GS1 New Zealand signs Open Letter to New Zealand organisations

Tēnā koutou katoa

Heahatemeanuioteao?
He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata.

What is the most important aspect of this world? The people, the people, the people.

As leaders, following the events of 15 March 2019, this is a critical time for us to reflect, listen, learn and most importantly empower change to enable a better, safer, more inclusive country that embraces diversity for our people.

Unfortunately, racism and discrimination are still a part of daily life for many New Zealanders. We have a responsibility as leaders to ensure this ceases – not just for ourselves, but for our children, families, friends, colleagues, communities and future generations.
Now is the time to act with strength and to use aroha and respect to forge a pathway forward.

All of our organisations have been on our own journeys to embrace diversity and support inclusion. Today we are making a joint commitment to further our actions and accountability.

As signatories to this open letter, our organisations will actively commit to:

• Creating a culture where words, behaviours and systems that directly or indirectly discriminate against people are not tolerated.
This will require an open culture enabling all our people to be empowered to speak up when they see casual and systemic discrimination, in a way that supports learning.

• Supporting our people by giving them access to training, tools and techniques to help them understand what actions and behaviours support – and do not support – inclusivity.
• Continuously reviewing and updating our organisational-wide processes, such as recruitment, to ensure they remain relevant and promote the diversity and difference we need to thrive as an organisation and society.
• Celebrating and acknowledging the value of all aspects of diversity and difference in our organisation.

We are reaching out to all New Zealand leaders to join us in this commitment to enable a better, safer, and more inclusive New Zealand.

If your organisation would like to join us in this commitment and become a signatory to this letter, please go to our website www.nzstandtogether.co.nz or email [email protected].

We also encourage our signatories to follow and share our LinkedIn page “NZ Leaders Stand Together”(https://www.linkedin.com/company/nz-stand-together) and actively share their experiences and resources with the membership community to contribute to wider societal change.

Naa maatou i te aroha,