DrakeVine April 2024

A message from the EC

Your Executive Committee welcomes you to the April edition of the DrakeVine newsletter, connecting us all to share the latest Drake news!

These past 18 months have seen Drake undergo an essential transformation as we drive our Back in Black strategy and achieve overall growth!!!! In this edition of our DrakeVine, we’re excited to highlight several of the initiatives that have already taken place or are currently in play as we push hard to close out the fiscal year even stronger! As a collective, it’s truly inspiring being part of the dedicated effort building a solid foundation allowing our business and our people to thrive.

Earlier this year, we extended our Executive Committee (EC) with Nicole Jones, Gay Barton and Sarah Ross joining the team. Their extensive experience and proven track record will undoubtedly help continue to drive our strategic direction. As a company deeply committed to diversity, inclusion, and equity, we take pride in embodying these values through our new appointments. We have had some very positive feedback from the wider teams on the International Women’s Day event, which provided not only an opportunity to mark the day, and advocate for gender equality but to also hear the very real and authentic voices of our newest EC members.

We have just finished our second financial quarter, marking the halfway point of the year. It has been encouraging to see the progress made to increase the cadence for growth in client activity. Overall, the half year net revenue compared to last year looks to finish up with

Mark Coetzee International Business Transformation

Frank Spizzo CFO

Gay Barton General Manager ANZ, Drake Medox

Sarah Ross National Marketing Manager

Paul Unstead National Manager, Operations

Nicole Jones General Manager, Drake Staffing

Medox and Professional posting stronger first half growth and with Staffing and WellbeingHub tracking slightly off target, compounded primarily by the holiday season.

This quarter, we are adding another piece to our growing tech stack. Our finance system upgrade to Epicor Kinetic is planned to go-live this month, moving to a cloud platform with enhanced capability and functionality tasked to improve our operational financial efficiency. This will mean greater data visibility and more streamlined processes for us all.

In other exciting news, the EC has approved Drake’s Employee Value Proposition (EVP), which is currently in the works. We recognise that our people are the cornerstone to our service-based business and want to ensure your contributions are valued, you are supported and each one of you is motivated to thrive and excel in your job. We look forward to sharing Drake’s brand-new “people” initiatives this coming quarter.

Sales is the primary focus with our SAS platform the backbone of driving increased revenue, new client acquisition, client retention and better margins. Operating within a billion-dollar industry, Drake has much opportunity to continue to gain ground and continue to drive the business forward with the single intent, to WIN market share! Our Drake Success Academy continues to evolve, now offering extensive courses to enhance daily activity and output and a leadership academy to assist high potential team members to ready themselves to step up into a leadership role.

To support our growth drive, there is a new Staffing SWAT sales team aimed at providing sales support for key branches to reach their profit goals, with Medox continuing to focus on strong client service to obtain new referrals.

Additionally, our Marketing team has developed a comprehensive sales communication tool kit, to effectively engage with clients and prospects regularly. Training will be rolled out from marketing over the coming weeks. Our new digital shopfront has also been successfully rolled out – more details on our new website is inside this edition.

In late April, we are looking forward to having all our EC on Australian soil. During this time, there is a strategy session scheduled to review, and refine our goals and strategic imperatives. This session will provide an important opportunity for our EC, who will be joined by our Senior Leadership Team, to collaboratively map out and fully commit to our plans for the remainder of the year.

We all feel the momentum across our business from sales right through to our operations and finance!

Take a moment to read this edition of DrakeVine to stay updated on all the significant activities unfolding across our expanding business.

A message from the EC continued “

Act as if what you do makes a difference. Because it does.

The Executive Committee

– William James

HR Update

Changes to the HR Team

We have had some updates to our HR team in the last quarter, with Jessie Drane joining as our new People & Culture Officer. With these changes, we wanted to provide an update to our wider team on each HR team members responsibilities:

Jessie Drane - People & Culture Officer

Jessie will focus on enhancing our internal employee experience across all stages of employment, from onboarding to offboarding! She is here to support our internal team members and work on initiatives that will contribute to a positive workplace culture and employee experience.

In addition to this, some key projects Jessie is working on include launching Drake’s EVP, helping implement an HRIS, and leading the DE&I Committee to deliver on several important initiatives.

Wade Krieger - HR Officer

Wade will continue managing our recruitment and onboarding stages for any internal employees. He will also be supporting managers with any offboarding requirements.

Daniel Parncutt - General Counsel

Along with his usual role as Drake’s General Counsel, Daniel will also be the first point of contact for any IR or ER enquiries.

We’re excited to support the wider Drake team and look forward to making a positive impact in the HR space! See below for updates on some of our key initiatives!

HR Update

EVP launch- coming soon!

We’re making strides with our internal EVP rollout, and we thank everyone for their patience. We are very close to announcing our EVP launch date! Please keep an eye out for an invitation over the next week!

Onboarding guide & checklist:

We have been busy developing our internal onboarding process, working with Lucinda Gamboni, Paul Unstead, and Medox & Drake team members to achieve this. We are in the process of mapping out the onboarding journey and creating an onboarding checklist for each brand, which will support our managers and set up our new starters for success!

We look forward to releasing these onboarding resources to the wider business very soon!

DE&I update

The DE&I Committee has been hard at work crafting our DE&I strategy behind the scenes, and we’re thrilled to announce its official release to the team!

Our DE&I strategy is underpinned by the following 4 pillars:

ACCOUNTABILITY

Ensuring we are transparent about our DE&I goals and objectives as a busieness.

ACCESS

Upholding fair and inclusive recruitment practices and providing equitable access to roles at Drake.

EDUCATION

Educating and training our teams on DE&I best practice and celebrating DE&I as a business.

COMMUNITY

Supporting our community and developing sustainable partnerships that will have a positive impact.

Some key initiatives you will see over the next 12 months are:

ACCOUNTABILITY

• Create a DE&I statement and embed this within our culture.

• Conduct a DE&I survey & develop targets for the future.

• Create opportunities for team members to participate in DE&I initiatives and voice their opinions.

COMMUNITY

• Implement and deliver Drake’s Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan.

• Explore opportunities for more supplier diversity within our procurement.

• Create partnerships with community organisations and local charities.

To learn more about our DE&I goals, check out our DE&I Commitment document!

ACCESS

• Write inclusive job ad descriptions for internal and external positions.

• Create guidelines to have a diverse interview panel for any internal positions.

• Develop standardised interview questions for internal positions.

• Facilitate unconscious bias training for all team members.

EDUCATION

• Deliver workshops that cover a range of topics in the DE&I space.

• Celebrate key/cultural dates throughout the year and host internal events.

• Provide Cultural Awareness training for all team members.

Learn more

Reflect RAP:

Exciting news! We are on track with our Reflect RAP, and look forward to celebrating its completion during National Reconciliation Week (27th May - 3rd June).

Since its launch, we’ve been proud to deliver on several key initiatives that have helped build greater cultural awareness and understanding within our business

Have questions or feedback?

Feel free to reach out to Jessie Drane or email:

d&icommittee@au.drakeintl.com

WHSQ update:

Policy updates

We’ve got some new updates with our policies and procedures and other documents. See below the links to our updated versions:

Thank you for all those that were involved in the consultation phase during this process, we appreciate the feedback!

Health & safety reporting:

A reminder that anyone can submit an incident or safety report through our website.

Drake incident report Medox incident report

Training update

Training Update

This quarter, we’ve focused on enhancing our skills and knowledge to better serve our customers and meet the evolving demands of our industry. Here’s an overview of our training initiatives.

1. New Hire Onboarding:

We welcomed 7 new team members to Drake last quarter! Collaborating closely with leadership, we’re guiding them through our learning journey, focusing on building a comprehensive onboarding program. Our aim is to introduce our new team members to our company culture, values, and provide comprehensive training on processes, tools, software, and systems.

2. Training Delivered:

Our employees participated in various training workshops aimed at sharpening their skills in areas such as;

1. Broadbean – Managing Advert Responses (Staffing, Professional, Government, Medox)

2. New Performance Appraisal Process (Medox)

3. ENTO / FT360 (NZ Afterhours)

4. FT360 Overview (new starters)

3. Ad Hoc Sessions:

Our teams have been proactive in requesting additional training to support their goals. Here are some training sessions we’ve completed:

1. RatesCalc Quoting Process

2. Permanent Recruitment & Sales Overview

3. Advertising Process

4. Credit Note Process

Training update

4. Continuing Process Improvements:

In our pursuit of excellence, we’re always enhancing our processes. We’re excited to roll out training sessions this quarter on key process enhancements for the candidate journey and registration process in our Staffing business.

These improvements will help streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and elevate the experience for our candidates, clients, and colleagues. Stay tuned for more details!

5. Continuing Sales Training:

Enhancing Techniques and Skills: Exciting news! A dynamic Sales S.W.A.T team is now on the ground, poised to elevate our sales strategies to new heights. Building upon the success of last year’s Client CATM (Controlled Account Territory Management) and Activity/Comments training, we’re thrilled to announce our ongoing exploration of additional sales training opportunities.

Our goal is to amplify our teams expertise and abilities, propelling us towards even greater success in client service.

6. Feedback and Evaluation:

Continuous improvement drives our training. We are always gathering feedback from our team members to enhance learning experiences and evaluate program effectiveness. If you have any feedback you would like to share, please reach out to Lucinda Gamboni!

As we move forward, we remain committed to investing in the development of our greatest asset – our people. Together, we will continue to learn, grow, and achieve success.

Out and About

The Adelaide Staffing team celebrating success! 13 new temp roles & 2 perm roles locked in! L-R: Asha Selva-Nayagam, Janet Kirton, and Emily Tonnisen

The Perth team celebrated International Women’s Day with some delicious treats! L-R: Georgina Marshall, Ashley Nyamadzawo, Paige Nowell, Mel Cumming, and Georgia Terry

The

Paul Unstead visited our Perth team! L-R: Roman Koester, Paul Unstead, and Mel Cumming

Congratulations to Hollie Clarke (R), who will be the interim Branch Manager for Perth Medox, while Kellie Forster (L) is on maternity leave!

Nic Jones & Michelle Kaiwai out on site visiting the Aldi Dandenong crew

Derrimut team was in full sales mode during their catch-up last quarter

Out and About

Three of our EC members visiting our Sydney teams! L-R: Gay Barton, Nicole Jones, and Paul Unstead

A few of our Brisbane & Gold Coast team members caught up with Olivia Sorensen who was in town for a WHS conference. L-R: Megan Van de Kamp, Alana Blandford, Danella Williams and Olivia Sorensen #OneDrake

Harmony Day around the country

The Perth team had a visit from Gay Barton. L-R: Mel Cumming, Steph Osgood, Gay Barton, and Hollie Clarke

The Gold Coast team out on site for a Goodyear team BBQ

Roberta Redondo & Nic Jones at the Sydney office

A very successful International Women’s Day webinar focusing on women in leadership and inspiring inclusion!

From Intern to Impact

Celebrating Georgia’s success story!

Through her university, Georgia was able to sign up for an internship between her second and third-year uni break. After an interview with the university and selecting her industry preferences and desired duties, she joined a pool of candidates. Soon after, Georgia connected with Drake, sparking the start of an exciting journey!

What’s one surprising thing you learned about Drake or the recruitment industry that you didn’t expect going into your internship?

I didn’t realise how widespread the industry can be. Although I had researched Drake’s projects and services, I didn’t realise that we offered so many different areas of expertise! Particularly within staffing, it was interesting to see the different positions we offer to candidates, especially through the site visits we conducted.

What project or task you worked on during your internship left you feeling most accomplished?

During my internship, I had the opportunity to work on various recruitment projects, each offering unique tasks and responsibilities. Once I became more familiar with the steps to recruiting an individual, it was awesome for me to go through the entire process from finding the candidate to placing them in their next position.

Looking back at your internship, what was the most unexpected challenge you faced, and how did you overcome it?

Dependant on the role we were offering, it could be a challenge to retain candidates from their initial screening to their start date. It could be difficult at times, especially when the team put a lot of effort in. I think you need to build a certain amount of resilience knowing that people’s circumstances change, and that this can impact the whole process.

Now that you’ve completed your internship and are working part-time with Drake, what are you most excited about in your new role?

I am excited for the opportunity to further develop client and candidate relationships. Each week there are new tasks and responsibilities that I get exposure to, which is extremely rewarding. It has helped build my confidence within the role as I am learning something new every day!

Marketing Update

Drake International

New digital shopfront –

We have had a super busy start to the year with our new website going live at the start of March. We are still in a soft launch phase as we continue to monitor and finesse our new digital shopfront.

Hundreds of hours have gone into the development with a strong focus on user experience, SEO and functionality. The new website will drive conversion rates (more leads) and will boost our online visibility (people will be able to find us more easily). Watch this space!! Look forward to sharing results next quarter.

Sales collateral to support your outreach

In other news, we have had a strong focus on sales collateral development and our key word is “value”. We have created approx. 10 new EDM templates which will live in Fasttrack for the sales team to utilise for either clients or prospects outreach activity.

Many have been developed with “value” in mind, such as the quarterly Drake Job Market Insight report or a Hot Off The Press latest blog alert template. It takes on average 8 touches to get an initial meeting with a new prospect – this tool kit will be helpful in supporting the sales team efforts. Training dates is now set for the 10th of April covering why, how and when to use the templates. If you dont have the invite, please reach out to Sarah Ross.

Raise our brand online - video

We are constantly looking at ways to raise our profile online. We hit 20k followers this month for LinkedIn and we also had some big wins on Tik Tok with some new video campaigns that have generated over 4,000 views and hundreds of likes and new followers. Check out our new Interview Q&A series… on Tik Tok!

Visit our TikTok page

Drake’s new website

Marketing Update

Drake Medox

Refer a Friend program- quarterly results!

Drake Medox has had an outstanding response to its ‘Refer a Friend’ program. This initiative, designed to foster employee engagement and attract top talent, has yielded remarkable results.

In the last quarter, a total of 76 referrals were received from our candidates. These referrals not only demonstrate the trust and satisfaction of our employees but also their commitment to helping us build a stronger workforce. From these referrals, 8 candidates have joined our team. Their skills, dedication and alignment with our company values make them valuable additions to the Drake Medox team!

SEO metadata updates boost organic traffic

Our recent enhancements to SEO metadata have yielded impressive results, driving a significant increase in organic traffic to our website.

By fine-tuning meta titles, descriptions, and tags, we’ve improved search engine visibility and user experience. This strategic optimisation reflects our ongoing commitment to digital excellence and delivering valuable content to our audience. As we continue to refine our SEO strategies, we anticipate further growth and engagement within our online community.

Marketing Update

Drake WellbeingHub

LinkedIn page impressions are up 15.9%

Facebook posts are up 62%

In March, we released our “20 Day Self-Care Checklist,” designed to foster wellbeing and self-care among our team and clients. February featured our nutrition-focused endeavour, “Make Lunch with Us,” where we compiled a collection of the team’s favourite recipes and provided this to our valued clients.

Marketing worked closely with sales during this quarter to drive lead generation within target sectors. The results? We had 20 warm inbound enquiries, of which we have so far converted and onboarded 7, while continuing to nurture remaining prospects!

These initiatives highlight our commitment to enhancing the professional and personal wellbeing of our team and clients. We’re excited about the positive impact of these projects and look forward to introducing more innovative and engaging initiatives in the coming months.

Employee Wellbeing

Fostering Team Wellbeing!

In our vibrant yet demanding work environment, the wellbeing of our teams is paramount. Not only is it the foundation of productivity and creativity, but it is also crucial for overall happiness and job satisfaction.

Here are some great tips and tricks to help support your wellbeing:

• Take regular breaks: Advocate for the importance of taking breaks. A short walk or stretch session can significantly enhance mental and physical energy.

• Promote hydration: Keep a water bottle at your desk!. Hydration is essential for maintaining concentration and energy levels.

• Optimise workspaces: Set yourself up with an ergonomic work environment. Comfortable and health-conscious workspaces are crucial and can be achieved by adjusting your space to suit your needs.

• Support mental health: There are so many resources available through Drake WellbeingHub. Team members have access to confidential and free counselling through our EAP, and can also access a range of wellbeing tips and resources via our Wellbeing Portal.

• Strengthen team connections: Engage in fun team activities to relax and de-stress. Fostering a supportive team culture is so important for enhancing our wellbeing!

Wellbeing Webinar