home is proud to formalise our existing internal commitment to gender equality and the advancement and empowerment of women, by signing the CEO Statement of Support for the Women's Empowerment Principles.

The Women's Empowerment Principles, or WEPs, are the result of a collaboration between the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC).

Adapted from the Calvert Women's Principles, they serve as a voluntary framework and resource for companies dedicated to advancing gender equality and provide guidance on how these organisations can empower women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors and throughout all levels of economic activity.

By signing the Statement of Support we are formally acknowledging our commitment to helping empower women, and join more than 1200 other businesses around the world who have also done so. We are proud to take a leadership role in helping enable women in the workplace, marketplace and community, and hope more women will flourish as a result of our ongoing efforts.

We acknowledge the efforts of co-founder Jessica Cooper, who manages People Care within our organisation with such compassion and kindness, and all the other women in our team who continue to excel and flourish on a daily basis.

To further our efforts in achieving better workplace equality in both our own organisation and the construction industry in general, we will also be actively seeking to bring a number of female apprentices into our team in the new year.

We hope to see more business leaders throughout NZ show their support by signing the Statement and encourage all organisations to visit www.weps.org.nz to learn more about the Women's Empowerment Principles.