Celebrating Pride at TWG

February in New Zealand signifies many things: the recognition of Waitangi Day, the slow descent out of summer and into autumn, and rainbows - lots and lots of rainbows.

With February recognised as Pride Month in New Zealand, it’s only right to take this time to recognise and support our LGBTQ+ community across the Group.

To show our support and dedication to our team, we had a presence at Auckland’s Big Gay Out for the second year in a row, and for the first time, made our way to Wellington’s Out in the Park, signifying not only to our team members, but to our customers that they can feel comfortable shopping and working with us.

To make this year even more special, we held a competition across our store network to enable three team members from around the country the chance to attend Auckland and Wellington’s Pride events. Ryan Bain-Butler, The Warehouse Rolleston Team Member, was able to fly to Auckland’s Big Gay Out to experience the excitement in person.

“I was so happy to be given the opportunity to go to this event. I had never been to an event like this before and I thoroughly enjoyed myself and meeting so many new people,” says Ryan Bain-Butler, The Warehouse Rolleston Team Member. “It’s great to see that a big New Zealand company is supportive of its LGBTQ+ workers and prides itself in making sure that all staff are getting the support they need. Hopefully this shows other workplaces that it's okay to be who you are and that no one should ever feel uncomfortable.”

As an organisation, we’re committed to providing a work environment where every team member can bring their whole self to work. Part of this commitment is brought to life through the various initiatives and policies we have in place across our brands.

In 2019, we proudly 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 proud of the work we’ve done to help make all of our team members, regardless of their background, feel comfortable and supported at work,” says Richard Parker, Acting Chief People Officer at The Warehouse Group. “We’re continually looking for ways to improve our inclusivity by introducing new initiatives and policies to help our team members thrive in their roles, and recognise that there’s always more work to be done to create a truly inclusive environment.”

To further support our team members, 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.

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.

Learn more about our support of the LGBTIQ+ community here.