Tax Traders and Taxi has been named Overall Winner at the 2026 Best Places to Work™ Awards, also winning the Small Workplace category and Purpose in Action Spotlight Award.

The businesses combine provisional tax solutions through Tax Traders with access to working capital through Taxi. Their founding ambition is to make the benefits of the tax system more accessible to New Zealand businesses, alongside a belief that business can be a force for good.

That purpose also shapes the workplace they have built. The approach includes quiet spaces, support for working parents through childcare and school holiday programmes, and assistance with the practicalities of getting to work.

The organisation describes its purpose as a guide to decision-making, connecting commercial success, employee experience and community impact.

Tax Traders and Taxi’s overall win, from the category for workplaces with 21-49 employees, reinforces a central message of the programme that size does not determine what makes a best place to work. A small team can set the national benchmark through the quality of its leadership, culture and everyday employee experience.

Best Places to Work™ CEO Julie Gill says the overall winner demonstrates how purpose becomes meaningful when employees can see it reflected in everyday decisions.

“Tax Traders and Taxi has a clear view of what it wants to achieve for businesses, and it brings that same intention to the experience of its own people,” Gill says.

The overall winner’s commitment was also tested during a difficult commercial period. The organisation remained transparent with employees, involved them in shaping the way forward and continued investing in wellbeing, development and culture. A significant turnaround followed, alongside stronger employee engagement scores and trust.

“When conditions get tough, the choices leaders make tell people whether the organisation’s values hold up under pressure,” Gill says.

The awards recognise organisations in two ways: through six size categories based on employee numbers, and six Spotlight Awards recognising outstanding practices and impact in specific areas of employee experience, workplace culture and organisational performance.

The winners also reflect the breadth of New Zealand’s industries and regions. They include Auckland civil engineering company March Cato, Presbyterian Support East Coast’s social services across Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne, and GO Rentals, whose vehicle rental network reaches from Auckland to the South Island. Alongside financial services, technology, health and nutrition, tourism and food redistribution, the winners demonstrate how widely strong workplace practices have successfully been implemented.

“This year’s finalists are showing how investing in their people can create better workplace experiences and stronger business outcomes, we don’t see people and performance as competing priorities.”

The awards also provide a wider picture of what employees value and what distinguishes stronger workplace experiences.

In the programme’s 2026 employee experience survey results, 62% of employees selected work-life balance among their top three priorities, while 84% rated flexibility favourably.

However, the analysis identified whether employees saw their organisation’s values reflected in everyday decisions as the strongest predictor of whether they would recommend their employer.

“Flexibility and work-life balance matter to people. The results also ask employers to look closely at whether their actions match their values,” Gill says.

“Do leaders follow through? Do those values guide difficult decisions? Those experiences shape whether people trust an organisation and feel confident recommending it.”

Employee voice also emerged as an important finding. Among employees who felt their feedback was valued and led to change, 81% said they would recommend their organisation as a place to work.

“Asking for feedback is only the beginning. People need to see that something happened because they spoke up,” Gill says.

The survey results also reveal a substantial gap in how prepared employees feel for AI.

Just 48% of employees surveyed said their employer had prepared them for the changes AI will bring. That varied across the workforce: 76% in technology firms felt prepared, compared with 40% in manufacturing and 31% in health and care.

Preparedness was associated with a markedly different view of the employer: 70% of employees who felt prepared for AI would recommend their organisation.

“This year’s finalists are showing what a people-first approach to AI can look like, building confidence, capability and support so people can adapt and make the most of what the technology can bring” Gill says. “They’re helping shape the future of work by making sure people are part of how that future is designed.”

For Tax Traders and Taxi, sharing its approach is part of the purpose behind entering the awards. The organisation wants to help influence how others think about business and encourage more employers to adopt practices that work for their people. This reflects the wider BPTW community and its shared ambition to ‘float all the boats higher’ across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Gill believed though that all this year's finalists reflect the approach of Best Places to Work™. “We’re proud to continue to support our community to succeed in business by applying the knowledge that putting people first is always the winning formula”.

View all of the 2026 Best Places to Work™ Awards Winners & Finalists here.