150 Years - Our Culture of Care
CEO Glenys Talivai talks about how our culture of care is supporting our strategic aspiration to be compelling, relevant, and accessible to all New Zealanders.
Create a will online
Looking back, moving forward
Our 150-year anniversary is about taking the time to reflect on our legacy of care for all New Zealanders and telling the story of who we aspire to be as we build the Public Trust of the future.
Our Chief Executive Glenys Talivai talks about how our culture of care is supporting our strategic aspiration to be compelling, relevant and accessible to all New Zealanders.
When I joined Public Trust four years ago, what struck me most was the unique role we play in New Zealand’s legislative ecosystem and the responsibility of our haepapa kaitiakitanga (guardianship obligation). This important obligation has influenced not only our incredible legacy of 150 years, but also how we will shape and build the Public Trust of the future.
Over the course of our lives, there are many uncomfortable conversations we all need to have with our whānau and friends, including those about the tricky subjects of death, money, and the future.
Public Trust exists to deliver high-quality, trusted and people-centric estate planning and trustee services to New Zealanders, enabling them to lean into these difficult conversations so that they can put the necessary plans in place to build and protect their legacies.
These difficult conversations are now more critical than ever. We have an aging population, and intergenerational wealth is increasing on the back of strong growth in the property market and increasing KiwiSaver balances. Yet more than 50% of adult New Zealanders still do not have a will in place, and that percentage is even higher in Māori, Pacific and migrant communities.
It was looking back over our proud legacy of helping New Zealanders, together with the dynamic environment in which we operate and the changing needs of consumers, that influenced our decision three years ago to reinvigorate our strategy for a future that balances outcomes for our customers, our people, and our business.
We are elevating our culture of care and putting our people and customers at the heart of everything we do, all with our focus firmly on growing a profitable business that will remain relevant to everyday Kiwis for another 150 years.
Our people work together at Public Trust to empower all New Zealanders to build and protect their legacies. This is our purpose and a powerful statement about why we exist and what we believe we are here to do.
It is an important part of our culture and acts as a rallying cry that propels us towards a future to achieve our strategic aspiration to grow a trustee and supervisory business that is compelling, relevant, and accessible to all New Zealanders.
Naming our culture as a ‘culture of care’ recognises the unique role our people play in straddling the line between deep knowledge and expertise and empathy.
It also acknowledges that care for our people, care for our customers and care for our financial performance is baked into Public Trust’s DNA – and has been for 150 years.
In fact, the Public Trust Act 2001 states that we must equally balance our principal objectives of prudently managing our assets and liabilities, maintaining our financial viability in the long term, being a good employer and being an organisation that exhibits a sense of social responsibility by having regard to the interests of the communities in which we operate.
We have spent the last few years engaging with our people about our strategy, why it’s important and how we will work together as a team to implement it. As a result, our culture of care is well understood and deeply embedded as a reason why people want to come and work for us as well as why they want to stay. Above all else, we understand that our culture is owned by everyone.
We have witnessed that the magic of culture change happens in the conversations we have with each other and with our customers and communities.
We have also recognised that culture isn’t just about deliverables or numbers. It’s about the strength of our people system, how well we work together, the actions we take and the behaviours we consistently demonstrate every day.
Covid-19 acted as the ultimate test of our culture of care. Right through the pandemic, care for our people and customers has been our primary consideration. Our people were able to experience that and say, yes, we are an organisation that genuinely cares about people.
It has also acted as a hothouse for our culture work, giving us opportunities for vulnerability and connection that have strengthened our bonds and our drive to better serve New Zealanders.
During our 150-year anniversary we will be taking time to reflect on our legacy of advocacy and our unique work and how this has helped many New Zealanders. We will also be telling the story of who we aspire to be as we shape and build the Public Trust of the future.
And we do so confident in the knowledge that we have the right culture and strategy in place to fulfil our purpose now, and for generations to come.
Whiria te tāngata.
Weave the people together.
– Māori whakataukī (proverb)