What Humankind does

Humankind is a privately-held New Zealand People & Culture consultancy founded in 2012 by Samantha Gadd, headquartered in Wellington with offices in Auckland and Christchurch (and Australian footprint via the May 2026 acquisition of The Mintable). The firm delivers outsourced HR services through three core partnership products — the Performance Partnership (fractional Head of People & Culture retainer), Employment Relations Partnership (specialist ER advisory), and Organisational Development Partnership (project-based organizational design) — supplemented by standalone service lines covering recruitment, employee experience, organizational design, change management, and leadership development.

The core technology layer is modest: a Microsoft 365 tenant serves as the primary data environment, with Copilot integration and custom AI agents used internally to support consultant productivity rather than as customer-facing products. The May 2026 acquisition of The Mintable added a cohort-based management training platform (Manager Foundations and Manager Mastery) and is the company's first disclosed inorganic capability addition.

Humankind operates a sales-led and community-led go-to-market: senior P&C consultants are embedded directly into client organizations via monthly retainers, supported by the Superhumans newsletter and event series, published case studies, and thought leadership through the global EX Manifesto. The customer base spans 1,300+ organizations across 30+ industries, ranging from New Zealand startups (Sharesies, Projectworks, Tracksuit, Storypark) to large enterprises (ASB, BNZ, Mitre 10, Shopify, Lion, Payments NZ), with no publicly disclosed revenue, funding, or external institutional ownership.

Name

Humankind

Legal name

Humankind Limited

Website

https://humankind.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Humankind is a New Zealand-based People & Culture consultancy founded in 2012 that provides fractional HR leadership, employment relations advisory, and organizational design services to 1,300+ organizations across startups and enterprises via embedded retainer partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

HR Consulting and People & Culture Services

NAICS

Human Resources Consulting Services (541612), Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services (541611)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Human Capital & Workforce Transformation Consulting (BPAHACAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

HR Service Delivery, Shared Services & HR Operating Model Advisory (BPACAJAE), Employee Helpdesk / HR Service Center (Tier 1) (BPAAAIAH)

Keywords

• HR consulting services
• People and Culture advisory
• Leadership development programmes
• Employment relations support
• Organisational design consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Wellington

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Performance Partnership: Fractional People & Culture retainer model embedding senior HR capability directly into client organizations. Provides ongoing strategic support and project execution as an outsourced Head of People & Culture function.
2. Project-Based Consulting: On-demand HR and project support for specific challenges, providing targeted expertise for defined periods. Clients pay for specific engagements or scoped work.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Humankind provides outsourced HR and People & Culture consulting to New Zealand organisations through a fractional Performance Partnership retainer model that embeds senior P&C leaders directly into client teams. Core service lines cover Employment Relations & Compliance, Employee Experience & Culture, Recruitment & Talent, Organisation Design & Change, and Leadership Development, supplemented by structured management training programmes (Manager Foundations and Manager Mastery) acquired via The Mintable in May 2026.

Product overview

Humankind is an organisational design and leadership consultancy that offers a portfolio of HR and People & Culture services rather than a single software product. The core offering consists of three partnership models (Performance Partnership, Employment Relations Partnership, and Organisational Development Partnership) supplemented by standalone service lines covering Employment Relations & Compliance, Employee Experience & Culture, Recruitment & Talent, Organisation Design & Change, and Leadership Development. Following the May 2026 acquisition of Australia-based The Mintable, the company expanded into structured management training through two new cohort-based programmes: Manager Foundations (for new and emerging managers) and Manager Mastery (for senior people leaders). Additional offerings include the Superhumans newsletter and event series.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Performance Partnership A fractional People & Culture retainer model embedding senior HR capability directly into client organisations as an outsourced Head of People & Culture function, providing strategic advisory and hands-on delivery under monthly pricing.
• Employment Relations Partnership On-demand employment relations advisory covering employment agreements, workplace investigations, disciplinary issues, restructuring, and ER training for internal teams, billed as a monthly subscription.
• Organisational Development Partnership Project-based organisational design and development services including ways of working, performance frameworks, wellbeing programmes, and people strategy, billed pay-as-you-go.
• Employment Relations & Compliance Expert guidance on employment agreements, workplace policies, disciplinary issues, personal grievances, and employment investigations to reduce risk and resolve issues for New Zealand organisations.
• Employee Experience & Culture Services covering employee experience discovery and insights, values and culture design, ways of working, and moments that matter to create workplaces where people thrive.
• Recruitment & Talent Talent acquisition services including talent strategy development, building hiring engines, and end-to-end recruitment execution for growing organisations.
• Organisation Design & Change Organisational design, restructuring, and change management services including flexibility and hybrid work design, performance and development frameworks, wellbeing programmes, and M&A support.
• Leadership Development Leadership coaching, training, and development programmes including defining leadership frameworks, individual coaching, and the cohort-based Manager Foundations and Manager Mastery programmes acquired via The Mintable.
• Manager Foundations A 4-week cohort-based training programme providing new and emerging managers with foundational skills to lead with confidence, clarity and care, including setting expectations, giving feedback, coaching and navigating difficult conversations.
• Manager Mastery A 4-week cohort programme equipping senior people leaders and emerging executives with advanced skills to lead at scale, build high-performing cultures, and drive results without burning out.

Quantifiable outcome

• Organizations that prioritize leadership, employee empowerment, and data-driven decision-making can increase profitability by up to 28% and enhance resilience by 8% (McKinsey & Company, 2024)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• The MintablecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 May 2026Humankind acquired Australia-based The Mintable, a management training platform backed by Blackbird Ventures. The acquisition combines Humankind's fractional P&C model with structured management development programs (Manager Foundations, Manager Mastery) that can be rolled out consistently across teams. The Mintable's programs focus on practical, habit-forming management skills including setting expectations, building effective rhythms, coaching and feedback, and navigating difficult conversations.
• EX Manifesto InitiativeflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerHumankind is a founding contributor to the EX Manifesto, a global initiative bringing together leaders from organizations including Patagonia, IBM, Airbnb, Uber, and Netflix to shape the future of employee experience. Led by founder Samantha Gadd and CEO Kalyn Ponti, this work reflects Humankind's commitment to designing better workplaces.
• McKinsey & CompanyminorOthersReferenced research from McKinsey & Company on the impact of leadership and employee empowerment on organizational performance.
• Hudson Gavin MartinminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLegal collaboration partnership for AI transformation events. Hudson Gavin Martin provides legal lens on AI adoption while Humankind provides cultural and people strategy perspective.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Charlie HR: Charlie HR provides outsourced HR support and employment law advice to small businesses via a subscription model in the UK and ANZ markets, comparable to Humankind's outsourced HR and ER advisory bundles for NZ organisations.
• Bambee: Bambee is a direct peer offering fractional HR management to SMBs via a tech-enabled subscription model, closely comparable to Humankind's Performance Partnership retainer model targeting NZ scale-ups and enterprises without full-time HR leadership.
• Peninsula Group: Peninsula Group is a direct peer operating in New Zealand and Australia, providing outsourced employment relations, HR advisory, and health & safety support to SMEs - structurally similar to Humankind's ER Partnership and broader HR retainer model.

Broad incumbents

• Mercer: Mercer is a global human capital consulting incumbent covering workforce strategy, rewards, and talent - broadly comparable to Humankind's organisational design and HR advisory practices but operating at global scale across the same end-clients.
• Justworks: Justworks is a broad incumbent HR and payroll platform serving SMBs with co-employment, benefits, and compliance services, comparable in outsourced HR delivery model to Humankind though at greater scale and with a software-first approach.
• Deloitte Human Capital: Deloitte's Human Capital practice is a global consulting incumbent offering workforce transformation, HR transformation, and people strategy services, directly comparable in category to Humankind's organisational design and EX advisory work though at much larger scale.
• TriNet: TriNet is a broad incumbent PEO/HR outsourcing provider offering bundled HR, payroll, and benefits administration to SMB and mid-market clients, comparable to Humankind's full-stack outsourced People & Culture partnerships though at much larger scale.
• Insperity: Insperity is a broad incumbent PEO providing co-employment HR services including payroll, benefits, and HR support to SMBs and mid-market companies, comparable to Humankind's fractional/embedded HR partnerships but as a much larger US-listed incumbent.

Emerging players

• Workhuman: Workhuman is an emerging player in employee recognition, culture, and EX technology, partially overlapping with Humankind's employee experience and culture services with a software-led approach to the same end-problem.
• Culture Amp: Culture Amp is an emerging player in employee engagement, performance, and culture platforms, partially comparable to Humankind's employee experience advisory by addressing overlapping customer problems (engagement, performance) through a software-led model.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/HumankindNZ

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Humankind