Workplace Accreditation

Purpose

The purpose of White Ribbon Business Accreditation is to engage more businesses in effective violence prevention.

Internationally and locally, businesses have been identified as environments in which to prevent violence because:

family and sexual violence has a direct cost for businesses, through staff absenteeism and turnover, and loss of productivity
employers have health and safety responsibilities for the safety of staff, including the risk of violence in the workplace
actively preventing violence can improve staff morale and drive greater productivity
supporting anti-violence initiatives enhance the business’s reputation as a good employer, an ethical organisation, and active supporter of the local community
understanding the family violence leave implications.

Introduction

To provide structure to White Ribbon’s approach, we have based the programme on a violence-prevention model, The Prevention Institute’s Spectrum of Prevention. To ensure the programme is accessible and applicable to New Zealand businesses, we have broken this down into three easily understood areas.

Policy
Training
Taking part in violence prevention eg the White Ribbon campaign

Most of the organisations we have worked with have made their policies freely available, so there is no reason to reinvent the wheel. We can provide these to you and assist you as you adjust the policies to suit your business and employees.

White Ribbon will deliver an initial training session to help you embed your training. The module is approximately three and a half hours long.

Taking part in a White Ribbon campaign is easy. Just take a look at the ideas here.

White Ribbon Accreditation

Awarding a business White Ribbon Accreditation gives public recognition to a business has integrated violence prevention into their business practice.

A business can undertake the three areas (policy, training and participation in a violence prevention campaign) in any order, and or simultaneously. For White Ribbon to assist you, you will need to apply to take part in our accreditation. This is a simple process, but we reserve the right not to accept all businesses due to capacity and to protect the integrity of White Ribbon.

When you believe you have met the three criteria, White Ribbon will evaluate your actions and report to the White Ribbon Trust. The trustees have the final determination as to whether a business is approved as accredited. Accreditation involves an organisation demonstrating they have implemented plans, and that the plans are approved by White Ribbon.

Apply Now

For more information on how to become a White Ribbon Accredited, please contact us.

The First Accredited Organisation – The Warehouse

Former Warehouse CEO, and White Ribbon Ambassador, Pejman Okhovat says “family violence hurts everyone in the community. That could be our staff and or our customers. We’re right behind White Ribbon’s campaign to prevent violence, and we’re encouraging other businesses to also get on board”.

“Violence against women hurts all businesses. There’s the direct cost of staff absenteeism and turnover, and we have health and safety responsibilities to protect staff”.

“But also, it’s shown that if we publicly show we care about this issue, staff moral increases and we’re seen as a good, ethical employer. There’s been increasing concern about the harm family harm causes in New Zealand, and we want to be at the forefront and lead by example and support violence prevention”.

Anna Campbell, Chief People and Transformation Officer Mitre10, was our first female Ambassador. Anna held the role of Chief People Officer of The Warehouse Group and during her time there, The Warehouse became the first New Zealand employer to gain White Ribbon accreditation. Anna’s role as an ambassador will be to encourage other businesses to seek White Ribbon Business Accreditation. “As a mother of three boys, I’m acutely aware of the importance of raising them to understand what good relationships are and to be respectful men. However, New Zealand companies also need to play their role. Family violence has serious and devastating effects in New Zealand. For employers, it can impact your team’s ability to bring their best selves to work. So, I encourage employers to support their team whether they’re impacted by violence or want to stop using violence.” Anna believes New Zealand is one of the best countries in the world at hurting the people we love, and we all need to get involved to solve this problem.

White Ribbon would like to thank the Warehouse and Women’s Refuge for initially developing the training, with additional support from Air New Zealand.