Best Places to Work: Productive People Founder Tania Jones on making a real impact in the regions

From innovative practices to inspiring leadership, winners of the Best Places to Work 2024 Awards have set new standards for making employees feel valued, inspired, and engaged.

But this year’s awards also looked at achievements beyond the workplace and in the wider community, with West Coast-based Productive People winning the Community and Regional Impact category.

“After setting up a company that is really designed to support people in our community. Having a spotlight award like that was just fantastic,” Productive People Founder Tania Jones told Caffeine.  

Jones moved to Greymouth on the West Coast from London before founding Productive People. The company offers a range of services to help unlock the region's potential and address systemic issues holding local businesses back.

When asked, Jones described their unofficial motto as ‘we will get involved in anything that helps support the development of people in our community or that brings people to our community that are going to be a strong part of it and help our economy grow.’

One of her missions is fighting back against the stereotypes she often encounters regarding the region she calls home. 

“I vigorously defend the Coast. People have a sort of an image around what the Coast is and that small communities can’t actually achieve a lot, Jones told Caffeine.  

“I found coming from a massive city like London and coming to a small community, the opportunities are actually everywhere you look if you work hard and you really believe in what you’re doing.”

Asked what impact she had made that made her business stand out for this award, Jones pointed to some spectacular over-delivery in a project partnership with the former Government’s Provincial Growth Fund.  

In the programme, Productive People were asked to try and support 90 Kiwis into new employment roles over 24 months. 

“We actually ended up supporting nearly 1000 people in new roles, but over four years,” said Jones.  

“We were so successful, we stretched the funding out and it was beyond the success we could have imagined. We achieved that with a team of two people. In terms of impact directly through our company it has been huge.” 

Another key barrier facing workers and businesses on the Coast is simple geography. The distance along the West Coast is similar to that between Auckland and Wellington, but without the same transport infrastructure. 

“So even people getting to and from work to and from education courses is a real struggle. Some of our education programmes have government funding to ensure that students get to the courses we coordinate.” 

With only one small polytechnic in the region, Jones says making sure there was local bespoke training available was an obvious gap for Productive People to fill. 

“We’ve developed courses to fit businesses here on the West Coast to again eliminate that travel and to have something local that’s more meaningful.  Because otherwise every business on the West Coast generally travels to Christchurch, Nelson, Wellington, or Auckland for their business training.” 

For more information about Best Places to Work, including upcoming events, the series of masterclasses, the 2025 survey, and opportunities to share your insights and experiences, visit https://www.bestplacestowork.nz.

Caffeine is a media partner for the programme, covering best practices in New Zealand startups, from pay transparency to diversity, equity and inclusion. Find our content here.