Wintec finalist in HeadFit workplace mental health awards

Friday, 01 April 2022

Wintec (Waikato Institute of Technology), was proud to be a finalist of the prestigious Public Sector Workplace of the Year Award, at the 2022 HeadFit Awards held on 31 March.

The HeadFit Awards are held annually to acknowledge leadership in workplace mental health in Aotearoa.

As a finalist in the Public Sector Workplace of the Year Award, Wintec was acknowledged for its demonstration of leadership, innovation and impact in improving mental health within its workplace.

Wintec’s Health, Safety and Wellbeing Director, Katria Raffan, attended the virtual awards where Waka Kotahi NZTA were named as the winners of the Public Sector Workplace of the Year Award.

“Congratulations to Waka Kotahi and also NZ Land Search and Rescue who were also nominated as finalists for the award.

“It’s great to see so many organisations supporting mental health initiatives in their workplace and wanting to make a difference by removing barriers of discrimination and inequity through mental health biases,” she said.

Executive Director, People and Culture, Katrina Van de Ven said, “we’re really proud of the work Wintec has done and continues to do around mental health with our people.

"A longstanding strategic goal of Wintec has been to strengthen and improve the social wellbeing of our communities. Taking a proactive approach to mental health and ensuring we support the mental wellbeing of our kaimahi and ākonga, has always been a large part of how we continue to strive towards this goal,” she said.

Katrina continued, “as an organisation, we challenge ourselves to always look for ways to do things better and to embrace innovation. So, we are looking forward to both sharing our many great mental health initiatives with, and learning from, the other polytechnics in the wider Te Pūkenga network in the future.”

Wintec kaimahi, celebrate Pink Shirt Day, which is about working together to stop bullying by celebrating diversity and promoting kindness and inclusiveness.