How to celebrate the Wahine in our lives in your organisation

This Sunday we will be celebrating Mothers Day.  It is a special occasion to honour and appreciate the incredible Wahine in our lives. To celebrate the unconditional love, sacrifice, and devotion all these women provide every day. We also acknowledge and support those who may have lost their mothers or are struggling with infertility as this day can be difficult.

What was once quite a traditional day to celebrate the mothers in our lives has now grown to celebrate all the amazing Wahine who play such a strong role in our Tamariki’s lives. A mother, sister, grandmother, god mother, guardian or close friend.

Mother’s Day is about celebrating the work these amazing Wahine do – not just at home but also in their professional lives. The way they have to juggle working (be it full time, part time or casually) to support or raise a child as well as trying to carve out their own career.

To support mothers or parents with this juggle, there are more things we can do both in the workplace and the community.

When I started my career in 2002 the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987 (The Act) has just introduced 12 weeks of paid parental leave. This was amended to 14 weeks in in 2004. Now, through some hard work and support by many, paid parental leave is 26 weeks with a further 26 weeks extended leave for the primary carer.  

Many companies have gone over and above what is provided by The Act to allow more time for the primary carer or the partner to bond with their tamariki and drive a more flexible and inclusive culture.

There are large companies like ANZ, Vodafone, Tonkin+Talyor, Spark and The Warehouse Group that offer additional perks. For example, ANZ staff taking parental leave can top up to their full salary for the full 26 weeks. They also provide two weeks paid parental leave to the partner. Vodafone announced in November 2022 that all primary careers will receive an additional 26 days of paid leave and partners will receive a matching 26 days allowance. Primary carers will also continue to receive kiwisaver contribution for up to a full year while on leave helping to reduce the “motherhood penalty”.

As a small or medium company providing such perks may not be financially viable however there are some things you can do to acknowledge this special time for parents. For example, provide some additional sick days for when they return to the workplace, send some home cooked meals for those first few weeks they are off, stagger their return to the workplace with part time hours or provide some supermarket vouchers to help cover the cost of baby food.  It’s all about being creative and thinking about what would work best for your business. If you want some help in this area, then reach out to us at ColourHR.

Regardless of the size of your company, there are a variety of things we can do to celebrate the amazing Wahine in our lives this weekend. Here are our top five tips:

1.      Provide a paid wellness day where they can choose to spend something that gives them joy.

2.      Gift a gift! It could be a bottle of bubbles, westfield voucher, a book or a plant.

3.      Shout all the wahine in your business a lunch together.

4.      Sponsor some tickets. It could be movie tickets, zoo tour or the local pool and give them time off to share with their children.  

5.      Send a heart warming note letting them know what you admire most about them.

Wishing all the amazing Wahine out there are wonderful Mother Days!