The airline took out the Empowerment Award at the 20th annual Diversity Awards New Zealand last night.
Air New Zealand Chief People Officer Jodie King says the airline has invested heavily in fostering a strong internal culture that champions and celebrates diversity and inclusion.
“Having a workplace where all of our employees feel valued and empowered to do their jobs is fundamental to our success and we have a strong diversity and inclusion strategy in place to ensure this.
“One of the employee groups we’ve focused on in particular is women, introducing a number of initiatives to support and advance our female employees who make up around 40 percent of our population. Importantly, our Chief Executive Officer, Executive and Board have strongly supported and helped to drive these investments,” says Ms King.
One area where the airline has seen real change is in its Senior Leadership Team. Four years ago only 16 percent of this group of senior leaders were women. Today this figure has almost tripled with the airline hitting the 40 percent target it set itself to achieve by 2020.
Other initiatives include ongoing coaching, mentoring and leadership programmes to prepare women for senior leadership roles and address barriers that can prevent women attaining senior positions, a Women’s Network that develops and inspires women through various events and educational opportunities, and taking on three young female interns through the Global Women TupuToa internship programme for Māori and Pasifika students.