22 August, 2019
Manukau Institute of Technology has been announced as a finalist in two categories of the Westpac Auckland Business
Awards.
These are Best Customer Service Delivery and Employer of the Year for the South and East regions.
“We are delighted to have made the high quality list of finalists,” says chief executive, Gus Gilmore.
“It’s a great acknowledgement of hard work, innovation and challenging established ways of thinking for the benefit of
students and staff.”
MIT’s complete redesign of its customer service experience through Project Reretahi was a key feature of its award
entry.
The project brought all customer service staff together in one unified team as well as making the application and
enrolment process more user friendly and efficient with positive results.
“Our brief is to change lives through education,” says Deputy CE, Pasifika and Student Journey, Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga.
“The institute itself has undergone a process of major change to maximise these benefits while also delivering targeted
assistance to priority learner groups.”
Such innovations include Hokule’a – an early intervention programme for Māori and Pasifika students – piloted in
Engineering and Trades.
This resulted in a 26% increase in retention and a 23% lift in completion for the students involved.
Diversity and inclusion were also strong themes in MIT’s successful entry for Employer of the Year.
The Chief Executive has created two deputy roles reporting directly to him tasked with realising the goal of educational
parity for Māori and Pasifika students, while a talent strategy is in place to deliver a workforce that reflects the
community we serve.
It’s MIT’s objective to achieve gender pay parity by 2023. Recently, the moderation of all salary reviews through a
gender lens was introduced, with a similar process to be brought in for recruitment and promotion salary offers.
“Taken individually, these improvements would represent a big shift in thinking,” says Head of External Relations, Julie
Prentice.
“But seen as a whole they sum up a boldness at MIT to adapt so the organisation can continue attracting the best talent
and perform its important role well into the future.”
Another benefit of taking a ‘whole of organisation’ approach to key challenges was seen in the dramatic reduction in
workplace incidents and ACC Claim costs that decreased by 80% between 2015 and 2018 achieved through an overhaul of the
safety and wellbeing system.
ends