Supporting our LGBTIQ+ community

At The Warehouse Group, we believe you should be accepted as you are, full stop. Our perspective is not only reflected in our formal policies, but in our events, our sponsorships and our programmes and trainings across the Group.

For people who identify as part of the LGBTIQ+ community, recognising that acceptance in the workplace can make a massive difference in your output and happiness at work. In fact, a recent study found that 47% of professionals value working at a company where they can be themselves.

We’ve found that by demonstrating our support for all of our people, we’ve been able to foster a community where everyone can feel welcome, supported and free to be their true selves.

We were one of the first organisations in New Zealand to have a formal gender transition policy, which provides any team members seeking gender reassignment surgery paid leave for medical appointments relating to the surgery.

We also work with team members seeking to transition to develop a personalised plan to ensure they feel supported and heard throughout the process. Additionally, our external team member assistance programme enables team members to seek free and confidential counselling should they wish to use it.

Annually, we play a role in key events like Big Gay Out which we are a major sponsor of, as well as the Auckland Pride parade and this upcoming year, Wellington Pride festivities.

This year we achieved the Rainbow Tick accreditation, which assesses the inclusivity of organisations around New Zealand. We also sponsor Red Ribbon Day and support OUTline, which offers free, confidential counselling for anyone in the LGBTIQ+ community.

“We’re continually looking for new ways to engage with our LGBTIQ+ team members and listen to what their needs are in terms of our support,” says Evelyn Ross, Chief People Officer at The Warehouse Group. “We consistently assess our policies and the language we use across the organisation to ensure we’re being inclusive and mindful of our diverse population.”

Internally, our dedicated Pride@TWG Workplace group offers LGBTIQ+ community team members and allies the space to search, share, collaborate and post everything TWG Pride-related. There is also a recurring Inclusion and Belonging working group that is attended by each of our brand CEOs and General Executives on a regular basis.

We acknowledge that while we still have more to accomplish on our journey to build the best working environment for all of our people, we have made great strides over the last few years to offer our support and listen to the needs of our team members. We look forward to continuing to engage with our diverse communities on the issues important to them.