- Posted September 01, 2022
- Media Releases
The NZSIS and GCSB are delighted to have won a Diversity Works New Zealand category award for their leadership in creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace.
The NZSIS and GCSB, which were jointly attending as the New Zealand Intelligence Community (NZIC), took out the Leadership award in the medium to large category, in an awards ceremony in Auckland last night.
GCSB Director-General Andrew Hampton, who accepted the award on behalf of the NZIC, said that despite a challenging couple of years, including the impact of COVID-19, the NZIC workforce had continued to grow and diversify.
“Part of this includes creating a workplace where all our staff can bring their true selves. An award like this gives us confidence that we are on the right track.
“It reflects not just on the leaders but the collective efforts of everyone in our community to champion diversity and inclusion in our workplaces.
NZSIS Director-General Rebecca Kitteridge said she was incredibly proud of the recognition, which demonstrated the NZIC’s ongoing commitment to creating a diverse, inclusive work community.
“This award reflects a diversity and inclusion journey that we have been on for several years now. Diversity and inclusion is essential for better decision making and a key contributor to maintaining public trust and confidence in the work we do."
The supreme award went to Pūhoro Charitable Trust, which delivers the Pūhoro STEMM Academy (extra M for Mātauranga) in 48 schools throughout the country and supports more than 1500 young Māori to actively pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pathways, working with a vast range of organisations to build a diverse and inclusive pipeline of STEMM capability for Aotearoa.
“I’m pleased to see an organisation promoting STEM being recognised like this and indeed it is an area that is especially relevant to our line of work, and which will contribute to a greater pool of diverse talent that may consider a career in the NZIC,” Andrew Hampton said.
The NZSIS and GCSB launched its joint Diversity & Inclusion Strategy 2017-2020 in response to the low representation of women in technical/operational and middle management roles, and limited ethnic diversity across the board. The refreshed strategy (2021-2025) focuses on growing consistent diversity and inclusion capability.
Diversity Works New Zealand is the national body for workplace diversity, equity and inclusion, and was launched in 1992 as the Equal Opportunities Trust.
The Diversity Awards have been awarded since 1997 and have become the most significant awards programme in Aotearoa New Zealand to celebrate excellence in workplace diversity, equity and inclusion.
Last night’s Leadership award comes after the NZSIS and GCSB took out the supreme New Zealand Rainbow Excellence Awards 2020, and a further category win in 2021.