Employees gave these firms the highest satisfaction scores
NZ Adviser recently published its list of the top employers in New Zealand’s mortgage sector, where employers were given the chance to showcase what they do best - and when it comes to changes, innovations and benefits, firms had a lot to talk about.
As part of its process, the Top Mortgage Employers 2021 survey quizzed employees on various aspects of their experience, and the five organisations that scored above an 80% satisfaction rate made the final cut. The survey asked about everything from standard benefits to diversity and inclusion policies, reward schemes and flexible working programmes, and employers were keen to share what made them the best in New Zealand’s mortgage space.
Commenting on its diversity, inclusion and employee engagement efforts, winner Avanti Finance said that inclusion and cultural diversity was a core aspect of its people strategy, and noted that it listens to employee feedback on a regular basis to understand where it can keep improving.
“We support an environment where we recognise and appreciate the variety of characteristics that make individuals unique in an atmosphere that promotes, utilises and values differences,” Avanti Finance regional manager - South Island Michael Harrison said.
“We believe that building diversity and inclusion across the business enhances both the business and the workforce. We seek to treat all people with courtesy, sensitivity, and respect, and to use management practices that support this.”
“We are committed to recruiting, promoting and retaining a diverse workforce which supports equality,” he explained.
“All of this supports our value of ‘People First’. We conduct a quarterly engagement survey, where our aim is to provide an environment where our people are valued and encouraged to be their best selves, and to offer tools and support to help them along the way.
“We then use the feedback provided to ensure that we are continuously improving and working to make employee experiences at Avanti the best that we can.”
Avanti Finance noted that it also conducts surveys for new staff to help inform its onboarding process, as well as ad-hoc culture surveys to get a sense of what employees think of Avanti and its group culture.
“We work across the business to understand what our people think, with intention of helping us to build a picture of where we are, and where we need to go,” Harrison said. “We also offer care packages, and our managers and HR department regularly conduct wellbeing checks.”
Unsurprisingly, the topic of flexible working came up frequently throughout the survey, with both organisations and employees highlighting it as one of the key things they would like to see more of, or to help encourage beyond lockdown periods.
Non-bank lender Bluestone, which also made the list, said that it had invested a lot of resources into communication throughout all of its remote working periods, and has been actively trying to encourage a healthy work-life balance in all of its staff.
“We want to encourage work-life balance with home and office working, and we have provided a full office set up for our staff’s homes and contribute towards their internet costs each month,” NZ managing director Peter Wood said.
Read more: Why New Zealand needs more alternative lending products
“We also have lots of social events, as well as fortnightly CEO updates with the entire business.”
“We also offer a transparent incentive scheme, and all employees can participate in our Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives,” he said. “All of our staff have a paid volunteer day, which they can use either for our partnership with Habitat for Humanity, or with an organisation of their personal choice.”
When it comes to keeping employees engaged in the organisation, First Mortgage Trust said that it focuses heavily on internal development and progression.
Marketing manager Jayne Hunt said that the group looks to progress its staff internally as much as possible, and noted that the business has also invested significantly into making practical improvements to its platforms and processes over the past year.
“We have a focus on staff development and succession planning, and we look to promote internally where possible,” Hunt said. “Our new CEO was promoted from within, as well as many other people in the business.”
“We have our staff contribute to and be involved in developing our purpose and values, and this is kept alive with active involvement from our culture committee,” she explained. “We are also focusing on increasing our flexible working options, and are launching process improvement initiatives, such as the introduction of automation to streamline processes.
"We are committed to improving current processes in the business, work is underway to streamline our IT and finance platforms.”
