Community Initiatives

At APS we believe we have a social responsibility to support the communities we operate within. There are 3 communities we take into consideration, comprising the APS community, our local community and the global community.

Our APS Community

We look after the health and wellbeing of our employees by providing pathways for career progression in all of our 6 trades. Our internal trade skills and leadership programme (TSL) encourages further education and internal promotion of contractors and waged staff to operational and sales roles.

Safety at work, crucial in the high-risk industry that we operate within, is supported through rigorous in-house training, regular health screening and random drug testing.

The construction industry has the highest proportion of suicides across all industries in NZ. This is in part attributed to the stressful nature of the work with pressure to deliver to deadlines and within budget. Poor mental health can also impact adversely on health and safety. At APS, mental health is supported through the Employee Assistance Programme. When the programme was first introduced there was immediate take-up of the counselling services offered, proof of a definite need within our organization.

Health insurance is provided for employees and their families, and the living wage is paid as a minimum to entry level labourers, with all other employees paid in excess of that rate.

We actively promote and encourage gender equality with 4 of our last 6 senior appointments and promotions being female. Our organisation is ethnically diverse with 23 nationalities represented at APS.

Tertiary scholarships and sporting team sponsorships are offered to employee children, as are 3 Outward Bound courses per year for 18-25 year old staff or family members. Sponsorship is also provided to a number of sporting teams of APS families, and to individuals in high level sporting pursuits.

Our Local Community

Tertiary scholarships are provided for up to 9 students per year from 3 low decile Auckland High Schools, with the offer of summer holiday work at APS.

Every 6 months a cadetship is offered to a South Auckland high school student with a pathway to apprenticeship in one of our 6 trades.

Recently we have aligned with the Painga Project, a charitable trust that is focused on providing opportunities for primary and intermediate students in low decile south Auckland schools. APS support in 2019 includes the gifting of a van to provide transport for the Painga Project initiatives and we are piloting an APS rewards programme with emphasis on student involvement.

https://www.facebook.com/paingaproject/

The International Community

We work with the NZ Red Cross through their pathways to employment programme which helps settle newly arrived refugees. We currently have 3 former refugees employed at APS and are working with Red Cross to take on a 4^th. This initiative has been well received within APS.

https://nzredcross.shorthandstories.com/refugees-building-future/index.html

APS also has an 18-year relationship with Childfund sponsoring numerous children, and funding a number of projects including a school house in Zambia, youth training facilities in East Timor, and the installation of water tanks and boreholes in 6 countries.

At APS we are committed to social equity in the workplace and beyond. We want to ensure our business practices support a responsible and equitable future.