Why work with us

Learning and Growth

We’re a learning organisation and we encourage (and expect) our people to learn and grow in their roles every day.

 Training and Development

Our in-house branch training team provides training and development to our branch network through a range of customised contact courses and online training programmes.

Training and development for technical and specialist capability is also provided on an individual basis through external training providers.

Observational coaching is used in our work environments (as part of on-the-job training) and our managers are specially trained in SLII situational leadership to ensure that their leadership style is specifically tailored to each of their team members development needs.

We have our very own customer relationship and sales training programme (EVOLV). This programme is supported by an annual in-house accreditation process to assist our people to maintain their capability and currency on an ongoing basis.

 Leadership Development

Leadership development is delivered through a range of different channels including generic leadership skills training (e.g. influencing skills), regular company-wide and regional leadership forums, and tailored development which is specifically designed for individuals (e.g. specialist training, conferences, membership of professional associations, etc).

We prepare our future leaders by offering them a hands-on leadership programme to help them identify their individual areas of development and we work with them to increase their leadership capability over a period of time. Many of our future leader participants have subsequently progressed into leadership positions - at which time, they are then supported through an in-depth six-month induction, coaching and development programme specifically tailored for them.

 Study Grants

Study grants are available for employees who wish to further their education and gain qualifications in a course of study that’s relevant to the work that we do and which will benefit our business.

Work Challenge and Careers

Challenge and opportunity exists at all levels across the organisation. As a co-operative organisation, you’re involved - and this naturally evolves into many opportunities for growth, progression and career development.

 Progression

We encourage and promote our people to progress within the business - as well as bringing in outside expertise to help us refresh and grow. Take a look at our profiles to find out about the different progression paths that some of our people have taken.

 Work Variety and Challenge

The small size of our work-teams ensures that there’s plenty of opportunity for work variety and challenge. As a small company, there’s also less emphasis on hierarchy which means that at a local level there are many more opportunities to get involved in business and decision making activities.

 Secondments and Projects

Cross-organisational secondments, project teams and workshops are common and help us ensure that people with the right range of experience and expertise are involved in designing, building and implementing new initiatives for our business.

 Organisational Change

Not to mention the huge opportunities that exist just because of where we’re currently at as a business and what we’re aiming to achieve. We’ve just transformed into NZ’s first Co-operative Bank and our work programme ahead to cement the co-operative difference into our business is ambitious and exciting.

Rewards & Recognition

We place a strong emphasis on collective (and co-operative) contribution and performance. When the business does well, we all do well.

 Celebrating Success

Success and achievement is celebrated at every opportunity. It may be as simple as a morning tea shout, drinks after work, or even an article in our internal weekly newsletter ('Our Space'). While we can’t always all be together to celebrate our company and team achievements, individual teams are encouraged to take time to celebrate and reward themselves.

 Long service

We celebrate our long serving employees and the contribution they’ve made to us by providing long service leave for achieving certain milestones. Our employees have the choice of taking an extended long service holiday to refresh themselves or receiving a 'cashed-up' payment.

 Life Insurance Cover

All of our permanent employees are covered by a Group Life Insurance Scheme, which provides life insurance cover of up to 3 times of an employee’s annual salary, giving peace of mind for them and their families.

 Remuneration

We aim to provide competitive and fair base salaries and a number of benefits for our employees. To ensure that the remuneration of our people remains competitive, we compare it regularly to the external market. We also review everyone’s remuneration on an annual basis with any subsequent pay increases being based on both individual and collective performance.

 Performance bonus

In accordance with our long-standing remuneration principles, and conditional on our overall company performance and ability to pay, we award annual performance bonuses to reward team and individual performance that exceeds agreed expectations.

 KiwiSaver

We support KiwiSaver superannuation savings of our employees by making an employer contribution which is in addition to their salary.

 Banking benefits

All of our employees can experience and receive the benefits of a co-operative way of banking. We encourage all new employees to become customers by ensuring they have access to our branches for help with their banking needs and through employee benefits such as waiving various fees and helping them get the best rate possible for their home loan.

 Health Insurance

Our employees can receive a reimbursement for the first 3 months premiums for health insurance when they take out a new Surgery Plus policy (this also applies for immediate family members).

Lifestyle

We help our employees through their lifecycle of participation - just as we do with our customers. We recognise that work is a big part of that lifecycle so it’s important that there is a healthy balance between work and life.

 Community

Our 'local' community focus is reflected strongly throughout everything we do. Our employees 'have a say' in choosing which local groups their branch will support. They have the opportunity to get involved in the sponsored community events and organisations both in and out of work time. We don’t just sponsor a community event and then hand over the cheque. In true co-operative spirit, our people roll up their sleeves and offer hands-on support.

 Work/life Balance

We recognise that everyone has different needs when it comes to balancing their work and life. Where possible, we try to provide flexible work arrangements to meet both the needs of our employees along with the needs of the business. This includes arrangements such as flexible work hours, part-time/casual work, working from home, phased retirement, etc.

 Annual Leave

We provide a minimum of 4 weeks annual leave each year for holidays, rest and recreation. Once our employees have worked with us for 6 years, we increase their annual leave to 24 days per annum.

 Extended Leave Without Pay

Sometimes our people may want to take extended time out of work to pursue other lifestyle interests (e.g. overseas travel, further study, etc). Where we can accommodate this we’ll provide extended leave without pay for up to 12 months.

 Fun and Social

It’s very important that we all have fun at work and get to know the people we work with each day. All of our teams are encouraged to adopt 'fun' into their work environments and take ownership of making it a truly great place to work. Some of the fun things we do include corporate netball, touch rugby, ping-pong challenges, movie, games and quiz nights, social club events (which range from a day at the races, to go-kart racing or having a team weekend away) and of course there’s Friday night drinks on occasion.

Health and Wellbeing

It’s important to us that all of our people stay healthy and safe when they’re at work.

 Health and safety

We’ve got health and safety reps located in all our work environments to monitor and manage any health and safety issues and promote safe working practices. Given we’re a bank the security focus in our branches is especially important, and we provide regular training to ensure our employees have the skills and confidence to deal with different situations that might arise.

 EAP Counselling Support

Our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) scheme provides our employees with free (and confidential) counselling to help resolve any issues that they may be experiencing in their work or personal lives.

 Sick and Domestic Leave

If our employees are sick, injured or need to care for a dependant, we generally provide 10 days paid sick leave each year. We’ll also consider approving additional paid or unpaid sick leave for certain circumstances.

Other standard types of leave such as parental and bereavement leave are also provided.

As a co-operative, we also consider providing support on a case-by-case basis for other challenging personal circumstances that our employees may be experiencing in their personal lives.

 Flu vaccinations

Each year free flu vaccinations are offered to all of our people in all locations.

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