Our Communities
We have a commitment to be an industry where workers feel valued, safe and supported and are treated fairly regarding wages, benefits, working hours and overall wellbeing. We want to make a positive contribution to people’s livelihoods and wellbeing, through the returns we provide to growers, the working conditions we provide for our people, and the contributions we make in our markets.
Our Targets and Actions
As part of demonstrating our commitment to sustainability we’ve set ambitious targets that align with our purpose, our brand promise and our premium product position.
People want to work in the Kiwifruit Industry and every employee will be
valued, safe
and supported
in their jobs
Safety & wellbeing
Human Rights & Modern Slavery
Ethical Business Practices
We will
Attract Talent
and continue to build a
Thriving Workforce
amongst our value chain
By 2030
We will partner with
communities on
Healthy Lifestyle
Programmes
in our major markets
By 2022
People want to work in the Kiwifruit Industry and every employee will be valued, safe and supported in their jobs
Safety and Wellbeing
Zespri and the wider kiwifruit industry strives for excellence in health, safety and wellbeing management.
At Zespri, the Board, leadership and people are committed to the health, safety and wellbeing of everyone we work with. Guardianship is a core Zespri value and ensuring our people’s wellbeing provides the foundation for everything we do.
Our guiding safety and wellbeing principles are to:
- Provide a work environment that protects and enables our people to flourish by ensuring all physical and psychosocial risks are effectively identified and managed. We deliberately place priority on our fatal and material risks through robust management, monitoring and improvement.
- Bring attention to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our people where-ever they are in the world
- Work with all other entities in our industry through consultation, cooperation and collaboration to champion the safety and wellbeing of all industry workers.
- Measure our performance with carefully developed metrics set against our objectives that ensure we focus on what matters most and that we hold ourselves and, where appropriate others, to account for safety and wellbeing performance.
- Invest in and make sure we have fit for purpose systems and processes to exceed the requirements of health and safety laws and regulations in the locations we operate within.
- Actively engage with our people through our Global Safety and Wellbeing forums and take on good ideas, suggestions or feedback to continuously improve our overall safety and wellbeing maturity.
Across the kiwifruit industry, we aim to ensure the work we do across our value chain, supports people to be safe, healthy and well. We are committed to continually improve our collective industry performance and proactively manage hazards and risks arising from our undertakings and activities.
Our safety and wellbeing work, both at Zespri and in the kiwifruit industry, is underpinned by the following policies and programmes:
Human Rights and Modern Slavery
Zespri is committed to looking after people and has set compliance standards that must be met to help protect people working within the kiwifruit industry.
All of our growers are required to meet the Good Agricultural Practice requirements which underpin everything we do on orchard, and must have a Global G.A.P GRASP (Global Good Agricultural Practice, Risk Assessment of Social Practices) certificate before supplying to Zespri.
The following policies set out the expectations we have of our suppliers:
Ethical Business Practices
Zespri does not tolerate or engage in bribery, corruption or unethical business practices.
The following policies set out these expectations:
We will attract talent and continue to build a thriving workforce amongst our value chain by 2030
Fair Pay
Zespri and the wider kiwifruit industry is committed to paying fair and legal wages which also includes benefits, holidays and breaks. The kiwifruit industry is a year-round business with pay rates varying depending on the nature of the role.
Our expectation of our suppliers are included in these policies:
People Developement
At Zespri, we want all our people to have the opportunity to grow and develop skills that allow them to be better every day and perform to their potential.
We also want our people to have the opportunity to build and find the leader within themselves. We encourage and support our people, no matter their development stage, to participate in a series of internal leadership and development programmes that run throughout the year.
These programmes are designed around leading self and leading others which are anchored in our leadership framework. We have three core programmes that our people are able to participate in, Lead Zespri (introducing leadership at Zespri), Zespri Thrive (leading self) and Zespri Ignite (leading others and teams).
Diversity, Equality and Inclusion
Zespri is a company with people at the heart. We believe in embracing our diversity as part of a thriving, inclusive culture where all our people belong, contribute to their full potential and flourish.
We are committed to implementing strategies to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion, through action across leadership, engagement, systems and processes, performance and reporting.
Under reporting, Zespri discloses our core diversity data and gender pay equity data in our Annual Report. We are committed to pay equity through action to monitor and report performance, and through action to eliminate any unjustified pay inequities based on gender or other dimensions of diversity. The methodology or basis of preparation for the core diversity data that we report is outlined in the document below.
Zespri also sets out a number of expectations of suppliers with respect to aspects of diversity and inclusion and, specifically, with respect to freedom from discrimination. Freedom from discrimination is a human right and a fundamental right at work. Those policies are available below.
We will partner within communities on healthy lifestyle programmes in our major markets by 2022
Healthy Lifestyle Programmes
Zespri defines Healthy Lifestyle Programmes as community activities or events that encourage or support healthy lifestyles. For example, this can include nutritional education programmes in schools, or the sponsorship of community sporting events.
Zespri achieved its Health lifestyle target at the end of 2022, with over 35 healthy lifestyle programmes delivered across 12 countries since 2020.
Community Investment
Zespri’s aims to make a positive contribution to people’s livelihoods and wellbeing, through the returns it provides to growers, the working conditions and opportunities provided to its people, and the contributions made to the markets in which Zespri operates.
Zespri’s community investment programme has three pillars with which our partnerships are aligned.
