Now in its 23rd year, the NZ HR Awards recognise excellence and outstanding achievement within New Zealand’s HR community.

Te Puni Kōkiri attended as guests of HRNZ, with whom we have partnered with on an innovative Cadetships programme to increase the visibility and impact of Māori in the HR Industry, and BNZ. Cadetships are an employer-led programme to develop, mentor and train their permanent Māori staff at all career stages into higher-skilled roles, contributing towards the Te Puni Kōkiri strategic priority of Māori economic resilience.   

Two other Cadetship partners, Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) and Downer New Zealand were nominated for awards at the event, which they went on to win:

Downer New Zealand took out the inaugural Leadership Māori HR Award on the back of their Te Ara Whanake leadership programme. In 2014, Downer recognised that while Māori made up 24% of their workforce, there was poor representation in leadership roles. So, they deliberately set out to change this by creating an environment where Māori culture is recognised and celebrated. Their Te Ara Whanake initiative has resulted in nine out of the fifteen pilot participants being promoted within six months of completing the programme.

The Bank of New Zealand Te Hōkaitanga won the inaugural HRNZ Supreme Award for showing the greatest overall leadership in human resources practice. The programme, which focusses on exploring and evolving leadership capability through a Māori lens, produced many quick wins. While originally thought to be a longer-term goal, BNZ have been able to rapidly accelerate career progression, organisational transformation, and culture change through strategic and thoughtful programme design.

Within a short amount of time, Diversity, and Inclusion Award winners the Bank of New Zealand have been able to achieve significant outcomes through Te Hōkaitanga – BNZ’s Māori leadership programme. This programme was created with the intent to accelerate the development and representation of Māori in leadership positions and build a strong pipeline of Māori talent to live their mātāpono (values), honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and futureproof BNZ as an employer and achieve their strategic ambition of being ‘The Bank for Māori’.

Both winners thanked Te Puni Kōkiri for their support while accepting these prestigious awards, saying that this partnership was pivotal in achieving their success in each programme. Congratulations again - a great result for our partners and their Māori cadets.