“Community” is one of our core company values. It is through initiatives and activities that we live this value by giving back to our community the disadvantaged, impacted, and underrepresented groups.
We have outlined where we have come from, what we have done and what we are doing regarding diversity and representation, including our environmental initiatives, so you can gain insight as to our journey. Since our formation in 2008, we have set out to be caring, diverse, and inclusive within the communities we work and live in.
We have:
We support sporting and cultural programmes for vulnerable and underprivileged youth. We offer CV preparation and interview coaching for high schools in Auckland and Wellington, as well for Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Nga Mokopuna in Wellington.
Each year we donate flights for two underprivileged children to attend the Prime Minister’s Christmas Party at Premier House, where we are a key sponsor of the event in conjunction with Barnardos.
We provide financial, fundraising, and other volunteer support (typically over 100 hours of volunteer time per annum), to a variety of charities and underrepresented groups including:
We have an in-house Council representing a cross section of our people, who lead our Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity and Community engagement programme, and covers the primary areas for which we put our community focus.
We are actively engaged with GenderPledge, the PridePledge, Toitū, Workbridge, AutismNZ (and neurodivergent groups more broadly), Manavation, the Laura Fergusson Trust, the Mary Potter Hospice and the Child Cancer Foundation.
As a key focus of our in-house Council, these community groups are cared for, and we are able to ensure that our approach to working with them is equitable and impactful. Working with these groups, we don’t just get to make impact for those who matter, but can best align ourselves to reflect what the modern landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand looks like.
Below is a more detailed approach to our involvement with these community groups, and how we actively engage with them.
In 2021, Find Recruitment approached Autism NZ to explore how we could better assist the neurodivergent community enter the workforce. For context, we saw large global technology companies such as SAP, HP, and Microsoft, creating hiring and training programmes specifically to support neurodiverse employees, with success. Given our core recruitment domains closely align to skills neurodiverse candidates are often most confident with, such as software development, testing, cyber security, data analysis and financial analysis, we wanted to explore how we could work with Autism NZ to better assist the neurodiverse community succeed with job opportunities. Working with Megan McNeice, Neurodiversity Employment Advisor at Autism NZ, we trialled a mini pilot in 2021 centred around creating employment opportunities for autistic technology graduates. This was the first time a partnership with a recruitment agency was undertaken, and much was learnt from both parties. Learnings from this pilot led to Find Recruitment undertaking formal Neurodiversity in the Workplace training. From our work with Megan and Autism NZ, our relationship has since additionally evolved into an advisory role. We were approached by CEO of Autism NZ, Dane Dougan, to become a foundation member of a new Industry Advisory Group, with the aim of improving work opportunities for those with autism throughout Aotearoa. This group will represent employers from the public sector (such as NZ Police with their recent work in this area), and the private sector, as well as from the recruitment industry to help share knowledge and increase awareness of neurodiversity in the workplace. Our hope is that any programmes or initiatives that arise from this advisory group, will help accelerate workplace opportunities and workplace adjustments across New Zealand for those living with neurodiversity. We will be better placed to advise and educate our clients as a result.
We first partnered with Workbridge in 2018, an incorporated society and a not-for-profit community organisation who support jobseekers with disabilities or health conditions, as well as employers and workplaces across New Zealand. Together with the then-CEO of Workbridge, Grant Cleland, we explored how we could assist Workbridge candidates with an ICT or Corporate background into job opportunities – backgrounds they hadn’t had much success with. Our programme with Workbridge at the time was to (1) better educate their workforce (based across 22 locations in New Zealand) as to how they could partner with local recruitment agencies to help Workbridge candidates with disabilities to enter/return to the workforce. This included presenting at their annual retreat, and (2) co-designing and piloting a referral programme in Auckland and Wellington for candidates with ICT and Corporate backgrounds. Due to the unforeseen outbreak of COVID-19, this programme was paused, but has since been renewed, where we are working with Phil Hendry, Chief Operating Officer. Our goal is to secure work for at least one Workbridge referred candidate each quarter within the IT or Corporate domain in 2024.
It is well documented females are underrepresented across the workforce, but even more underrepresented within the technology industry in New Zealand (and globally). We are proud to have supported clients over the last decade who have been committed to making change in this area – as a result we can report on average 56% of all placements we have made with our clients over the last decade, have been female. For example, one of our Key Clients specified that as a recruitment partner to them, we must aim for 50% of each shortlist presented to them, be female. This has shaped our repeatable processes and language we use daily, which has helped us achieve female representation for shortlists, regardless of the clients we work with. We have been active members and participants with a range of organisations designed to help females to enter the technology workforce such as Techwomen, WomenHack and Women of Influence NZ.
