Consultancies recognised among New Zealand’s best workplaces

Four consultancies have been named among New Zealand’s best workplaces, with Mantel, Nexia, SLEEK, and Lancom Technology earning recognition for their employee experience and workplace culture.

Great Place to Work arrived at its annual ‘Best Workplaces’ list for New Zealand by surveying thousands of Kiwi employees on a number of metrics. Over 90 percent of respondents at the top workplaces said they were proud to tell people where they worked, compared to just 60 percent at typical companies, with workplace pride previously found to be the greatest indicator for retention.

Mantel

Having consistently featured at the top of the Aussie list, Mantel has now improved its New Zealand rank, moving up three spots from last year into sixth in the small category. The IT consulting group has long taken a contemporary workplace approach, with Queenstown featuring among its ‘destination hubs’ – essentially fixed remote working gathering points – alongside its other base in Auckland.

“This is a wonderful acknowledgement that putting our people first and being led by principles, not rules, really works,” said people chief Caroline Henshaw. “It’s a testament to the tremendous care our New Zealand team have for one another as colleagues, and the effort that goes into creating individualised experiences and future-proofing careers during a period of fast workplace change.”

Nexia

Nexia meanwhile has debuted at seventh among ten companies on the medium & large. The New Zealand accounting and consulting firm was first established a decade ago, since growing to a headcount of around 140 professionals spread across four offices in Auckland, Christchurch, and Hastings. Nine out of ten of those surveyed considered it a great workplace, compared to the standard six in ten elsewhere.

Amy Murdoch, CEO of Nexia in Christchurch, said the recognition was reflective of those professionals: “This is really about our people. The culture at Nexia is shaped by the way our teams work together, support one another, and contribute to the wider firm. To have 90 percent of our people say Nexia is a great place to work is something we are incredibly proud of.”

Best Workplaces

Also entering the list for the first time – at spots three and five in the small category no less – were Salesforce consultancy SLEEK, which was founded in 2021 by a team of former Deloitte leaders, and fellow Auckland-headquartered digital consultancy Lancom Technology, which in contrast was established almost forty years ago and focuses on the AWS and Microsoft suites.