2degrees is one of New Zealand’s (NZ) leading telecommunication companies. They are driven by their purpose of ‘Fighting for Fair to make NZ a better place to live’, which stems back to their inception in the early 2000s where they became the country’s third mobile provider and halved costs for Kiwis overnight.
People and wellbeing are integral to the 2degrees culture, and when moving into their new headquarters at 136 Fanshawe Street in Auckland, the organisation took the opportunity to demonstrate this commitment to providing a happier and healthier workplace through certification under The WELL Building Standard (WELL).
2degrees approached NDY to help guide their organisation through the WELL journey. Their new headquarters is the first project in NZ to achieve WELL certification, becoming WELL Certified™ Platinum in May 2022.
Design interventions that support employee health, safety and wellbeing include:
- Kaiterra Sensedge air quality monitors located throughout the fitout, taking live measurements of indoor air quality and thermal comfort levels, with results displayed in the office lobby and on an employee accessible website
- Personal workspace regulation with access on request to task lighting, blankets for warmth, desk fans for cooling and noise cancelling headphones
- Influencing staff use of internal stairs for inter-tenancy movement with aesthetic stair networks and encouraging signage
- Restorative areas for Hauora (wellness) including the Harikoa room for meditation, prayer and yoga.
2degrees’ internal operations and staff policies, whilst already outstanding, were also elevated with initiatives such as:
- Commitment to responsible sourcing of food available to staff with at least 50% of all fruit and vegetables and 25% of all animal products being certified organic
- Driving education on smoking prevention and smoking cessation support for staff and their families
- Revamped parental leave policy offering some of the strongest opportunities for new parents in the NZ workforce
- Extensive wellness programme provides people with the ability to claim a gym visit back when travelling and access to programmes to support their mental health.
