Hire women, and men will work harder

Hiring women had a big impact on the men at Ports of Auckland. They worked harder.

The past week saw the Global Women organisation, which campaigns for gender equality in the workplace, release a report on how inclusive New Zealand workplaces really were.

Many larger employers have been on a drive to lift the number of women in leadership roles, believing it to be good for business.

Diane Edwards, general manager for people, systems and technology at Ports of Auckland, believed hiring women was key to lifting productivity.

Edwards was hired just before the Ports of Auckland strike of 2012, when management and workers clashed very publicly.

‘‘We were not making cost of capital,’’ Edwards said. ‘‘We had the lowest productivity in Australasia, and the culture was pretty toxic. It was not a nice place to work.’’

Tony Gibson, chief executive, brought her in to advise on how to ‘‘tackle’’ the workplace culture.

Her report was ‘‘reasonably damning’’.

‘‘There was a lack of accountability, no joined-up thinking, very much ‘We will do just enough, but no more than absolutely necessary’.

‘‘The bulk of the workforce were white middle-aged males of an English union background, and that includes in the management roles.’’

The strike was a gruelling affair which played out in the media. Unionised workers believed they were being mischaracterised as over-paid and lazy. They saw themselves as fighting for ‘‘the retention of job security, and a roster system that gave them a balance between work and family life’’, as one Maritime Union delegate put it.

Edwards said: ‘‘We had discussions around what we could do to change stuff, particularly within the stevedoring area, which is the bulk of our workforce.’’

Stevedores are the people who get the goods containers off and on cargo ships.

The port decided its workforce needed diversity.

Female stevedoring recruits – hired because they already had relations working at the port – were provided mentoring.

‘‘Those women decided it was quite a good job, and it brought in a bit of money, and they started inviting their friends to apply, and so it became quite organic about getting more and more women in,’’ Edwards said.

The women stevedores achieved a significant productivity gain. When the men saw the bonuses being gained, they lifted their own performance. In turn, the women improved again.

The port had been turning over 22 boxes an hour; now it’s regularly 37.