March 15, 2018

Reflect your customers or lose out on business, Vodafone boss says

Reflect your customers or lose out on business, Vodafone boss says

– Stuff.co.nz

Diversity may not be a trend, but showing it off has become one.

Vodafone is the latest firm to get the tick of cultural competency by the Superdiversity​ Centre for Law, Policy and Business for its efforts to value and encourage diversity to represent its customers.

The Superdiversity Centre formulated the cultural quotient (CQ) tick to measure the existing level of cultural intelligence within an organisation and identify any gaps to be filled. The CQ tick package provides a survey for all staff, an analysis of the responses from the survey, recommendations and a dashboard of the results.

Vodafone NZ chief executive Russell Stanners said diversity was an integral part of its organisation but measuring it was important to make the most of its workforce and reflect its customer base.

“Inclusion matters because it is who we are. If we look inside our business it needs to reflect those we’re doing business with,” Stanners said.

“Don’t spend time thinking of a business case for diversity, just start by finding out about the people within your organisation.”

Last year, Vodafone launched its Red Connect service to engage with its Chinese consumers, which included dedicated Chinese-speaking contact centre staff, Chinese speakers in select Vodafone stores and an official WeChat account.

Stanners spoke at a panel discussion for the Superdiversity Centre on Thursday.

ACC chief executive Scott Pickering says diversity must be authentic and embedded within organisations.

Also on the panel was health insurer Nib’s chief executive Rob Hennin and said the surveys provided greater insight into the cultures and attitudes of its staff.

Nib received its CQ tick in September and its survey found it had 50 ethnicities among its 180 workers.

It has also created tailored healthcare packages for its Asian and Indian customers, taking traditional medicines into consideration and communicating in their respective languages.

Its team speaks over 50 languages.

“Diversity is not a trend, we are already diverse and have been. It is our present and will continue to be our future.”

Hennin said having a diverse workplace drove innovation and creativity.

Nib’s chief executive Rob Hennin says diversity is not a trend, but it has always been part of New Zealand’s identity.
ACC also got its CQ tick last year and chief executive Scott Pickering said, as an organisation working within the public sector, having a diverse workforce was critical to reflect New Zealand.

He said while it provided a benchmark, the organisation’s diversity strategy had to be more than just ticking a box.

“Diversity has to be authentic and embedded in our organisation,” Pickering said.

Making diversity a focus for the organisation was the largest transformation in more than 40 years.

 – Stuff

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