Last night, Vector was presented with the Empowerment, Diversability and overall Supreme Award at the Diversity Works Awards for its commitment to building an inclusive and supportive workplace culture. 

The awards, which are now in their 22nd year, recognise organisations that champion workplace diversity and inclusion, taking practical steps to embed it into their culture. For the Supreme Award, Vector was chosen from 36 other entrants and 76 entries across nine categories. This is the second time Vector has won the Supreme Award, the first being in 2015.

Vector’s Chief People Officer Fiona Michel said, “We are thrilled to be recognised in this way. Our Board and Executive are committed to best practice in this area and fully support enabling an inclusive and equitable workplace. 

“We know that by celebrating the diversity of our people and encouraging the diversity of thought that brings, we can better deliver on our vision of delivering Auckland’s new energy future. We are a people-first organisation, so we recognise the importance of fostering a dynamic and representative workplace in order to drive ideas, improvements and innovation across the business that are truly representative of our communities and customers.”

Judging Convener Neil Porteous said, “Senior level support for workplace inclusion at Vector and an active employee-led Diversity Council ensured ideas and initiatives were actioned, providing benefits to a significant proportion of its workforce.

“It’s fantastic to see a large organisation in a male-dominated industry making a genuine commitment to improving gender equity and showing the way for other large organisations to stop seeing employment of people with disabilities as a burden.”

Some of the key initiatives implemented at Vector and recognised by the judges include a Women in Leadership programme to identify and grow female leadership, pay equity, the implementation of digital technology to support those with hearing and visual impairments, accessibility workplace assessments and unconscious bias training for 146 of Vector’s managers.