ACC Services Kōrero - July 2025
Hūrae 2025.
Nau mai haere mai, welcome to the latest edition of our ACC Services Kōrero.
Across the past year, the team assisted 3562 customers through our review and conciliation services. We understand that disputes are stressful and for many people, finding a resolution may seem unlikely. That’s why it’s such a privilege that we have the opportunity to assist by providing them with an independent dispute resolution pathway.
It's hard to believe that we are now into the second half of the year, 2025 is shaping up to be an exciting and action packed year. As we reflect on the first half, we're thrilled to share some of the highlights and milestones we have achieved so far.
New case conference trial underway
Following Easter, we began trialling with ACC optional case conferences for represented parties for specific review types. This initiative aims to streamline the review process, and we look forward to evaluating the trial over the coming months. Any feedback on this is appreciated.
Exploring innovation through technology
We are currently exploring opportunities to innovate through the use of new technology and AI assistant tools. Our goal is to improve efficiency and allow our team to focus more on the key aspects of customer engagement throughout the review and ADR processes.
One exciting development about to be implemented is the integration of the Annature e-signature tool, which will simplify the completion and signing of conciliation agreements. This enhancement will make the process more seamless for both conciliators and parties. We’ll share further updates in future editions.
Growing our team
In response to increased review volumes, we are currently recruiting for two additional team members. A Resolution Practitioner and Resolution Coordinator. These additions will ensure we continue to deliver a high quality, timely and customer focused service for all parties.
People updates
We’re excited to share more about the people behind the mahi. In this edition you’ll get to meet some of the team, with an update on Blair’s ultra marathon earlier in the year and hear more about our Senior Resolution Coordinators Barb and Aggie who recently attended a leadership development course.
We hope that you enjoy hearing about what’s been going on at Fair Way and please get in touch if you have any feedback, comments or suggestions.
Ngā mihi
Blair Wadams and Genessa Tabak
Operations Managers - ACC Services
Feedback and timeliness
Customer feedback on our service is something we always appreciate receiving, whether it is positive or has suggestions for improvement. One particular theme we hear a lot about is the amount of time that the review process can take.
While inevitably some matters are more complex and will take a bit longer than others to resolve, we have been focusing closely on how we can address this feedback. Our average completion time has seen some strong improvement over the past 12 months. Over the first 6 months of 2025, matters were on average resolved almost 20% faster than during the same period last year. It's been encouraging seeing the positive impact this has had on our customers reflected in recent feedback, with 76% of those surveyed so far this year reporting being satisfied or very satisfied with their experience.
To help with further positive changes, we have recently fine-tuned our reporting and ability to identify trends from feedback, allowing us to better focus on the areas that matter the most to our customers. We look forward to sharing some of the success stories from this in future editions of Kōrero.
Meet the team - Senior Resolution Coordinators
For this edition of Kōrero we are putting the spotlight on our two Senior Resolution Coordinators, Aggie in Tāmaki Makaurau and Barb in Ōtautahi.
As two of the longest serving members of our team, many of you will have had the pleasure of working with them on your reviews and conciliations.
Alongside being experts with our practice and processes, as well as customer service superstars, as Senior Resolution Coordinators Aggie and Barb have a range of additional responsibilities in the team.
One of the most important of these is training, coaching and motivating our team of Resolution Coordinators so that they can exceed in all aspects of their mahi.
In April, Aggie and Barb came together in Tāmaki Makaurau and attended the ‘Stepping Up To Leadership’ course delivered by Dale Carnegie. While already being well respected leaders at Fair Way, the course was a good chance to take their skills up a level and learn some new strategies to benefit not just themselves but the wider team too.
The day long course was packed full of learnings, highlights being effective delegation, managing proactive change and empowering others to develop their own skills, all of which result in better customer service. Plus, the catering was pretty top notch too!
Customer feedback
"Both Mediators we were assigned were culturally competent and very knowledgeable. We felt included in the conversation and we felt heard, it wasn’t daunting and we felt the space was safe to share our journey."
"Excellent communication, regular updates, concise explanation of process. Very understanding, empathetic staff."
"The reviewer made the whole process very simple. This was my first hearing and she took all the stress out of the procedure."
"Very efficient reviewer, good communication from case coordinator, prompt written confirmation of agreed actions and outcomes."
Ōtautahi office update
We’re thrilled to share that the fit-out of our new Ōtautahi office is complete — and it’s looking fantastic!
This fresh, modern space has been designed to support both our team and our customers.
We’re now fully operational and open, ready to host face-to-face hearings and conciliations once again.
We’re excited to welcome parties back into our Te Wai Pounamu office and look forward to reconnecting kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face) soon.
Blair’s marathon milestone
Outside of his day-to-day life as one of Fair Way’s Operations Managers, Blair spends a lot of time running. Over the past few years, he's been hitting the trails and tackling ultra-marathons, most recently completing his first 100 Mile (160km) race at the Tarawera Ultra-Trail event in Rotorua. Epic!
After giving his legs a much needed break, he's already eyeing up the next adventure, planning to knock off both the Kepler Challenge and Old Ghost Ultra over the next 12 months.