Visit to aid equal opportunities

MARK TAYLOR/Waikato Times

TALKING IDEAS: Judy McGregor from the Human Rights Commission talks with chief executive Les Roa during her visit to Longveld Engineering.

Relevant offers

Longveld Engineering in Hamilton played host to Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Judy McGregor from the Human Rights Commission yesterday.

Dr McGregor is in the Waikato this week as part of The National Conversation about work initiative. The project sees Dr McGregor travelling the country to talk with workers and employers about how the commission can improve equal employment opportunities in New Zealand.

Dr McGregor said it was about information gathering so that the commission could help make New Zealand a better place to work in.

"This is a major initiative to hear from as many New Zealanders as possible about what would make work fairer for them. We also want to hear ideas from employers about how equal employment opportunities can work in practice."

Common issues for employees are job security, flexible work and the availability of child care. Employers are interested to know about best practice examples they can adapt for their own workplaces.

Dr McGregor is set to visit Otorohanga, Te Awamutu, Cambridge and Thames over the next few days. Meetings have already been set up with immigration specialists, the equine industry, Chambers of Commerce, migrant groups and other businesses and industry sectors in the region.

People who want to have a say but cannot attend meetings can join the National Conversation on the internet.

Go to neon.org.nz and click the have your say button.

- © Fairfax NZ News