Diversity & Inclusion

PURPOSE

Blue Star Group (New Zealand) Limited engages a workforce made up of many individuals with diverse skills, values, backgrounds, and experiences. Blue Star respects and values these people and the benefits their diversity brings to our businesses. They are our key resource, they are doers and ensure we are driving engagement with our customers, delivering innovation, and connecting with our equally diverse customers to deliver better outcomes. We embrace the diversity of our people and what their individuality brings to our workplace.

“Diversity” refers to the characteristics that make us similar to, or different from one another. At Blue Star, diversity encompasses gender, race, religion, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical capability, political opinion, family responsibilities, marital status, education, employment status, cultural background and more. Diversity encompasses a broad spread of experience, culture perspective and lifestyle of those who live in New Zealand and wherever Blue Star does business.

“Inclusion” at Blue Star is about embracing diversity and creating an environment where everyone can thrive and succeed. We understand that diverse backgrounds, experiences, and views lead to an improved workplace for our people, increase engagement and help to strengthen our teams, deliver innovation and performance, ultimately contributing to better relationships with customers and key stakeholders.

POLICY

Blue Star is committed to:

• encouraging people to be themselves and bring out the best of who they are at work, benefiting from individuals diverse thinking, skills and experience.
• employing a diverse range of people who are also representative of our customers, stakeholders and market place.
• celebrating and leveraging our differences, to ensure as a business we can be the best we can be.
• ensure that we have policies and processes in place that recognise and support diversity and meet the needs of all our people.
• developing a culture of inclusiveness as a core capability, especially for our leaders.
• demonstrating zero tolerance for any form of discriminatory behaviours.
• always demonstrating respect to our customers, stakeholders, shareholders, and supply partners inclusively, while understanding their diversity.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR POLICY

Although the board retains ultimate accountability for this policy, the board has delegated responsibility for the implementation of the policy to the Chief Executive Officer.

In turn, the Group Chief Executive Officer has delegated to the Group People and Culture Manager the administration of this policy, including its reporting.

MEASURABLE OBJECTIVES

Blue Star will have measurable objectives in relation to diversity and inclusion. These will include:

• Ensuring that Diversity and Inclusion is a fundamental consideration for all policies and practices within Blue Star.
• Ensure that all of our people policies and practices are inclusive and consistently executed by all of our leaders.
• Provide an environment that promotes and empowers feedback from all individuals in relation to Diversity and Inclusion, in respect to ideas, challenges and solutions.
• Develop a dashboard of Key Performance Indicators to measure our implementation and continuing success of Diversity and Inclusion.

GENERAL

Training may be required for the management to support the successful implementation of diversity and inclusion initiatives and the achievement of Blue Star’s objectives.

Blue Star is committed to supporting diversity and will ensure that we employ or promote the right person for the role based on assessing the specific skills necessary to deliver the position’s key accountabilities The ‘right person’ may have diverse attributes that strongly align with Blue Star’s future direction, as opposed to relying on past employment experience to forecast success.

Nothing in this policy will be taken or construed to endorse:

• any discriminatory behaviour by or within Blue Star contrary to the law.
• that the selection and promotion of people at Blue Star being anything other than their ability of adding value to Blue Star and improving the success of Blue Star’s short, medium, and long-term objectives.

Jill Cowling

Group Chief Executive Officer
Blue Star and Webstar

Effective from January 2020
Reviewed 1 September 2024

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