Meridian has won the progressive category tonight at the YWCA Equal Pay Awards for its continued commitment to equal pay.

Chief Executive, Neal Barclay, says winning the YWCA Award recognises Meridian's overall commitment to being an employer of choice in New Zealand.

'It's essential that pay is equitable between genders,' says Neal. 'The progress we've made is very satisfying as it goes to the basic principle of fairness, which is fundamental to our company culture and to our success. In fact, it's fundamental to Kiwi culture and collectively we must keep pushing for positive change.'

'Our pay equity journey is really about Meridian's intent to be fair, open and progressive.'

'It is a foundation piece in a wider programme aimed at attracting and retaining a diverse mix of skilled people to help us meet our goals, in particular, our goal to increase the number of women in senior leadership,' says Neal.

Meridian has embedded a transparent culture around pay equity from the Board of Directors to every manager. It has also honed its approach to other initiatives that support employees tenure and engagement, such as its flexible working practices and its health and wellbeing programme.

'We know that if we want to attract the best people we need to provide the conditions that respond to their wider life needs. We're seeing a positive response in overall employee engagement that links directly to the issue of pay equity and fairness,' says Neal.

Meridian has continued to build more flexibility into its working style through a range of initiatives, including increasing parental leave top-up provided from 12 weeks to 22 weeks.

In 2016, Meridian committed to achieving a 40% women in leadership goal by 2020, which is reported to the market to add further emphasis and accountability.

Pay equity has been a focus for Meridian since 2013 when a review highlighted that gender imbalance at senior levels was making the biggest difference to pay inequality.

ENDS

Polly Atkins
Senior External Communications Specialist
021 1741715

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Meridian Energy Limited published this content on 08 November 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 07 November 2018 21:18:16 UTC