Diversity and Inclusion

Diverse thinking is really important for supporting and enhancing health outcomes for everyone in our communities.

We value diversity and inclusion, and we celebrate all the unique backgrounds, skills, and personalities that create a vibrant culture, talented workforce, and better understanding of our clients and communities. We're committed to making Habit Health a safe and positive place for everyone—our staff, clients, and visitors.– tātau tātau.

Making our place safe for our rainbow community We actively support Rainbow and other diversity initiatives so both staff and clients feel welcome to be themselves at Habit Health.

In 2023, we achieved the Rainbow Tick accreditation and this year became a Pride Pledge Gold badge member to further support the safety, visibility, and inclusion of all LGBTQIA+ (rainbow) people, both inside and outside our organisation. 

Our work around this commitment is continuous. The more we learn, the more practices we can adopt, to truly ensure everyone feels safe and the freedom to be who they are.

People coming into a Habit Health site can pick up a pronoun card to share with the person they are seeing. This could be for someone receiving treatment, or visiting operational staff. All are welcome to use the cards so they can easily share their preferred pronouns without fuss or explanation. 

We are updating our sites and collateral with our Pride Pledge Gold member badge, and ensuring it is displayed prominently. This gives assurance that we are a safe and welcoming place. This also includes our recruitment collateral and practices. We want to attract the very best staff who also align with our commitment for people to feel safe in being who they are.

To support existing staff in their ability to support clients of many backgrounds, we ensure training and development opportunities from experts including our own internal dedicated specialist. We have a Rainbow Allies group staff can reach out to for advice any time.

Ngā Kaihapāi Habit Health is dedicated to partnering with Māori to achieve better health equity, access, and outcomes for Māori. 

As a provider of holistic health, we know that people are different – and those differences can come from a million different places. In New Zealand, we recognise the value to our clients in adapting a service to them. We do this for clients every day. Ngā Kaihāpai is our Māori for Māori Health Team, established to provide altogether better health for Māori.

To do this, we co-developed our Māori Responsiveness Strategy in 2020 through internal and external interviews, literature reviews, and wānanga. Read more about our strategy here.

Neurodiversity Habit Health is a neurodiverse-inclusive organisation. It’s so important, particularly in healthcare that everyone feels welcome here, either as staff members, people coming to see us for treatment, or other visitors to our site. 

We celebrate diversity of thought, making space for people to carve their own way in getting things done, and our organisation is all the better for it. We are resilient, responsive

Walking the talk
Here are some things that run as standard practice at Habit Health

We actively build inclusive capability

•  D&I Resource library readily available for staff
• Active agenda item on our monthly newsletter 
• Webinars and courses regularly rolled out eg. Mandatory induction module, unconscious bias and how to effectively engage with Māori, and our internally run 8-week Kaupapa Māori course

Our employees take the lead

• Ngā kaihāpai (Habit Health’s internal by Māori for Māori team) drive our Māori response strategy: Ngā Pou Oranga. The goal is to drive Maori success in health across the country. 
• Cultural Diversity and Inclusion Committee
• Rainbow Allies committee 

We grow and nurture diverse talent pipelines 

• Leadership courses
• Annual Māori and Pasifika scholarship to enhance the representation of community groups
• Robust graduate programme to nurture the future of healthcare professionals
• Diverse and inclusive recruitment strategies 

We have robust practices to ensure safe, respectful, and inclusive culture

• D&I related policies 
• Company values and code of conduct to guide the behaviours

Click here to find out more