Champions for Change has today released our seven-year progress report, the first of its kind since the collective was formed in 2015.
This is Aotearoa’s most significant and extensive Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Impact report to date, comprising of over 1.4m data points across the 62 Champions for Change organisations, surveying an average annual workforce of 112,000 people.
The report shows how Champions have made real, meaningful change over the period and predicts that the collective is on target to have 100% of their boards gender balanced by their tenth annual report in 2027.
“This seven-year report marks a significant milestone for the Champions and the results we have achieved in this time have been extremely encouraging. Of course, there is still much work to be done and we will continue to hold ourselves accountable, sharing our progress each year,” says Antonia Watson, CEO of ANZ New Zealand and Co-Chair of Champions for Change.
“Kia uru kahikatea ki tū! Like the kahikatea, we are stronger together as a community. We have more growing to do but we will support one another along the journey.”
Since reporting began, six Champion organisations have completely closed their power gaps, and a further 22 organisations have achieved gender balance at board, executive or management levels. Employees declaring diverse gender identities has grown by a factor of 8x over the reporting period and the number of organisations with employees with diverse gender identities has grown by nearly 3x.
Progress on ethnicity representation has been slower, however Māori representation at a board level has increased from 2% to 12%, since 2020. The number of employees declaring an Asian ethnicity has nearly doubled, exceeding the proportion of Asians in the working-age population, and the proportion of senior executives declaring more than one ethnicity has increased.
“It has undoubtedly been a challenging time for many New Zealand organisations, coming through the pandemic and now navigating the current economic conditions. Despite this though, the Champions have remained steadfast on their focus on shifting the dial and to their commitment to make a more equitable Aotearoa for all,” says Roger Gray, CEO at Port of Auckland and Co-Chair of Champions for Change.
“We would like to acknowledge the Champions’ and their teams’ ongoing commitment to this mahi. Together, they make this movement possible.”
The full seven-year summary and the 2024 Champions for Change Impact Report can be found here.