Raveen Jaduram, the Chief Executive of Watercare Services Ltd, is leading a culture change at the company to make customer service the top priority and shift from a focus on infrastructure alone. He is promoting diversity and inclusion to bring different perspectives, such as by creating community groups to provide input into planning. Initiatives to improve flexibility, such as extended leave policies and flexible hours, have helped increase gender diversity in the workforce from 5% to 48% female in senior roles. Raveen aims to remove any barriers to talent and create a supportive, learning culture where all staff feel valued and respected.

1. A new way
of thinking
Leading a culture change is foremost among Watercare
Chief Executive Raveen Jaduram’s priorities as he seeks to
expand the company’s focus beyond tending dams, pipes
and effluent to satisfying and delighting its customers –
all 450,000 of them.
“My goal is for us to become a customer
service company with infrastructure,
not an infrastructure company with
customers. To achieve this, we need
a new way of thinking,” says Raveen
Jaduram FIPENZ, Chief Executive at
Watercare.
Inclusion has always been part of his
life philosophy. He grew up in a family
environment in Fiji where it was not
only valued but also practised. His
extended family owned businesses
and was a big employer. He learned
how a responsible employer could reap
benefits of loyalty and best quality
work by creating a supportive and
positive workplace culture.
Raveen, who was appointed chief
executive in November 2014, says
diversity is an element of his cultural
shift for Watercare. “But it has to be
genuine – not to meet some quota but
because it’s going to make us a better
place with better decision-making and
investment. This goes not only when
employing new staff but also in our
approach as an organisation. We want
our employees to approach projects
and planning from new and diverse
perspectives. One way we’re doing this
is by creating community consultative
groups to involve local stakeholders
in the planning and consenting
process rather than informing them
once consent is granted. The result is
more engaged staff and an informed
community that better understands the
reasons behind our decisions
and applications.”
Liked by staff for his inclusive
style, including a warm weekly email
of encouragement, Raveen says he
just wants to employ the best person
for the job and let them grow in the
role. Historically, the water industry
has been mainly for male workers.
When Raveen went to the University
of Auckland, there were five female
engineers in his class. In his early days
at Watercare in the 1990s, few women
worked for the infrastructure company,
let alone in senior positions.
Raveen says the company has
shared in a general gender-diversity
evolution. As the number of female
students studying for engineering or
science-based degrees grew over time,
more sought jobs at Watercare and
advanced to positions of leadership
and management. Raveen sees it as an
opportunity to remove the barriers to
what he wants for Watercare: diversity
of thought and diversity of leadership.
Removing barriers
The journey to remove barriers to
career advancement began a year ago.
“We had a rigid 8am to 5pm working
day, which made it difficult for staff
who are parents to manage family
commitments,” reflects Raveen. “It
meant a number of staff didn’t return
to work after having a baby. We were
restricting our own pool of talent.” In
a bid to create a supportive working
“It has to be genuine
– not to meet some
quota but because it’s
going to make us a
better place with better
decision-making and
investment.”
23August/September 2016
Focus on diversity

2. 24 Engineering Insight » Volume 17/4
Chief Executive Raveen
Jaduram FIPENZ says
Watercare’s diverse
workforce is a real
strength in reflecting
and responding to their
diverse customer base –
the people of Auckland.
Photo: Watercare.

3. black and white and the company
needs to be responsive to staff with
family commitments.”
Watercare project engineer Matthias
Ebel GIPENZ has experienced the
benefits of these initiatives first-hand.
He welcomed his son in March and
made use of the two weeks’ paid
parental leave policy. “The two weeks
were very helpful. I could bond
with my son, support my wife and
environment, the company introduced
changes to maternity, paternity and
annual leave polices and introduced
flexible working. “Today, we have
flexibility of start and finish times and
are open to conversations about part-
time work,” says Raveen. Initiatives like
these, and others to raise paid parental
and annual leave entitlements, have
made a big difference. Watercare’s 2015
annual report showed the company’s
female headcount was 295 out of
850. This year’s annual report will
show, across retail, finance, planning
engineering and communications, it’s
at 48 per cent female – just short of an
equal balance.
In his weekly email, Raveen says he
hopes the parental leave improvements
will help families to spend the early
weeks bonding with their child without
additional financial stress and pressure.
For him, introducing initiatives
like flexible working, and a nursing
mothers’ room, “acknowledges the
separation of home and work life is not
“Introducing initiatives
like flexible working,
and a nursing mothers’
room acknowledges
the separation of home
and work life is not
black and white.”
About Watercare
Watercare delivers water and
wastewater services to 1.4
million Aucklanders. It’s an
IPENZ professional development
partner, with 200 staff who are
IPENZ Members. It started in
1992 as an independent regional
wholesaler.
The self-funded organisation’s
priorities over the first five
years were to standardise the
pricing structure and to upgrade
infrastructure in rural areas.
Today, Watercare is focused on
reorienting the business towards
its diverse customer base and
on maintaining safe and reliable
services while Auckland grows.
In the next 30 years,
Auckland’s population is
expected to grow by a further
700,000 people, which presents
the challenge of securing new
sources of water to keep a safe
and reliable supply, on top of
carrying out a timely major
capital projects programme
for extending, upgrading and
renewing infrastructure.
25August/September 2016
Faults coordinator
Tessah Roache performs
a traditional Samoan
(Taupou) dance as part
of Watercare’s cultural
day shared lunch
celebrations. Photo:
Watercare.

4. PROFILE
Raveen Jaduram FIPENZ
Based in: Auckland
Role: Chief Executive Officer of Watercare Services Ltd
Education: ME and BE (Hons) Civil, University of Auckland, 1984
After graduation, aged 23, Raveen worked in Suva for the Fijian Housing
Authority but left with his wife, Roshni, in the wake of the first coup in 1987.
While working as a civil engineer for Auckland Regional Council in 1992,
he was part of the team who set up and ran a new regional wholesaler called
Watercare. During the city’s 1994 drought, he worked in a planning role,
securing resource consent to take water from the Waikato River.
He left Watercare in 2000 to take on roles at Metrowater and Manukau
Water, before returning in 2010 as Chief Operating Officer. After a brief stint
in Australia’s private sector, New Zealand called him home and to Watercare;
firstly as a general manager and then as acting chief executive for 10 months
until the appointment was made permanent in November 2014.
relieve my own stress levels after
a rather traumatic birth.” Matthias
has also utilised Watercare’s flexible
working hours policy since returning
from parental leave. “I now start
my workday later in the mornings;
the extra sleep helps a lot after the
disrupted nights at home with the
little one,” he says. Once his son sleeps
through the nights, Matthias says he
might consider coming into work early
so he can spend more time with his son
at the end of the day.
Other initiatives include encouraging
staff to celebrate their diversity
through events like culture days –
where staff celebrate their food, dress
and dances – Diwali celebrations, a
Rugby World Cup party and an anti-
bullying pink day. Gender cannot be
treated differently from other elements
of Watercare’s culture, including ethnic
and religious backgrounds, Raveen
says. The idea is if staff feel accepted
for who they are, and are helped to
juggle their commitments, they’ll feel
more confident sharing their ideas.
It’s a win-win.
A culture of respect
After 18 months as Chief Executive
at Watercare, Raveen is at full pace
to create and change the culture so
all employees can feel the value of
their contributions. He urges them
to speak up about any concerns. This
could be about safety, wasting money,
sustainability or anything which would
make a better place to work and a more
efficient and effective organisation.
He explains: “I’m creating a culture
of respect for diversity as one of the
five values we have … respect for the
environment, money, customers,
each other, diversity. At the end of the
day, we – myself included – have to
fit in with Watercare’s culture. We do
need strong controls. I don’t apologise
for that. We are using public money
to supply drinking water, so it’s a
serious business done in a regulatory
environment. But we give people the
freedom to use their intellect and
judgment to do more. We want to
attract and retain the best talent and we
want them to know if there is a barrier,
we’ll remove it. It’s OK to talk about it,
because we are a learning organisation
and we want to change.”
“I’m creating a culture
of respect for diversity
as one of the five values
we have … respect
for the environment,
money, customers,
each other, diversity.”
26 Engineering Insight » Volume 17/4