservation wins Randstad Award for second year

Public sector dominates award recognising New Zealand’s most attractive employers

Auckland, 14 April 2016 The Department of Conservation (DOC) has again received the top accolade for the Most Attractive Employer at the annual Randstad Award held at Seafarers in Auckland this evening.

TVNZ placed second, and the New Zealand Customs Service in third place. Interestingly, seven of the top 10 most attractive companies to work for are from the public or education and training services sectors. Other organisations in the top 10 included the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (4th), The University of Auckland (5th) and Massey University (6th). Deloitte (10th) rounds out the top ten most attractive companies in New Zealand, having moved up 10 places from 2015.

The Randstad Award, which recognises those organisations that New Zealanders find the most attractive, was presented in front of senior executives from New Zealand’s top 20 most attractive employers.

Brien Keegan, Country Manager of Randstad New Zealand, says the Department of Conservation has been consistently recognised as one of the top five most attractive employers in New Zealand for the past four years, having won the supreme award two years’ running, and placing third and fifth in 2014 and 2013, respectively.

“The Department of Conservation continues to be recognised as one of the country’s top employers. This is demonstrated by it being ranked number one by respondents when it came to a ‘pleasant working atmosphere’, providing a ‘good work-life balance’, and being ‘environmentally and socially aware’.

“DOC was also very popular across the board, with young and mature workers in both the North and South Island rating it as the most attractive place to work in New Zealand,” says Mr Keegan.

The annual Randstad Award employer branding research reveals that almost half of those surveyed (48%) say they would like to work at the Department of Conservation. In a similar trend to recent years, the public sector industry features strongly in the top ten, with three of the top four spots being organisations from the public sector.

Despite these results by individual organisations, interest in the sector on the whole remains steady with the public sector (26.5%) again being ranked 7th most attractive. Education and training services (33.08%), media (31.87%) and professional services (31.09%) are the three most attractive sectors, according to New Zealand workers.

Of all the sectors, the key movers in 2016 include media, which jumped up three places from fifth to second, and the banking and financial services sector (28.5%), which moved from sixth to fourth. IT and

telecommunications dropped two places.

Organisations in the education and training services sectors saw the most movement in the rankings with Victoria University of Wellington moving up 12 places (from 19 in 2015), and the University of Auckland moving five places to fifth. This year saw the University of Waikato (19) place in the top 20 most attractive organisations for the first time. UNITEC Institute of Technology (14) also made the top 20, the first time since 2012.

“It’s really rewarding to see New Zealand’s public and educational institutions being perceived so positively as employers. New Zealand’s public services are amongst the best in the world, and our educational bodies help keep us at the forefront of cutting-edge research. This recognition will help these organisations attract and retain the best and brightest talent,” says Keegan.

In addition, two further organisations, Healthcare of New Zealand (15) and the Department of Internal Affairs (17) joined the top 20 most attractive organisations.

“Given New Zealand’s competitive labour market it is critical organisations look at ways in which they can attract, inspire and retain a team of talented and skilled individuals. Investing in their employer brand is essential and will certainly give them a competitive edge,” says Mr Keegan.

“Randstad is dedicated to helping New Zealand businesses secure the best talent possible and our annual employer branding research is one of the many tools we provide to organisations to help them attract, engage and retain top talent. Our commitment is to help New Zealand businesses keep great people, not only within their own organisations but within the country.”

Air New Zealand, which was inducted into the prestigious Randstad International Hall of Fame in 2014 after becoming the first company around the world to win the top award for three consecutive years in a row in 2011, 2012 and 2013, remains in the Randstad Award Hall of Fame this year. However Air New Zealand will again compete for the Randstad Award in 2017 onwards. Air New Zealand was again rated attractive to potential New Zealand employees, with participants in the study identifying positively with Air New Zealand across all gender, age and educational groups in the study. Air New Zealand was also rated as most attractive in its sector across all the 10 Randstad Award factors of attractiveness.

2016 marks the sixth year of the annual Randstad Award employer branding research conducted in New Zealand. The international research, first launched in Belgium in 2000, is conducted in 25 countries across Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas. The Randstad Award continues to grow exponentially and is a highly coveted award.

The study, on which the Randstad Award is based, is the largest piece of independent employer branding research in the world. This year alone, the Randstad Award research captured the perceptions of over 200,000 potential job seekers globally, of whom 7,017 are New Zealanders.

Randstad Award Top 20 Most Attractive Organisations in New Zealand

Randstad Award Hall of Fame 2014-2016: Air New Zealand

1. Department of Conservation (1) 11. House of Travel (11)
2. TVNZ (2) 12. IBM (4)
3. New Zealand Customs Service (3) 13. University of Otago (17)
4. Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (9) 14. UNITEC Institute of Technology
5. University of Auckland (10) 15. Healthcare of New Zealand
6. Massey University (8) 16. Coco-Cola Amatil (6)
7. Victoria University of Wellington (19) 17. Department of Internal Affairs
8. Kiwibank (12) 18. ASB (7)
9. AUT University (5) 19. University of Waikato
10. Deloitte (20) 20. Bank of New Zealand (15)

Randstad Award top 10 most attractive sectors in New Zealand

1. Education & Training Services (1)
2. Media (5)
3. Professional Services (2)
4. Banking & Financial Services (6)
5. Information Technology & Telecommunications (3)
6. Fast Moving Consumer Goods (4)
7. Public Sector (7)
8. Healthcare
9. Transport & Logistics
10. Wholesale & retail trade
*Brackets indicate position in 2015

ENDS

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