Centre For Workplace Inclusion Launches After Closure Of EEO Trust

One of New Zealand’s longest-standing inclusion bodies has officially closed its doors, marking the end of the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust, most recently trading as Diversity Works New Zealand.

After 33 years as the country’s peak body for workplace inclusion, the organisation has undergone a full structural reset, and re-emerges with a new name, new governance, and renewed purpose as Te Uru Tāngata Centre for Workplace Inclusion.

“This isn’t just a rebrand,” says Chief Executive Maretha Smit. “It’s a necessary reinvention. The decision of our current government to dissolve the public–private partnership that supported our previous organisation meant we had to start again - and we’ve done so with clarity, courage, and cultural grounding.”

Te Uru Tāngata emerges at a time when inclusion work is both under pressure and more essential than ever.

“Workplaces are no longer just economic units,” says Smit. “They are now one of the last functioning institutions of trust, belonging, and stability in people’s lives.”

Global instability, digital disinformation, and public pushback against diversity initiatives have reshaped the landscape. In this environment, inclusion has shifted from being a “nice-to-have” to a strategic necessity.

“Businesses need resilience, predictability, and connection - and they’re realising that inclusion is how they get there.”

The transition was marked by a dawn blessing led by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, held at the organisation’s offices in Symonds Street, Grafton. “It was a moment of pause and purpose,” says Smit. “This work requires more than reactivity. It requires intention, reflection, and connection and that’s what Te Uru Tāngata is here to provide.”

“Kahikatea tū i te uru – like the kahikatea grove, our strength is in our interconnection.”

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