Dealers best work places

What is the best workplace in New Zealand? It could be a car dealership, according to IBM’s annual investigation into the health and happiness of workplaces.

Six individual car dealerships and two distributors have been named as finalists in the IBM Kenexa Best Workplaces Survey and Awards. Hyundai dominates the Small Workplace category, for those with less than 50 employees. Bayswater Hyundai, Hyundai Mid & South Canterbury, Hyundai Wairarapa and Ingham Hyundai compete with the Hyundai Motors NZ as finalists in this category. Manawatu Toyota and Miles Toyota are finalists in the Small to Medium Workplace category, while Toyota New Zealand is a finalist in the Medium to Large category. Trade Me is a finalist in the Large Workplace category. Other auto-related businesses have also done well: Vehicle Testing New Zealand (VTNZ) is a finalist in the Enterprise Workplace category, for those with 750 or more employees; and the Auckland Motorway Alliance is a finalist in the Medium to Large category. More than 36,000 employees from 210 Kiwi companies participated in the study to produce the finalists. The survey questioned employees about things like cooperation at work, pay and benefits; identifying characteristics that make organisations a great place to work. “The best employers, particularly those in large organisations, are recognising their people in a variety of ways, which is encouraging to see and makes good business sense in a tight labour market,” says Emma Martin, IBM Kenexa NZ senior consultant. Significantly more employees agree that their workplace rewards outstanding performance, that pay and benefits are fair, and that successes are celebrated, when compared with results from last year. The winners will be announced at an Awards Dinner on 3 November in Auckland.