Diversity and Inclusion Policy 1
Purpose
Diversity and Inclusion are an integral part of Mercury’s culture. We believe that having a team of individuals with different backgrounds, views, experience and capability working together makes us stronger and better as an organisation. We are committed to retaining and recruiting people who are passionate about our customers and have a broad range of skills, experiences and frames of reference to drive innovation, deliver improved financial performance and to help us to achieve our ambition. When we talk about Diversity at Mercury we are referring to being composed of the elements that make people similar or different from one another, including: background, views, experiences, capabilities, values, beliefs, physical differences, ethnicity, gender, age, thinking styles, preferences and behaviours. When we talk about Inclusion at Mercury we are referring to our focus on removing any perceived or tangible barriers to becoming a part of our business, being treated fairly and respectfully and having equal access. We seek to make it easier for our people to have a voice and use the variety of thinking styles, backgrounds and capabilities that they have.
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Our Principles
Our progressive approach to diversity focuses on gender, age, ethnicity, inclusion and flexibility. The activity we undertake across these areas of focus is aligned to the following principles:
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increasing the diversity of our workforce at senior levels, creating a flexible and inclusive work environment that values difference and enhances business outcomes, harnessing diversity of thought and capitalising on individual differences, leadership behaviours that reflect our belief in the value of diversity and inclusion, and attracting and retaining a talented workforce through increasing the diversity of the candidate pool and maintaining a recruitment strategy that is attractive to all candidates.
Practical Application
This approach will be practically achieved across our business by:
providing training and education that raises employee awareness of diversity and inclusion and associated benefits ensuring our recruitment and selection, development and talent management approaches enable diversity and inclusion at all levels, enhancing processes and policies to encourage greater flexibility and diversity, embedding diversity and inclusion in our culture through engaging internal communications and events, regularly tracking progress against targets, engaging with educational institutions to promote and encourage wide talent pools for the industry.
In addition to the proactive actions we undertake we also support a diverse and inclusive workplace through not permitting or condoning any harassment, discrimination or victimisation.
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Review and Measurement
Under the Board Charter the Board is responsible for:
ensuring that, as a collective group, it has the skills, experience, knowledge, diversity and perspective to fulfil its purpose and responsibilities,
Diversity and Inclusion Policy | Reviewed by Board of Directors | 12 December 2016 | Page 1 of 2
ensuring that succession and development plans are in place for the Chief Executive and Executive Management Team to ensure the right mix of skills, experience, knowledge, diversity and perspective for the future, and promoting a corporate culture which embraces diversity.
Under this policy the Board is also responsible for establishing measurable objectives for assessing our performance against this policy. Alongside this policy, these measureable objectives are contained in a document that is available on our website. The GM People and Safety, will lead the implementation of this policy through programmes that encourage diversity and will provide regular reports to the Human Resources Committee on how we are performing. Each year the Company will:
review the effectiveness and relevance of this policy, look at diversity metrics across all levels of the organisation to identify areas for improvement, provide a summary of diversity related programmes undertaken and planned, and provide an evaluation of the Company’s performance with respect to this policy, including the progress towards achieving the measurable objectives.
The Board will review this policy as required but at least every two years.
Diversity and Inclusion Policy | Reviewed by Board of Directors | 12 December 2016 | Page 2 of 2
Diversity and Inclusion – Measurable Objectives 1
Purpose
This document sets out the measurable objectives set by the Board for FY2017. As aligned to our approach to Diversity and Inclusion, Mercury has identified these objectives as the most appropriate measures for us to use to review our performance against our Diversity and Inclusion Policy. These measurable objectives are made up of a mixture of targets and benchmarks. Generally, targets exist where we believe that achieving diversity in that area is aided by us working towards a specific measure. In other areas we use benchmarks where comparison against those identified data points will help inform our view of how our work towards diversity in that area is progressing.
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Our Measurable Objectives – 2017
Area of focus
Objective
How we will measure performance
Gender
Improve representation of women at senior leadership levels
Gender by role - We will look at a summary of the gender proportions for our entire team, the senior leader group, the EMT and the Board
Benchmark or target
Total work force
Initiatives
Current June 2016
Target June 2017
Target June 2020
37.8%
37%
38%
Increased representation of women in candidate selection, talent pools and in tertiary education (specifically – engineering)
Leaders
25% 28% 33% 22% 28% 33% Board 25% 33% 33% Benchmark against the national median age of the labour force in the NZ National Labour Force Projections EMT
Age
Ethnicity
Inclusion
Flexibility
Work towards an age profile for our team that is suitable for our business taking into account the population that we work in Work towards aligning the ethnicity of our team with the population and communities that we work in Ensure our leadership reflects the diversity of our teams Ensure that our team are supported to do their best work and they engage fully as part of our team Facilitate flexible workplace arrangements to enable employees to balance responsibilities appropriately
Age profiles - We will compare the median age of our workforce against the national median to get a high level indication of whether our age profile is appropriate for our business Ethnicity of team - We will compare the self-identified ethnicity of our team against the national and relevant regional breakdowns of ethnic groups in New Zealand Ethnicity of team - We will compare the ethnicity distribution of our Leader population to the ethnicity distribution of the total company Employee engagement - We will compare our engagement survey response to the inclusion question “All employees in this organisation are treated fairly, regardless of age, ethnicity, gender or physical capabilities” against the large organisation benchmark Employee engagement - We will compare our engagement survey response to the flexibility question “I have the freedom and flexibility to do my job effectively” against the large organisation benchmark
Programs and support offered to ensure all ages and life stages are valued, and unique knowledge and experience is valued and leveraged
Benchmark against National Statistics (Census data) that show the ethnicity of the population and communities that we work in Targeting ethnicity distribution of our Leader population equal to the ethnicity distribution of the total company Targeting better performance than the Average Large Organisation score for this question of 71.9%
Increased employee understanding and acknowledgment of the contribution that cultural difference makes to Mercury’s customers and stakeholders
Targeting better performance than the Average Large Organisation score for this question of 80.1%
Crafting a programme on workplace flexibility that balances individual and organisational needs appropriately, with an initial focus on parental leave challenges
We will make it easier for our people to have a voice and utilise the variety of thinking styles, backgrounds and capabilities