Wellbeing Conference 2024

In September the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce organised its fourth annual Wellbeing Conference for the Taranaki region. The sold-out conference attracted 350 attendees and 24 exhibitors which highlights the importance businesses put on the wellbeing of their staff. The conference enables the Chamber to continue the work and focus it has on the wellbeing of people in our community.

The Wellbeing Conference enabled business owners and those working in HR and People & Culture to reassess and evaluate where they are as employers, employees and, importantly, as individuals. The purpose of the conference was to ensure attendees left feeling better equipped to assist one another, provide them with tools to implement for their own wellbeing, and for them to share key learnings with their wider teams.

The core focus areas of wellbeing covered in this year’s full day conference were:

• Workplace wellbeing

• Financial wellbeing

• Mental wellbeing

• Physical & Nutritional wellbeing

• Technology wellbeing

The day started with Sir Ashley Bloomfield presenting on leading through change and uncertainty, values based and authentic leadership, and looking after your and your team’s wellbeing and mental health. He drew on his experiences leading teams in the health sector and, in particular, he shared key learnings from leading his team through a pandemic.

The presentation by Sir Ashley was followed by Gary Stevens, Strategic Partner at ACC, who spoke to attendees about what work ACC is doing to support mental health in the workplace and how businesses can support those employees to return to work after suffering an injury.

Dr Amanda Wallis presented on strengthening financial wellbeing at work recognising that, whether we like it or not, we bring stress with us to work. Amanda’s presentation provided a key focus on what businesses can do to support their employees by way of growing financial capability and confidence at an individual level, getting the most out of financial wellbeing interventions, measuring and understanding stress (including financial stress) in the workplace, and addressing the factors that cause financial harm in the first place.

During the day we were joined by a special guest speaker, Nigel Latta, who spoke about his recent diagnosis of inoperable stomach cancer and his learnings about resilience since receiving this diagnosis. Nigel spoke frankly about his journey and took attendees on an emotional rollercoaster.

Dr Natalie Flynn is a senior clinical psychologist with 27 years of experience in the mental health sector. Natalie presented on how people leaders can best respond to a mental heath event within their workplace. She highlighted what the requirements are as an employer if an employee is suffering mental health difficulties and what the boundaries are in regard to the Privacy Act.

Lisa Tamati spoke about enhancing corporate wellbeing through personalised health strategies. Lisa shared current research and provided an explanation on how genetics, environment, and lifestyle combine to influence health outcomes. She highlighted the importance of acknowledging that a one-size fits all approach to nutrition and physical activity doesn’t work.

The day concluded with Jehan Casinader talking about how, in an increasingly connected world, we are feeling increasingly disconnected. He emphasised the importance of stepping away from keyboards to forge deeper relationships in our workplaces and communities and provided ways to navigate confronting moments that might arise in real life situations. Jehan left attendees with a new perspective on workplace communication in the digital age.

A special thanks must be extended to MC Paul Rangiwahia who held the day together beautifully, sharing his own thoughts and experiences with attendees.

The conference was supported by a Wellbeing Expo with 24 local businesses doing their bit to support wellbeing in our community and showed the variety of organisations in Taranaki working in this space. The Wellbeing Expo was very well received by all attendees.

With the support of our Principal Sponsor Beach Energy, the Chamber is committed to the wellbeing of our region and will continue to advocate its importance for us all.

A huge thanks also to our category sponsors ACC, Tandem Group, Health NZ, Tui Ora and Venture Taranaki. Thank you also to event supporters OfficeMax, IncaFè Organic Coffee and Taranaki Singer Songwriters for their support of the wellbeing of our people.

He aha te mea nui o te ao He tangata, he tangata, he tangata