Diversity and Inclusion
Our Commitment
Tompkins Wake is committed to building a culture that is inclusive and respects the diversity of all our people by recognising and harnessing the strengths, backgrounds, experience and perspectives that make us individually unique and collectively stronger. Our mission is to create and sustain a culture in the firm that allows our people to be their best at work, at home and in the communities we serve.
One of Tompkins Wake’s goals is to be a nationally recognised employer of choice. We recognise that in order to not only achieve but to also sustain this, our culture and the policies and initiatives that support it will be an evolving and continually improving ecosystem, bound by a framework that ensures compliance but remains flexible enough to adapt and grow with our workforce.
The publicity toward the legal sector in New Zealand since February 2018 has only strengthened our resolve and accelerated the work we had underway.
These events and the scrutiny of our profession have driven a review of our policies to go beyond pure compliance to ensure that our people know that they are respected, safe and have access to the right support and guidance bound by a framework that defines and supports our desired culture and provides a safe environment for our people to be their best.
The culture of Tompkins Wake is something we guard and protect jealously, and our Zero Harm program extends beyond health and safety to also encompass bullying and harassment and our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) which is an important element in supporting our staff through the challenges of everyday personal and professional life. We want to redefine what it means to be a leading law firm by providing our people great work while allowing them to have exceptional lives and in 2019 we relaunched our wellbeing program, Hauora with an even greater focus on enabling our people at every level to have balanced lives.
We believe that our people’s backgrounds, cultures, experiences and skills fuel fresh thinking, new ideas, unique perspectives and insights allowing us to continually develop new and better solutions. To further reinforce our commitment to diversity and inclusiveness, Tompkins Wake is proud to be a Rainbow Tick certified workplace and has started the journey toward ensuring we understand and follow best practice as an inclusive workplace.
Tompkins Wake was among the first group of law firms to sign the New Zealand Law Society’s Gender Equality Charter, committing to:
- Lead from the top
- Make a plan and take action, and;
- Measure and report on our progress.
We will always:
- Ensure that our policies and practices in all aspects of employment are compliant and non-discriminatory.
- Assess merit on the basis of ability, attitude, aptitude, skills, qualifications, knowledge, experience, characteristics, and personal qualities relevant to the job being considered.
- Support and encourage all our people to develop to their full potential. Diversity will fuel our expertise.
- Be relentless in our pursuit to attract, recruit, develop, promote and retain a diverse pool of talented people across Tompkins Wake.
Our Values
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace is underpinned by our values and our belief that we are stronger together. We believe that when specialisation and expertise combine, exceptional outcomes are created for our clients.
For our people
We will ensure every employee, whether part-time, full time or temporary, is treated fairly and equally in a working environment with tolerance and sensitivity which promotes dignity and respect to all. Our recruitment and talent management processes will ensure and reflect open competition (equitably on merit) along with equal employment opportunity.
We are proud to be among the first group of law firms to sign the New Zealand Law Society Gender Equality Charter in 2018 and to be accredited with the Rainbow Tick in 2019.
For our clients
An inclusive culture encourages diversity of thought, building engagement, nurturing collaboration, innovation and creates opportunities for us to continually improve our work and our service to our clients.
We believe that our collaborative culture and working environment within Tompkins Wake, combine people’s backgrounds, cultures, experiences and skills fuel fresh thinking, new ideas, unique perspectives and insights allowing us to continually develop new and better solutions.