Making Work Better

Making Work Better

‘It’s time to stop fracking human resources’, said a frustrated Dr Denise Quinlan in late 2023. Tired of the burnout and lack of hope all around, she set out to find the workplaces #makingworkbetter for their people AND succeeding in business. This podcast shares the stories of these organisations, spanning sectors, size and ownership structure. Learn more about the five keys to progress Denise found: - Driving workplace transformation with listening, transparency, and co-design - Building a culture of care and support - Finding new ways of working for a future-fit workplace - Fostering purpose and belonging to enhance wellbeing and engagement - Growing future-fit leadership with empowerment, connection & collaboration. Get your free copy of the Making Work Better Report here: https://mailchi.mp/nziwr/making-work-better-report-2024 Follow Dr Denise Quinlan: @drdenisequinlan Learn more about her work: https://nziwr.co.nz/keynotes #makingworkbetter #futureofwork #humansustainability

Episodes

Making Work Better - 09 - Making work better: Tikanga in action

April 28, 2025 • 54 mins
In this episode of Making Work Better, Denise Quinlan speaks with Dan Te Whenua Walker, Māori tech leader and Global Co-Chair of Microsoft’s Indigenous Employee Resource Group. Dan shares how tikanga Māori isn’t just cultural heritage - it’s a living, practical guide for building workplaces that truly care. From his Master’s in Māori and Indigenous Leadership came Te Rau o te Huia, a whānau AI named after his beloved grandmother....
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Making Work Better - 08 - Beca: Simplification and sustainability

April 21, 2025 • 34 mins
In this episode of Making Work Better, Denise Quinlan talks with Kristy Matthews, Group Head of Talent and Inclusion, and Chloe Stewart-Tyson, Group Manager of Health, Safety, Environment and Wellbeing from Beca, about how the global employee-owned engineering consultancy is redesigning work for people, performance, and purpose. They discuss hybrid working, talent attraction and retention, and simplifying systems to reduce overload...
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Making Work Better - Replay - Kiwibank: Performance through purpose and belonging

April 14, 2025 • 56 mins
Enjoy this replay of Making Work Better - Host Dr. Denise Quinlan sits down with Charlotte Ward, Kiwibank’s Chief People Officer, to explore how clear purpose, trust, and continuous listening are reshaping the future of work. Discover how Kiwibank is redefining hybrid work by finding the “flex within the flex,” where meeting innovations, dynamic wellbeing leave, and intentional leadership create an environment where everyone thrive...
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Making Work Better - 07 - Rāroa: Systems that support people

April 7, 2025 • 55 mins
In this episode of Making Work Better, Denise Quinlan speaks with Stephen Eames Tumuaki/Principal and Matt Boucher Tumuaki Tuarua/Deputy Principal from Rāroa Intermediate about reimagining wellbeing in education. They share how Rāroa has embedded systemic support for student and teacher wellbeing, developed a clear pastoral care framework, and fostered a culture where no one is a single point of failure. From reducing burnout to ...
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Making Work Better - 06 - Spark: Weaving wellbeing into culture

March 31, 2025 • 46 mins
In this episode of Making Work Better, Denise Quinlan is joined by Sarah Stack, People & Culture Lead at Spark, NZ’s largest telco and digital services provider. Together, they unpack how Spark co-designed a culture of care with staff – embedding wellbeing, connection, and inclusion into everyday work culture. Sarah shares how listening to staff, training in-house wellbeing coaches, and leaders sharing personal stories have helped ...
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Making Work Better - 05 - Scafit: The power of people first

March 24, 2025 • 57 mins
What does it take to build a business for good? Denise sits down with Nicki and David Crowley, the passionate leaders behind Scafit, a company proving that care, values, and leadership can transform a business from the inside out. Scafit has built a thriving, people-first culture where wellbeing, leadership development, and genuine care drive both engagement and productivity. Nicki and David share how they’ve embedded support syst...
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Making Work Better - 04 - Mercury: Work empowered through listening, purpose, autonomy

March 17, 2025 • 38 mins
Join Denise in conversation with Brooke Stringer, People Development Manager from Mercury, an organisation proving that purpose, autonomy, and trust are keys to a thriving workplace. Mercury has embraced adaptive ways of working, where employees are given ownership to make decisions, leadership is transparent, and people are empowered to perform at their best. Brooke shares how Mercury has built a responsive and capable culture thr...
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Making Work Better - 03 - Paperkite: transparency, trust, and team - Rob Holmes

March 10, 2025 • 51 mins
Join Denise in conversation with another organisation that is making work better for people and performance. Today, it’s Rob Holmes, Discovery Director at Paperkite, Wellington-based, digital design agency that is proud to say “We put people first”. Talking to Rob is like trying to catch a tiger by the tail. He moves fast and covers so much great territory - recruitment, sales and client relationships, co-leadership, flexible work...
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Making Work Better - 02 - Kiwibank: performance through purpose and belonging

March 3, 2025 • 56 mins
In this episode, host Dr. Denise Quinlan sits down with Charlotte Ward, Kiwibank’s Chief People Officer, to explore how clear purpose, trust, and continuous listening are reshaping the future of work. Discover how Kiwibank is redefining hybrid work by finding the “flex within the flex,” where meeting innovations, dynamic wellbeing leave, and intentional leadership create an environment where everyone thrives. Charlotte shares how a...
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Making Work Better - 01 - The organisations that are Making Work Better

February 24, 2025 • 66 mins
In this Making Work Better series overview, Denise Quinlan, interviewed by Ruth Christie, Leadership and Personal Development Coach, shares why we need to make work better. She says ‘it’s time to stop fracking human resources’, and that we need to make sure work is humanly sustainable. She identified 5 key strategies in her research that are define the organisations that are winning for their people and their business. In this and ...
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Bringing Wellbeing to Life - Collective Resilience - S4-E8 - Collective resilience and culturally competent flourishing

January 18, 2023 • 56 mins
In this episode Dr Lucy Hone and Dr Denise Quinlan discuss collective resilience, building wellbeing and resilience in diverse populations, and how to develop the most important skills associated with resilience. This episode was originally recorded for the Flourish FM podcast and is re-broadcast here with kind permission from podcast hosts, Dr Nick Holton and Dr Jon Beale. Full notes: nziwr.co.nz Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin...
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Bringing Wellbeing to Life - Collective Resilience - S4-E7- Making space for gender identity and ethnicity at school

December 21, 2022 • 34 mins
S4-E7- Lex Davis, educator and LGBTQIA+ advocate, explains why feeling invisible in your own school makes belonging impossible, why silence is inherently unhelpful, and how using an ‘equity pause’ can be a game changer. Learn how to recognise when you’re privileged and holding space, how to share space, find common ground, and listen to what LGBTQIA+ youth need. Support links, full notes & glossary: nziwr.co.nz Broadcast on O...
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Bringing Wellbeing to Life - Collective Resilience - S4-E6 - Decolonising gender identity: Reclaiming Takatāpui for Māori LGBTQIA+ youth - Lex Davis

December 7, 2022 • 37 mins
Working out who you are and where you belong is challenging for many young people. For youth from marginalised ethnic groups with diverse gender identities, the challenges are more complex. Intersectionality can result in people feeling cut into ever smaller slices. Lex Davis, educator and takatāpui, shares one approach helping young people navigate this space. Support links, full notes & glossary: nziwr.co.nz Broadcast on OAR 10...
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Bringing Wellbeing to Life - Collective Resilience - S4-E5 - Your role in changing the impact of poverty and homelessness on wellbeing Part 2

November 23, 2022 • 33 mins
Even though we live in a country of abundance, many of our people go hungry and lack shelter. Helen Robinson explains how poverty drives social exclusion and isolation, deep shame and mental distress. Helen says ‘the way out and through is in relationship’. To enable change, she challenges everyone listening to ‘be in relationship with someone who is wildly different to you and see where it takes you’. Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Du...
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Bringing Wellbeing to Life - Collective Resilience - S4-E4- Your role in changing the impact of poverty and homelessness on wellbeing - Part 1

November 9, 2022 • 36 mins
Even though we live in a country of abundance, many of our people go hungry and lack shelter. Helen Robinson explains how poverty drives social exclusion and isolation, deep shame and mental distress. Helen says ‘the way out and through is in relationship’. To enable change, she challenges everyone listening to ‘be in relationship with someone who is wildly different to you and see where it takes you’. Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Du...
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Bringing Wellbeing to Life - Collective Resilience - S4-E3 - The blind ref sending ableism to the sin bin - Julie Woods

October 26, 2022 • 47 mins
The blind ref sending ableism to the sin bin - Julie Woods, disability advocate, has taken on the role of ‘blind ref’, calling out ableist behaviour wherever she encounters it, issuing red cards to send ableism to the sin bin. Julie’s resilience recipe of ‘action, simplicity, love and play’ has kept her going through life’s challenges and will resonate with everyone who needs to manage their stress and inject some joy into their da...
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Bringing Wellbeing to Life - Collective Resilience - S4-E2 - The school culture building collective resilience - Matt Bateman

October 11, 2022 • 60 mins
Denise describes school principal Matt Bateman’s leadership as building a culture of caring, connection, collaboration, and celebration. Learn how Matt’s principal group helped schools navigate pandemic challenges, share new curriculum development, and embraced a model of shared leadership. To build educator wellbeing and resilience join Teacher Boost on Facebook our free online community. Full notes at: nziwr.co.nz Broadcast o...
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Bringing Wellbeing to Life - Collective Resilience - S4 - E1 - Collective resilience: Resilience grown between us as well as within us

September 28, 2022 • 26 mins
Resilience is not a solo game and the environments we live and work in matter for our resilience. We are each other’s environment. Learn how the larger group cultures in which we live, work and play, can support us to thrive, or leave us debilitated, crawling for the nearest exit. Listen as Denise and guest Lucy Hone explain what collective resilience is, why it matters, and how to build it. Full notes at: nziwr.co.nz. Broadcast on...
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Bringing Wellbeing to Life - 13 - How we can all jobcraft for wellbeing and resilience

June 23, 2021 • 41 mins
Join Denise as she talks with Rob Baker about job crafting – a way to adapt our jobs to better fit our strengths and skills. Rob shares how even 15 minutes of job crafting in your day made work more meaningful and satisfying for call centre workers. Living through lockdowns and working from home have meant that jobcrafting for resilience has never been more important to us all! Listen to why everyone of us can job craft wherever w...
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Bringing Wellbeing to Life - Coping with Loss - 12 - Forgiveness and other strengths in coping with loss

April 20, 2021 • 29 mins
‘Forgiveness can be important in order to re-build our sense of who we are after a significant loss.’ Tayyab explains that loss is universal and most people recover from those losses over time. When a grieving person blames themselves or someone else for the loss and is unable to forgive, or is unable to forgive a person who has died for something they did or didn’t do - this can get in the way of healing and recovery. Tayyab ...
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