Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand approached Hilton’s General Manager of Safety, Quality and Compliance, Tom Bryant and asked to share how we support the health and wellness of our kaimahi (employees) in the workplace. The below article was published in the March edition of Transporting News.

Hilton Haulage offer their kaimahi (employees) a comprehensive range of resources to support their physical, social and mental wellbeing. Hilton Haulage’s Tom Bryant – GM Safety, Quality and Compliance shares some of the ways they’re helping their team, and the benefits this approach has had for their business.

Founded in 1972, Hilton Haulage started off carting hay bales across the Canterbury Plains. Fifty years on, the company employs 460 employees across 17 locations, transporting everything from dairy products to containers, as well as hiring out its fleet of cranes.
The last few years have been tough on everyone in many ways. Hilton Haulage recognises the importance of supporting the wellbeing of its kaimahi (employees), and uses a range of resources and tools to help retain and attract top talent. These wellbeing initiatives align with its people values of respect, care and trust.

Kaimahi (employees) physical wellbeing checks
Truck drivers’ largely sedentary work can put them at higher risk of heart attack or stroke. Recognising that getting to a GP can be time consuming and expensive, Hilton Haulage recently offered its staff voluntary onsite wellbeing checks (including blood pressure and cholesterol checks) provided by occupational health nurses.
The results of each check were confidential – shared with the employee but not with Hilton Haulage.

Take-five fund
Connecting with colleagues is a great way to boost mental wellbeing, but can be a low priority in a busy workplace. To encourage people to get involved, Hilton Haulage has a contestable “Take-five” fund of $300 per month – with each team able to put in a bid for funds to support a work social event. Grants are used for activities such as social golf or team dinners.
“The transport industry’s all about getting out and doing it, we’re not always so great at sharing stories about what we’re doing well.” … Tom Bryant, General Manager: Safety, Quality and Compliance at Hilton Haulage

Budgeting and legal support
The company’s employment assistance programme (EAP) provides kaimahi (employees) free access to confidential counselling sessions, and recently expanded this to include legal and budgeting advice services – all paid for by Hilton Haulage.
“While we pride ourselves on offering good remuneration to our employees, we know that continually rising costs are challenging many families”, says Tom Bryant.
To help increase EAP uptake, Transporting New Zealand has partnered with leading provider EAP Services to provide our members with a sign-up discount worth over $350.
Members can email billy@transporting.nz to be referred to our EAP Services account manager.

Wellbeing Portal
With so many different sources of health and wellbeing information available online, Hilton Haulage recently launched a Wellbeing Portal on its website. Kaimahi (employees) can log on to access reputable sources of health and wellness resources, rather than having information gaps filled with misleading or incomplete information from Facebook or other informal sources.

Transporting News, March 2023, https://www.transporting.nz/transporting-news