2019 annual honours — social responsibility

Social responsibility grows alongside the business

New Zealand’s construction industry has grown rapidly in recent years, bringing not only rewards but also a year-on-year increase in safety incidents.

Recognising the importance of workplace safety, QEM has consistently provided regular safety training for its employees… Yet its senior management clearly sees a responsibility beyond keeping its own house in order. This reflects a principle QEM has upheld since its founding: businesses must learn not only how to create company value, but also how to give back to society.

Working together to share responsibility for industry safety

The aim was both to keep reminding itself that safety comes first and to provide builders, contractors and workers across the Chinese community with a more comprehensive platform for health and safety education, working together to reduce health and safety risks on construction sites.

In 2019, QEM initiated and sponsored the Asian Health and Safety at Work Summit, themed around building health and safety together in the construction industry. It attracted strong support and a positive response from the sector.

Over the past year, QEM also hosted, co-hosted and participated in a series of industry events, including the E-Wisdom Forum, the Building Dreams in New Horizons Forum on Cooperation and Shared Success, and the 2019 New Zealand International Building Expo and Summit. Throughout, it put into practice its philosophy of giving back to the society that supports it.

Sustainable growth is also a social responsibility

A sense of responsibility must be backed by the ability to fulfil it. Founded in 2014, QEM is a specialist civil construction company with a range of construction machinery and transport trucks. Supported by an experienced construction team and a comprehensive customer service team, it provides quality earthworks and natural stone transport services with integrity for projects of all kinds.

QEM is open about its ambitions to grow the company and increase its value.

It believes corporate social responsibility also involves:

Building lasting competitiveness

Over six years, QEM has continually refined and improved its operating model, developing a collaborative approach in which a team serves each customer.

From the moment a customer’s information is recorded, QEM develops a tailored plan for their circumstances and needs, and follows up on project progress every day.

Alongside ensuring work on site proceeds properly, it gathers customer feedback, addresses shortcomings and improves its work processes;

it also anticipates possible unexpected events and prepares a Plan B to keep projects running smoothly.

At QEM, each project is more than an isolated undertaking. Its work systems record every project’s actual conditions and processes in detail, making each lesson and experience transparent and traceable. These records inform future quotations and project delivery, supporting the company’s sustainable growth.

Creating a framework for employees’ long-term development

Fair and sustainable opportunities for career progression are essential to attracting talented people.

In 2019, QEM established assessment and appraisal rules for employees in different roles, with employee oversight to ensure comprehensive implementation. Employees who contribute to the company receive rewards and corresponding authority, helping motivate the workforce.

The company holds weekly work meetings to draw on everyone’s ideas;

it also organises regular staff training covering not only induction and safety knowledge for each role, but also the use of construction equipment, technical operations and other areas. This develops employees’ awareness of learning, encourages their enthusiasm for it and strengthens their overall capabilities.

2020: building a new connected era

Building on the results of its trials of systematic management in 2019, QEM’s development plans for 2020 focus on continuing to build its network systems and develop a new customer application, drawing on the arrival of the 5G era.

While upholding its principles of integrity first, quality at the core, and fast, efficient service, the company aims to make project management more efficient, ordering easier and pricing more transparent. By keeping orders traceable and providing better service, it seeks to improve overall customer satisfaction and build a new 5G era of construction services that are direct, reliable, transparent and convenient.

It will also become more deeply involved in industry and community service, taking on greater social responsibility.