After another incredible BPTW™ Awards season, I’ve been reflecting on what makes the Best Places to Work™ community so special. 

When we first launched BPTW™ twenty years ago our goal was simple: to tell the stories of incredible Kiwi workplaces. We wanted to celebrate the leaders, teams, and ideas that were shaping the future of work in Aotearoa New Zealand. We believed that if we could share these stories widely enough, and connect organisations so they could learn, grow, and support each other on their journeys. Because when we bring those stories and those people together, we don’t just recognise achievement and performance, we help float all the boats higher. 

After a short hiatus we relaunched Best Places to Work™ in 2023. The world had changed, and so had the way we work. But what hadn’t changed was the need for connection - genuine, human connection, and the belief that work can and should be a force for good. That belief brought us back. 

Best Places to Work™ isn’t just about recognising performance. It’s about igniting a movement. Today, our mission is bigger than ever: to help put New Zealand on the map as one of the world’s best places  to work. That’s not a ranking, it’s an aspiration. One that starts with trust, care, and courage – the values that Kiwi businesses are known for globally, and the foundations that ultimately drive stronger teams, better customer outcomes, and more resilient businesses.

Through our survey, masterclasses, awards, business support services, and our new BPTW™ Certified, we’re building something more than a programme. We’re building a shared learning ecosystem. Because every submission, every story, and every insight contributes to a collective understanding of what ‘best’ looks like - and how to get there. And what makes this truly powerful is how openly our community shares these learnings with one another. The generosity of spirit, the willingness to offer ideas, support, and lessons learned is what turns insight into impact, individual progress into a rising tide, and strong people practices into measurable improvements in performance, experience, and customer value.

What I’ve learned over the years running Best Places to Work™ is that ‘best’ in the workplace isn’t found in perks or posters. It’s found in the choices people make when no one’s watching. In the leaders who take the time to really listen, even when it’s uncomfortable. In the teams who step up for one another, not because it’s written in a policy, but because it’s who they are.  It’s in the cultures that give people the confidence and safety to show up as themselves - where individuality is embraced, contribution is seen, and people feel they can bring their whole selves to the work they do.

It’s in how people are treated when mistakes happen, and how courage and innovation is encouraged when ideas feel uncertain. It’s in the openness to keep learning, even when it means unlearning old habits.

High performing workplaces don’t get everything right all the time, but they create the conditions where people can speak up, try again, and keep growing together. That’s where trust is built. That’s where innovation begins. And that’s where culture truly lives. Not in grand gestures, but in the small, consistent acts of care, integrity, and inclusion that ripple outward through an organisation.

The organisations celebrated in this year’s BPTW™ Awards show us all that culture is never built in isolation. It is built by and with the people who show up every day - shaped through trust, purpose, and shared intent. And when you step back and look across the community, which ranges from start ups to global brands, you see something extraordinary: a country of organisations that genuinely care for their people, and understand that when you invest in your people, you strengthen culture, lift performance, and ultimately deliver better outcomes for your customers and communities.

That’s the real story of Best Places to Work™.

A collective. 

A movement. 

A shared journey. 

To everyone who is part of it - thank you. You’re proving that when we lift one another, we lift our businesses, our customers, and our economy too. So let’s keep floating all the boats higher.