Mercy Hospice Auckland Recognised with EEO Work and Life Award 2008
Every year the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust showcases New Zealand's leading employers and particularly those who have been influential in increasing the awareness and benefits of having a diverse workforce. Diversity is generally defined as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing and celebrating differences among people in relation to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, and spiritual practice.
Working in a diverse workplace provides opportunity and challenge to organisations and reflects the changing world we are now living in and surrounded by every day. This year Mercy Hospice entered the Awards along with prestigious New Zealand companies such as Air New Zealand the ANZ National Bank, Fulton Hogan and Telecom.
There are five categories for Awards and we entered the Workplace Diversity Award.
Recruiting and retaining skilled staff and preparing our workforce for the future, is one of the key challenges facing the Hospice. Our community is also more diverse than ever and in order to meet the needs and challenges of the community we serve having a diverse workforce makes sound human resources sense. Demonstrating our commitment to diversity occurs through recruitment, retention and policies and practices that provide opportunities for our staff from a number of different cultures and backgrounds to become part of the Mercy team.
The commitment to diversity stems from our values and our mission and when these are combined we create opportunities for new ways of working within our community. The more diversity we have in our staff the more creativity and innovation we achieve. Diversity also allows us to pool the knowledge and experience of different cultures and maximise our talent to benefit the community we serve.
Achieving a Highly Commended for Diversity award this year - one of only seven work and life awards made - is a significant milestone for Mercy Hospice Auckland. As a team we just get on with our daily work often failing to stop and realise just how far we have come as an organisation.