Simpson Grierson's Jo Copeland takes home Gold Award at YWCA Equal Pay Awards
“Addressing the gender pay gap and inequity generally takes courage. It is time for us all to ask what the gap is in our
organisations, speak up, ask your executive team what they are prepared to do to fix it and take action. We can so do
this,” says HR Director Jo Copeland, who accepted last night’s Gold Award together with Lion NZ.
We take pride in the fact we’ve had a 0% gender pay gap for the last three years, and that is thanks to the partnership,
driven by Chair Kevin Jaffe, Jo says.
“It is totally unacceptable in 2017 for there to still be a pay gap in New Zealand.
"While it is great that the pay gap has reduced by around 3% in the past year, the truth is that it only gets us back to
where we were as a country five years ago.
“But the good news is that I see so many organisations taking this seriously now and making huge progress.
"Business leaders are rightly feeling very uncomfortable when they realise that their organisations have a big gap.
"I don’t think that sits comfortably with any director. The more transparency we have in this area, the faster things
will change.”
This is the third year Simpson Grierson has been recognised at the YWCA Equal Pay Awards, winning silver in 2014, and
gold in 2016.
It’s been a great month for Simpson Grierson. The firm took home the Supreme Award at the White Camellia Awards at
Government House, and the award for Best Diversity Strategy at this year’s NZAGE Awards.
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