At Morrison, we have always embraced diversity across our business, acknowledging its role in driving innovation, growth and success. To achieve our purpose of investing wisely in ideas that matter, we want every individual at Morrison to feel valued, respected and to have a sense of belonging.
For us, diversity isn't just about gender or race, it's also about diversity of background and mindset. We want Morrison to be intentional about bringing diversity into meetings and work opportunities, encouraging a wide range of perspectives and talents, and knowing everyone has access to the opportunities and resources to make the most of them.
Morrison has well-established DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies and guidelines including anti-discrimination policies, bias-free recruitment, compulsory unconscious bias training, remuneration equity, measurement and benchmarking.
Inclusion and Diversity (I&D) are standing agenda items at both our Board meetings and our Management Team gatherings. The I&D objectives were set by our Board, and are monitored every 3 months.
In coordination with the I&D Forum, our employees chose four key areas of focus for our I&D activities. These are Gender representation and equity, Health and wellbeing, LGBTQ+ and Reconciliation/First Nations people. Our employees actively work with local organisations to support Maori and Pasifika interns during the summer at our firm, plant native trees to offset carbon emissions and we sponsor two Women in Finance associations.
We have also introduced flexible work arrangements, generous parental leave, childcare support, family and domestic violence leave, compassionate leave, optional health assessments for all employees over 35, and we celebrate local, national and international awareness days to lift understanding of communities that are under-represented.
Our parental leave arrangements extend beyond the statutory requirements. They include:
- All primary carers receive up to 26 weeks paid leave.
- Primary carers can take an additional 26 weeks' unpaid leave, during which we continue to pay the employee component of funding for their retirement savings.
- All secondary carers will receive 8 weeks paid leave that can be taken over the first two years after a child’s birth.
- All Parental Leave periods are eligible for bonus payments.
- Parents can opt to share the paid primary carer leave for up to 26 weeks in total.
- These benefits are offered to anyone who becomes a parent, including through surrogacy or adoption.
- Special leave is available for those who require time off to see fertility or family planning specialists and in the situation where there are any pregnancy complications or loss.
In addition, we recognise that grandparents often play a significant role with the caring responsibilities of their grandchildren. We offer all new grandparents the ability to take up to 10 days' paid leave at any time during the two years following the birth of a grandchild.
Finally, we also ensure everyone at Morrison takes at least 2 weeks of consecutive leave each year, we close our offices for year-end breaks, and we have diversity leave that recognises most public holidays are built around a western Christian calendar.
We know that building a genuinely inclusive company culture takes year-round action, and we are committed to listening to and learning from our talented team, who are proud of the culture we have built and the priority we place on nurturing it.