Air New Zealand is one of the founding members of the GenderTick and is committed to creating an equal opportunity organisation. Sarah Archer, Acting Diversity and Inclusion Manager at Air New Zealand, talked to us about what having the GenderTick means for them.

Why was it important for Air NZ to get the GenderTick?

We signed up for the GenderTick for several reasons.

We recognize that Air New Zealand is an iconic brand and we felt a real sense of responsibility to be a good role model. Our vision at Air New Zealand is to be representative of Aotearoa. We want to create a workplace where people can not only be themselves but they can thrive.

The journey on the GenderTick Program has made me feel proud to be a New Zealander. Being involved in something that has affected such positive change in the workplace and impacted so many people's lives has made me proud on an individual level too. It aligns with my values and the benefits of the program have been so significant.

We have received such positive feedback to achieving the GenderTick. This has come from our employees, our customers, industry colleagues, and also from partners and suppliers of Air New Zealand.

What changes have there been in your workplace based on the GenderTick programme?

There have been some tangible changes.

We now have 44% female representation in our senior leadership team. We've also made some great improvements to our parental provisions and our parental leave pricing.

We now offer flexible leave options across the organisation. We have three new policies as a result of our journey on the Tick: a domestic violence group policy; a bullying and harassment policy; and, more recently, a transgender and transitioning gender policy. All these policies support our employees across the workplace.

We know that what gets measured gets done.

This means that at Air New Zealand, we are accountable and we are committed to improving our workplace culture.

In our last engagement survey, 80% of our employees said that they felt that Air New Zealand is open and accepts everyone's differences. That's incredible!

We've seen an improvement in our workplace culture. And we are now able to attract a diverse and intelligent group of people and keep them.

It's been such an incredible and rewarding journey. We've achieved some great outcomes. And potentially, we have achieved these in a shorter period of time than we would have otherwise.