Human Resources Director 17.02 by Key Media

THE FIRM OF THE FUTURE Make way for a new model of leadership THE EVOLUTION OF PEOPLE MANAGEMENT The shifting balance in today’s workplace HCAMAG.COM ISSUE 17.02

BREWING A GOOD LIFE A focus on people and community

EMPLOYER OF CHOICE 2019 Australia’s top-performing companies that are winning the hearts of employees

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Friday 6 September 2019 The Star Sydney

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CONTENTS

@HRDAustralia facebook.com/HRDAustralia

UPFRONT 02 Editorial

Getting ahead of change

03 Head to head Pros and cons of headphones at work

04 Statistics

Preparing for workplace disruption

06 News analysis

What does the firm of the future look like?

10 Employment law update

Changes to flexible work legislation

34 FEATURES

ENGAGING TECHNOLOGY

Frontier Software’s Kim Boyd explains how technology can be used to support an organisation’s engagement initiatives

12 Rewards/benefits update

What business leaders can do to keep staff on board

15 Expert insight

How to proactively support employee mental health

16 Expert insight

Intoxicated employees and the law

17 Opinion

The truth about culture fit

FEATURES

OzHelp CEO Darren Black tells HRD how businesses can invest in their employees’ mental health and profit from it

38 Inside HR

A craft brewer’s HR philosophy

HELPING HANDS FOR MENTAL HEALTH

46 Investing in wellbeing

How a positive culture drives productivity

PEOPLE 55 Career path

Seeing the bigger picture

56 Other life

The ultimate competitor

50 FEATURES

A COLLABORATION OF IDEAS HCAMAG.COM CHECK IT OUT ONLINE

18 SPECIAL REPORT

EMPLOYER OF CHOICE 2019

HRD’s fifth annual Employer of Choice Awards highlight the companies that demonstrate what a great place to work looks like in 2019

PEOPLE

THE SHIFTING BALANCE

Olivier Blum, global CHRO at Schneider Electric, talks about HR’s role in leading the evolution of people management

Thought leaders gather to discuss how Australian businesses can respond to the rapid pace of change in the modern workplace

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UPFRONT

EDITORIAL www.hcamag.com APRIL 2O19

Getting ahead of change

or the longest time, HR was billed as a pencil-pushing, clipboard-holding, personnel role, in which ticking boxes was more important than dealing with people. Now we deal in human emotions, personal development and realising potential. But this evolution has come at a price. Emerging technology and AI have employees shaking in their boots and HR leaders unable to quell rising fears of automation. A report from PwC found that 37% of HR professionals are worried about automation putting their roles at risk, while 60% think ‘few people will have stable, long-term employment in the future’. For too long, organisations have shied away from facing the issue of robotics head-on – and this silence has fed into a vacuum. The answer to our workplace woes has been staring HR in the face all along. The only way to survive the future of work is to upskill your employees now – pre-emptively rather than curatively.

For too long, organisations have shied away from facing the issue of robotics head-on When you consider that the World Economic Forum has predicted that 65% of children now entering primary school will hold jobs in the future that currently don’t even exist, the problem seems a lot more immediate. Learning and development has always been the answer to staffing issues, and that won’t change when we enter this new phase of work. Instead of ousting older workers to make room for digitally native younger talent, consider having the two learn and grow together. Where Gen Z may have an abundance of tech-savvy skills, they lack authentic leadership experience. Building a culture of cross-generational training won’t just help you navigate the next few years; it will ensure you revel in them. The team at Human Resources Director

EDITORIAL Senior writer Emily Douglas Writers Tom Goodwin, John Hilton, Libby Macdonald Contributors Kyle Brykman, Paul Flanagan Production Editor Roslyn Meredith

ART & PRODUCTION Designer Marla Morelos Traffic Coordinator Freya Demegilio

SALES & MARKETING Marketing & Communications Managers Michelle Lam, Danica Mendoza Business Development Manager Matthew Nutt

CORPORATE Chief Executive Officer Mike Shipley Chief Operating Officer George Walmsley Managing Director Justin Kennedy Chief Information Officer Colin Chan Human Resources Manager Julia Bookallil

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UPFRONT

HEAD TO HEAD

Should employers ban headphones at work? Is there something to be said for plugging into the office culture rather than a pair of headphones?

Gillian Davie

Rebecca Gravestock

“At Xero, we want our employees to be able to do the best work of their lives and aim to create a flexible environment in which employees decide for themselves whether using headphones is helpful. Certain roles and environments will be more conducive to using headphones than others, but some people believe they help improve focus and remove distractions. Ultimately we want to create an environment of trust in which our employees feel safe and empowered to work in the most effective way for themselves and their team, so I don’t believe in setting a blanket rule around headphones.”

Wendy Born

Chief people officer NetComm Wireless

Author The Languages of Leadership

“It depends. Is the workplace customerfacing? Imagine a shop assistant with music blasting through their headphones. Does the workplace have audible safety alerts? Warehouses have forklifts busily going up and down aisles. A safety precaution is the sounding of the forklift horn when coming around a corner. It would not be appropriate for anyone on that warehouse floor to have headphones with music. However, for a creative team member who is in the design phase in an office it might be appropriate, as long as they can hear a fire alarm. Thus, the environment and work task must be considered when contemplating this decision.”

“In today’s low-attention-span world, maintaining focus can be difficult. An office worker focuses for 11 continuous minutes before getting distracted; on average the brain needs about 25 minutes to get back to the original task. Multiply that by the number of times interruptions occur every day and it’s clear that a significant amount of time, money and productivity is lost. Music can be a great motivator, increasing energy and elevating mood. Allowing employees to use their headphones at work can provide an easy mechanism to avoid distractions, stay focused, and be more productive. Happy employees equal happy customers.”

Director of people and performance Xero Australia and Asia

PLUGGING IN AND TUNING OUT Those who tune out at work with the help of headphones are in essence cutting themselves off from the minutiae of office life, says former Nickelodeon executive vice president Anne Kreamer. According to an article she wrote for the Harvard Business Review, Kreamer has found over the course of her career that a great deal of progress is brought about by personal interaction of the kind that wearing headphones makes impossible. “Much of our successes [in previous positions she has held] were driven by the invisible but powerful sense of shared purpose generated by the news and information that was simply overheard.” Kreamer said that had she worn headphones often, she would have been excluded from important details and the more pervasive life of the companies she worked for. “The more I participated in the ambient, informal life of the office, the more committed I became to the work of the company.”

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UPFRONT

STATISTICS

Ready to lead disruption

CANADA

1 2 3

Companies worldwide are gearing up for the workplace of tomorrow, and that includes addressing human capital risks UNITED STATES IN A world in which industry disruption has become the norm, four out of five executives say their companies have what it takes to lead disruption in their field, and almost all are taking measures to position their organisations for the future of work. These are among the findings of Mercer’s Global Talent Trends Report 2019. While companies appear confident, the biggest threats to organisational tranformation are rooted in human capital risk, says the report, but only one in three executives say their company’s ability to mitigate this risk is

99%

of companies are actively preparing for the future of work

43%

of HR leaders are redesigning jobs to prepare for that future

1 2 3

‘very effective’. Those addressing the people risk and preparing for the new world of work are focused on closing the potential skills gap. They are also creating integrated people strategies that meet current needs while ensuring their investments pay dividends in the years ahead. With the accelerating pace of change, some redesigning of jobs is likely to be necessary to align current work to future value. This needs to focus on such factors as any overlap that exists between tasks, which activities are future-critical, and which are most likely to become obsolete.

83%

of employees say it’s their responsibility to keep their skills current

MEXICO

1 2 3

BALANCE, RECOGNITION, BELONGING Factors that make the work experience resonate with employees vary around the globe; however, the desire for work-life balance, recognition for their contribution, and a sense of belonging ranked highly for workers hailing from Australia and North America.

30%

of companies say they are able to change at speed (up from 18% in 2018)

Source: Connectivity in the Human Age, Global Talent Trends 2019, Mercer

SENSE OF BELONGING A fifth of employees say they have a greater sense of belonging to their company than their profession, their function, their co-workers and even their industry.

INNOVATIVE REWARDS Both HR and employees agree that a wider variety of incentives and differentiating rewards for high performers will make a difference. One in three HR leaders are innovating by providing rewards for skills in high demand.

36% Driving pay for performance 35%

Offering more diverse rewards

WHERE DO YOU FEEL THE GREATEST SENSE OF PROFESSIONAL BELONGING?

32% Offering career moves/experiences as rewards 32% Implementing skill-based pay 32% Ensuring equity by pay band level 31% Increasing transparency into compensation 30%

Creating a plan to reward for high-demand skills

To your company 21% To a profession 17% To a function 14% To your department 13% To an industry 13% To your co-workers 12% To your client(s) 5% To your manager 4% 0 Source: Connectivity in the Human Age, Global Talent Trends 2019, Mercer

Source: Connectivity in the Human Age, Global Talent Trends 2019, Mercer

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GLOBALLY

1 2 3

UNITED KINGDOM

1 2 3

CHINA

1 2 3

FRANCE

1 2 3 GERMANY

1 2 3

MIDDLE EAST

HONG KONG

1 2 3

1 1 3

INDIA

1 1 3

ITALY

1 2 3

SINGAPORE

1 2 3

SOUTH AFRICA

AUSTRALIA

1 2 3

BRAZIL

1 2 3

Most important

JAPAN

Ability to manage my work-life balance Recognition for my contributions

Opportunities to learn new skills and technologies A fun work environment

Working on meaningful projects Feeling a sense of belonging

Being empowered to make decisions Leaders who set a clear direction Source: Connectivity in the Human Age, Global Talent Trends 2019, Mercer

BEG, BORROW, BOT

EMBRACING CHANGE Almost all companies are undertaking action on at least one front to prepare for the future of work. More than half have turned their attention to a potential future skills gap, while a similar number have made it a priority to develop a future-focused people strategy. 60 50 40

52%

Borrow 44% Buy 53% Automate 60 Build 84%

51% 48% 45% 45% 43%

Three in five companies have plans in place to automate more in the years to come. In the cases of Brazil, India, and Japan, more than 70% of companies have plans to increase automation.

10 0

Identify gap between Develop a futureAdapt skill Revise the current and required focused people requirements to workforce plan skills supply strategy new technologies & to close skills business objectives gaps

Identify how employees may support or disrupt changes

Redesign jobs

None of the above

Source: Connectivity in the Human Age, Global Talent Trends 2019, Mercer

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UPFRONT

NEWS ANALYSIS

Making way for the firm of the future How do you future-proof your strategy when you’ve got no idea what to expect from the future workplace? A new model of leadership and transparency are key, as HRD finds out THE BUZZ about HR over the past few months has revolved around one preoccupation – the future of work. But what exactly does that look like? The World Economic Forum has predicted that 65% of children now entering primary school will hold jobs that don’t currently exist. With impending automation and increasingly agile AI, the workplace of tomorrow seems

issue dominating the people function – namely, the firm of the future. “We’ve had a decade of digital transformation in business models, products and services as businesses become much more connected to their customers,” Bersin said. “This essentially means organisations are now delivering solutions as services, using data and AI to change the nature of what’s being sold to clients.”

“There’s a general consensus now that in order to be really functional you’ve got to order your management into multifunctional teams” Josh Bersin, Bersin & Associates (now Bersin™ by Deloitte) like a world away from our nine-to-five, pencil-pushing past. So, what can HR do to keep up with this astounding progress? How should you be developing your organisational structure to meld with this new world order? HRD met up with Josh Bersin, founder of Bersin & Associates (now Bersin™ by Deloitte), to hear his views on the emerging

This has essentially created a different kind of organisational model and a variety of career options within companies. “Businesses are moving faster and they’re flattening their hierarchies. This means there’s a general consensus now that in order to be really functional you’ve got to order your management into multifunctional teams – not just stick to the traditional functional

structure. This means people have to work in cross-functional groups and should be rewarded by their skills, not just their job titles,” Bersin said. “Employees’ skills should be seen as the organisational currency, meaning that your workers will be aiming to develop themselves faster in order to move through the ranks.” Bersin also explained how this new future of work would spell an end to archaic performance management. “You can’t pay people only based on their individual performance,” he told HRD. “You have to pay them based on their contribution to a team or a project – or the company as a whole. You need to connect teams together to ensure they’re not working at cross purposes; a culture of knowledge-sharing is important here. There’s a renewed focus on transparency, sharing goals online and implementing systems which facilitate collaboration. The organisation needs to be seen as a ‘network’, not a collection of independent business units.” To put this into context, Bersin cited the stat that almost 95% of companies believe

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THE FUTURE OF WORK LAID BARE According to the World Economic Forum, by 2022:

59%

of employers will have majorly modified the composition of their value chain

74%

of employers will have prioritised skilled talent over location of talent

64%

of companies expect labour costs to be a main concern they need a new model of leadership for the future. Employees are moving up into senior management roles at a much, much younger age. Bersin believes companies now need leaders who are really comfortable with agility and experimentation, who can build relationships

Bersin has also seen tremendous growth in the need for fairness, diversity and inclusion, and trust. “Until fairly recently, employees worked for a company for most of their careers without questioning its practices,” he said. “These days,

“The expertise we’re ultimately providing is people – they’re candidates – so transparency is key to our operational structure” Jamie Hoobanoff, The Leadership Agency throughout the company and have a solid understanding of the business. On top of this, they should be expert people leaders and adept at developing talent with a growth mindset. “After all, the job market is so tight that if people don’t feel fully committed to their organisation, most highly skilled employees will find other roles,” Bersin said. “That’s why that next level of leadership is so crucial.”

employees – as well as consumers – are really invested in a brand’s ethics and fair practices. Therefore companies have to differentiate themselves on sustainability, values and trust.” This emerging culture of transparency is something that has dominated headlines lately. From the disaster at Fyre Festival to reports of sexual harassment and discrimination at top organisations, it’s no

50%

of companies expect that automation will lead to a reduction of their workforce longer enough for companies to be seen to be ethical; they have to exude ethics. HRD also spoke to Jamie Hoobanoff, founder of The Leadership Agency, who believes an open culture can be a driver of business success. “Our culture, as a company, is incredibly transparent,” she told HRD. “We operate in an industry that, unfortunately, doesn’t have a lot of transparency within it, so that’s one of our number one core values as a business. I like to think we’re also very empathetic. We’re dealing at both ends of the service we provide, and the expertise we’re ultimately providing is people – they’re candidates – so transparency is key to our operational structure.” The message seems clear – for success in the future of work, you’ve got to lay all your cards on the table..

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UPFRONT

REWARDS/BENEFITS UPDATE NEWS BRIEFS Employees crave more time to travel What would you do with more time? For 72% of workers in eight countries, they would spend more hours with loved ones and focus on looking after their health if they were given a four-day work week. In a study by The Workforce Institute at Kronos, respondents from eight countries (including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US) said they would allocate their downtime to family (44%), travel (43%), exercise (33%), friends (30%) and hobbies (29%). Other workers said they would prefer to catch up on sleep (27%) and focus on improving their mental health (22%).

Goldman Sachs switches to flexible dress code In an internal memo, Goldman Sachs said it would allow staff to choose what they wanted to wear to work as long as they “exercise good judgment” in their fashion choices. The investment bank cited the “changing nature of workplaces generally in favour of a more casual environment” as the reason for the move. “We believe this is the right time to move to a firm-wide flexible dress code,” the company wrote. Goldman Sachs had already lifted clothing restrictions for its tech division in 2017 in the hope of attracting more engineers. However, it maintained formal business attire as a requirement for the rest of its 36,000 employees.

What working mums want from an employer The majority of working mums in Australia and New Zealand today are actively looking for employers who offer flexible work, according to a recent survey. More than four in five women (83%), who seek to balance

their career with family life, said they wanted to enjoy flexible work in their next role, a study from JustMums Recruitment showed. Seven in 10 respondents also said they wanted to change employers specifically because their request for a flexible arrangement had been denied. One respondent claimed she had been given a flexible schedule but “ended up doing a full-time role in part-time hours”.

Is HR ready for a four-day work week?

Perpetual Guardian changed the schedule of 240 of its employees from a five-day to a fourday work week without changing their pay. The idea was to test the impact on productivity of having a shorter work week. The shift in the work schedule at the New Zealand financial services firm purportedly resulted in a 20% increase in productivity, without any drop-off in output throughout the trial, the company reported. The trial has attracted attention from organisations in 28 countries, such as Australia, Germany, the UK and the US. In the UK, the Labour Party has commissioned a study on the benefits of a four-day work week.

EY offers new benefits to attract millennials

Flexible work arrangements may be the secret to attracting millennial workers, new work policies at EY suggest. The accounting firm is offering employees a chance to go on “life leave” or work part-time temporarily. As part of the initiative, EY workers can opt for term-time working, meaning employees can work full-time during school terms but take time off during school holidays. “Millennials are driving demand for flexibility as their preference for diverse and stimulating career experiences overrides traditional workplace structures and timelines,” said Kate Hillman, people partner at EY Oceania.

Why employees are quitting their jobs (and how to stop them) Culture comes from the top, therefore managers are crucial to creating workplace environments that support staff retention When looking for new roles, Australians place the highest value on salary, job flexibility, career progression and workplace culture, according to a new study commissioned by Citrus Group. The joint managing director of Citrus Group, Paul Smith, points out that as high staff turnover can be extremely costly for businesses, leaders should create workplace environments that support staff retention. The results of the Citrus study revealed that 22% of Australians had left a previous role due to lack of career progression. When asked what attracted them most to a workplace, the study showed that salary came out on top, with 30% of Australians listing this at the most important factor when searching for a role. The second highest factor was job flexibility (22%), followed by career progression (14%), culture (13%), the option to work from home (12%), incentives (5%), leadership (4%) and extra leave (2%). Additional reasons for leaving a job were no career progression (22%); no option to work from home (15%); low salary (14%); bad culture (13%); no job flexibility (9%) and, finally, no job incentives (7%). Smith offers the following advice on how to recruit and retain great talent: Create an inclusive team environment It goes without saying that for staff to enjoy a role, they need to feel part of a team. In fact, 13% of Australians cited bad culture as a top reason for leaving a previous job. Culture

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comes from the top, so managers are crucial to creating inclusive and supportive teams. Some of the ways they can do this include ensuring they hire people who fit in with their company culture, having cultural ambassadors within their team, creating a positive working environment, and encouraging social connections. Offer fair pay to employees With the largest number of Australians listing salary as most important to them when looking for a new job, it’s clear that fair pay is crucial to staff happiness. As a leader, it’s up

Employees who don’t trust their managers will become unproductive, disengaged and disconnected to you to ensure all staff are paid fairly for the work they do, and that they aren’t discriminated against in any way. Build trust Employees need to be led by someone that they trust. Therefore leaders must be open and honest with all staff members, share company successes and losses (where appropriate), and ensure they always have their team members’ backs and best interests in mind. Employees who don’t trust their managers will become unproductive, disengaged and disconnected.

Q&A

Kylie Green SVP of Consultancy REWARD GATEWAY

Fast fact Having HR tools that integrate into their current workplace technology is a key priority in 2019 for 80% of Australian HR professionals, according to research by Reward Gateway.

The challenges of staff recognition What’s an example of a typical recognition and reward frustration that HR professionals face? The three we hear often are that employees don’t use the program; they become disenchanted with the program due to how the reward is delivered to them; and that a cumbersome process makes the program burdensome for HR. Other frustrations relate to timeliness and transparency. Employee expectations have evolved towards immediate, continuous and transparent recognition, from both peers and managers. Many recognition frameworks are outdated. with a focus on delayed recognition from leaders to a very small part of the workforce through things like service awards or employee of the year. This all leads to recognition programs having a lack of impact. When done right they can have powerful results, like higher productivity, enhanced attraction, reduced employee churn and costs, and better customer satisfaction. If you could give one piece of advice on tackling common recognition and reward frustrations, what would it be? For those just beginning the journey, make sure the foundations are in place around clearly communicating how to use the program, which will help drive usage and create behaviours that support the business. For companies with the foundations in place, my advice would be to think about how to ‘wrap up’ and deliver recognition and reward to employees. A lot of time and focus goes into designing recognition workflows and approvals, but of even greater importance is how you communicate and deliver the recognition experience to your leaders and people. How does it bring your mission and values to life and make them part of your company’s DNA? How does it showcase your unique culture? How does it create visibility for employees who are living your values and behaviours? How does it create greater awareness of what ‘great looks like’ around here? How much does it ‘feel’ like you, including your language, videos and photos of your people? Done innovatively, recognition programs are a powerful way to increase connection between your people and your business and give employees what they crave at work.

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UPFRONT

EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE

Flexible work changes: What you need to know Recent law changes mean employers will need to make a genuine attempt to reach an agreement on flexible work arrangements

employers need to consider how they will fill the gap. Is it necessary to fill the gap? “Will significant change be required for the gap? If the gap needs to be filled, how much will it cost the business to fill, such as in advertising and training? Employers also need to be aware of minimum engagement periods.” Employers need to consider potential compromises. “Your boss can’t simply say no; your employer needs to attempt to find alternative

“If your boss says yes to your flexible work request, they are within their right to ensure your performance isn’t compromised” Important changes to flexible work for millions of employees across all industries were recently announced by the Fair Work Commission. Employers are now required to make a genuine attempt to reach an agreement on flexible work arrangements and provide detailed reasons for refusals. Employsure senior employment relations adviser Michael Wilkinson said that while workers didn’t have an uninhibited right to the flexible work requested, the new clause would require employers to detail any alternative arrangements they could provide. The new clause also lets workers dispute whether employers have correctly followed the process.

NEWS BRIEFS

Wilkinson offers the example of approaching your boss with a request to work from home two days per week. “Your boss can refuse your request; however, they need to justify the reasonable business grounds, then state whether alternative options or a counteroffer is available.” It is also quite common for employers to reject flexible work requests because it is too expensive to implement due, for example, to the cost of equipment and lost productivity, or the fact that the job simply cannot be done effectively from home, Wilkinson said. “If an employee asks his or her boss to leave early twice a week for family commitments,

Labor pushes for better ‘living wage’

The Australian Labor Party is promising to change the current minimum wage to a more suitable “living wage” if it wins the next election. Brendan O’Connor, shadow employment minister, is leading reform efforts with a two-step strategy that focuses on low wage growth, an issue that Labor hopes to focus on once it faces off with the government in the upcoming election. “Labor will legislate so that the commission’s highest priority will be making sure no person working full-time in Australia need live in poverty,” O’Connor said.

arrangements, such as covering one of those days as requested,” he said. However, he added, “If your boss says yes to your flexible work request, they are within their right to ensure your performance isn’t compromised.” The new clause also encourages businesses to be reasonable with employee requests. “Good businesses generally take these steps anyway, on the basis they value their staff. For those businesses that aren’t currently flexible, they will need to bring their policies and practices into line.” Wilkinson added that it was important that employers discussed and confirmed their offer in writing as best practice.

KFC worker wins US$1.5m in breastfeeding case A former KFC employee in the US was awarded over US$1.5m after claiming she was discriminated against for pumping breast milk during work hours. In the lawsuit, she claimed her boss had demoted her from assistant manager to shift supervisor and “explicitly told” her that it was due to the practice. The jury also found enough evidence for her claim that the restaurant provided a hostile work environment. On top of the US$1.5m in punitive damages, she was also awarded US$25,000 as compensation.

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Q&A

Amber Chandler Partner Barker Henley

Fast fact More than four in five (85% of) Australian women and over half (56%) of Australian men over the age of 15 have been sexually harassed at some point in their lives, according to research by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

What qualiﬁes as abandonment of a job What is abandonment of employment? There is often a big question mark for employers over what exactly constitutes abandonment of employment. For instance, an employee fails to show up for work one day. By noon a supervisor calls them to see where they are, but the phone rings out and a voice message is left. The next day, the employee again fails to show up. Further attempts are made to call them, to no avail. Work is piling up. Rosters have to be changed at the last minute. Other staff have to start rearranging their work schedules and absorbing the employee’s tasks. Has abandonment of employment occurred? What does an employer need to do about it? Just let it go and take the time off out of the employee’s leave balance? Issue a formal letter noting abandonment of employment has occurred? Issue a letter of termination? An employer should take some important steps to act in situations where it appears the employee has abandoned their employment. Prior to assuming that employment has been abandoned, it is important that the employer takes a preliminary step of making enquiries with all the employee’s managers to check that the employee had not given notice of the absence either in advance or during the absence, which may provide a reasonable explanation for their absence. It would also be advisable to make an attempt to contact the employee first with a telephone call, and, if there is no response, to follow up with a written request sent by email or registered post requiring the

Teenager allegedly unpaid for 150 hours’ work

Legal action has commenced against the former operator of a Sunshine Coast-based business, alleging he did not pay an 18-year-old employee for his work. Bradley Wells, who operated Attain Solutions Pty Ltd before the company was placed into liquidation last year, is facing the Federal Circuit Court in Brisbane. The employee was allegedly paid no wages for 150 hours’ work digging trenches and laying pipes at various locations in southeast Queensland in June 2017.

employee to provide an explanation for their absence by a specified deadline. It is very important that the employer is aware of what provisions govern that particular staff member’s employment – whether that be a modern award, an enterprise agreement or a contract of employment – as that particular instrument may contain a specific clause stating how abandonment of employment must be handled. Also, an employer may have a workplace policy dealing with absences which should be considered. Generally, it is best practice in all circumstances to keep written records of the absences and the attempts at contacting the employee. Finally, once all avenues have been exhausted and there is no explanation for the absences provided, an employer should always issue a letter stating that the employee’s employment has been terminated without notice, effective immediately, on the basis of abandonment of employment.

What is not abandonment of employment? • When an employee has provided a medical certificate for an absence (note the “temporary absence” provisions of the Fair Work Act) • When an employee has made a worker’s compensation claim and is unfit for work while being paid weekly payments under the claim • When an employee has taken authorised leave • Unnotified absence from work for up to three days

Manager loses unfair dismissal case against Coles

A former Coles duty manager who was fired over accusations of sexual harassment and workplace bullying has lost his unfair dismissal case. Peter Angelakos, 52, was dismissed in March 2018 after facing 39 complaints from a number of young women alleging inappropriate behaviour. The manager would reportedly stand “uncomfortably close” to female employees, touch them inappropriately, and whisper unwelcome remarks, complainants told the Fair Work Commission. Angelakos denied all accusations.

Employer found guilty after anonymous tip-off

The Saffron Indian Gourmet restaurant on the Gold Coast has signed up to a Court Enforceable Undertaking (EU) to improve its workplace practices, after the Fair Work Ombudsman found it had underpaid workers a total of $54,470. The business and its director and manager, Sridhar Penumechchu, entered into the EU after underpaying 22 employees between January and May last year. Fair Work Inspectors investigated the restaurant after receiving an anonymous tip-off from an employee.

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PEOPLE

GLOBAL HR LEADER

LEADING HR’S TRANSFORMATION HRD talks to Olivier Blum, global CHRO at Schneider Electric, about HR’s role in leading the evolution of people management

HRD: What’s a life lesson you learned along the way that’s shaped you as an HR leader?

OLIVIER BLUM, global chief human resources officer at Schneider Electric, has set the tone for an organisation that believes that every employee should have the same opportunities for success no matter their gender, nationality or location. HRD caught up with Blum to uncover what makes his people operations tick.

and India. In 2014, I took on my current role as chief human resources officer. Over the past 10 to 15 years, Schneider Electric has undergone a massive transformation from a traditional components manufacturer to a global leader in energy management and automation, dedicated to creating a more sustainable future for everyone.

HRD: How did your career in HR begin?

“We believe it’s our people that make us a great company … This trust in our people is one of the fundamental ways we motivate our employees to be and to do their best”

Olivier Blum: I came to HR through an unconventional path, having started my career as a marketing engineer. I’ve been fortunate to see the positive impact people can have on organisations, which is why being chiefly responsible for our people at Schneider Electric has been so rewarding for me. My career at Schneider Electric began in 1993 as a marketing engineer. Over the next two decades, I held various positions throughout the company in engineering, sales, strategy and marketing, and in different countries, including France, China

We put significant energy into this evolution as a business but realised we needed to do more to ensure our people management practices evolved at the same rate. This was, and continues to be, my fundamental task.

OB: I firmly believe that you don’t achieve anything in business without help from other people, and without good people. Great leadership attracts great people, but becoming a great leader requires constant

learning. You learn how to delegate, how to hire, how to work with and motivate others, but most importantly, you learn that while part of your job is managing business growth, people are central to your organisation’s success. This is true for every leader, from

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PROFILE Name: Olivier Blum Company: Schneider Electric Position: Global CHRO Years in the industry: Five years in HR HR awards: Schneider Electric has received wide recognition for its workplace culture around the world, including being listed on the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, receiving Forbes’ award for Best Employers For Diversity 2019, and being named Canada’s Top Employer for Young People in 2018. These reflect the company’s position as a global leader with a vision that resonates with employees on a local level.

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PEOPLE

GLOBAL HR LEADER

the CEO to the CHRO to the CIO. At Schneider Electric, we believe it’s our people that make us a great company. I hear this reinforced by our employees when I visit our locations around the world. They feel that our company believes in them and supports their success. This trust in our people is one of the fundamental ways we motivate our employees to be and to do their best. The roles I’ve held throughout this company over the past 25 years have reinforced my strong belief that Schneider Electric wouldn’t be where we are today – and I wouldn’t be where I am today – without the great people we work with.

HRD: Schneider Electric has won countless awards and accolades. Which one are you most proud of and why? OB: Over the last few years, we’ve dedicated ourselves to shifting how we understand diversity and inclusion and creating policies that support it. We have a mission to be the most diverse, inclusive and equitable company globally, and we’ve received a lot of recognition for the steps we’ve taken on our path towards that mission. One of the accolades I’m most proud of came two years ago, when we were selected by the United Nations to be part of its HeForShe program. As a UN Women HeForShe Corporate IMPACT Champion, we have pledged to make gender equality an institutional priority through bold commitments: to increase the representation of women across the pipeline; to reach 95% of our global workforce with a worldwide pay equity process by the end of 2020; and to establish dedicated executive-level groups to drive towards gender parity across our organisation. Most importantly, being selected as a HeForShe Corporate IMPACT Champion is recognition of something much greater than the work we’ve been doing to date. It

marks our commitment to continuing to promote diversity and inclusion in both internal and external channels. It reinforces our unwavering commitment to be a diverse, inclusive and equitable organisation.

HRD: What sorts of initiatives are you currently working on? OB: We are always committed to our central mission of being a diverse, inclusive and equitable company, and our initiatives reflect this. A core Schneider Electric belief is that access to energy is a fundamental human right, and this extends to our D&I philosophy as well. We seek to offer equal opportunities to everyone, everywhere, and we want our employees – no matter who they are or where in the world they live – to feel uniquely valued,

inclusive way when designing this policy, recognising that the definitions of family, life and work are changing every day. The initiatives we have recently launched, and the ones we’re continuing to build upon, reflect our goal to be the best place to work, so the best people choose us and stay with us.

HRD: What do you believe is the future of the HR function? OB: The role of HR has changed significantly over time and will continue to shift as the relationship between the employee and the employer evolves. If we look back 20 years, there was an unbalanced relationship in which employers held the upper hand. We’re now seeing greater balance in that relationship. In fact,

“A core Schneider Electric belief is that access to energy is a fundamental human right, and this extends to our D&I philosophy as well” and safe to contribute their best at work. This philosophy has led to several initiatives. We recently launched a Flexibility @ Work policy to foster better work-life integration, and developed frameworks to establish workplace gender equity. In 2018, we refreshed our People Vision to re-establish our commitment to inclusion. ‘Embrace Different’ is now one of our five core values – a belief that different is beautiful and drives our success. In 2018, we also launched our Global Family Leave Policy, the first of its kind globally in our industry. This policy is an important commitment from Schneider Electric to our people. It provides fully paid parental leave, family care and bereavement, with minimum standards for all our employees across the globe. We have actively chosen to define ‘leave’ and ‘family’ in an

in a strong labour market, employees have more say about where they want to work and what they want their workplace experience to be like. This shift is forcing companies to think differently about how they want to engage with their employees, to re-evaluate culture, leadership style and the workplace experience in order to be an attractive employer to the new generation of workers. It’s why I believe we should be focused on a people strategy over an HR strategy. HR plays a critical role in this transformation. HR must take the lead, because if HR doesn’t no one else will. This shift in organisational mentality has created positive pressure on companies and is forcing us to reinvent where and how we lead our businesses to create a better future, with better outcomes for all.

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12/04/2019 2:32:08 PM

EXPERT INSIGHT

MENTAL HEALTH MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING:

What you need to do, what’s good to do and what’s not THE QUESTION about mental health that many employers have is: What exactly is the issue for a typical organisation – and so what needs to be done, and what would also be good to do to support employees?

What’s this really about? The first step is to resist being distracted by the various medically labelled disorders that are said to be increasing in prevalence. These include mental health disorders, stress-related problems, anxiety and depression, psychological and psychosocial problems. From an employer’s perspective, such ‘issues’ essentially represent one concern: the psychological wellbeing of employees. This is important to employers because of its impact on the individual personally and on their performance – and where employee wellbeing is low, because of the risks to the employer when work is a contributing factor.

What you need to do Employers need to ensure that work is not damaging the psychological wellbeing of an employee. This extends to not exacerbating an existing condition. Organisations must ensure they don’t directly or indirectly, in their policies, processes or practices, discriminate against people with mental health conditions, and are expected to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate such conditions. ‘Need to do’ actions are:  preventive strategies which ensure that, overall, a supportive, healthy culture is reflected in the employer’s people policies, practices and support systems; and, in

specific instances, targeted programs are designed to address any roles or areas where there is known risk  a risk management system that operates across the organisation, identifying where there is a person/situation of concern, so that the situation can be addressed early, with the right external assistance where needed  policies, training and management that address potential discrimination and accommodation issues

What’s good to do Most employers want to move beyond ‘not causing psychological wellbeing problems’ to proactively supporting employee wellbeing in

 Development and change programs designed to consciously shape a healthy culture and create supportive leaders at all levels, eg supportive leadership training, mentoring programs and change support  Integrated wellbeing and assistance programs that systematically address the different wellbeing needs across the population, while providing insights into work-related issues that may need to addressed, eg programs that integrate preventive, proactive and reactive components

And what’s not Assuming the organisation’s purpose is to support psychological wellbeing and manage risk, I generally wouldn’t include in the above category mental health/illness education and training sessions, or broad-based psychological training such as mindfulness or resilience training or information talks/seminars. If, however, the objective is to help raise community awareness, then those would be worthwhile social responsibility initiatives. If the objective is to build employee engagement, then interesting talks will get positive feedback, but they will not improve wellbeing.

Most employers want to move beyond ‘not causing psychological wellbeing problems’ to proactively supporting employee wellbeing an effective way. What is offered to organisations comes in all shapes and sizes with varied objectives and outcomes, some useful and well founded and some not. Worthwhile initiatives are those that underpin and systematically support wellbeing in a sustainable way. ‘Good to do’ actions include:  Work and work-life policies and practices that make work more fulfilling and worklife ‘balance’ easier, eg mindful job design, active feedback and development, systematic people development, flexible working, purchased leave, policies on communications and working outside of office hours

The big picture Making a difference to employee mental health and wellbeing focuses on life and work issues that are known to have an impact, positively and negatively. A simple strategy that covers the ‘need to do’ and ‘good to do’ engenders rather than endangers wellbeing, and provides a program that empowers and supports individuals. Paul Flanagan is the founder of Life Street – lifestreet.com.au. With over 30 years’ experience as a clinical and organisational psychologist, Paul has worked across industry sectors and overseen EAP and wellbeing services provided to approximately one million individual clients.

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12/04/2019 2:32:31 PM

EXPERT INSIGHT

Brought to you by

WORKPLACE LEGISLATION

Be wary when mixing drinks Luiz Izzo explains the complexities of the law on taking action against intoxicated employees ALCOHOL IS everywhere. Friday night drinks, work lunches, Christmas parties, conferences, the list goes on. And with this, there’s the inescapable reality that sometimes, somewhere, an employee will have too much of it. So when can an employer take disciplinary action if this happens? The recent Fair Work Commission’s (FWC’s) decision on Trudi Puszka v Ryan Wilks Pty Ltd [2019] FWC 1132 (Puszka) shone the spotlight on this issue and raised the question of how significant the misbehaviour needs to be in order to justify a dismissal.

The ‘at work’ prerequisite The starting point for assessing an employer’s ability to address employees’ behaviour is whether the behaviour occurs ‘at work’. Previous cases have confirmed that being ‘at work’ extends to any place where an employee performs work duties or attends work functions (including client functions, offsite events and Christmas parties). Misbehaviour at all of these places can be subject to employer disciplinary processes. However, once the employer or client event concludes, an employee ceases to be ‘at work’. This key point is what determined the outcome in the case of Keenan v Leighton Boral Amey NSW Pty Ltd [2015] FWC 3156, where a male employee was found to be unfairly dismissed for serious misbehaviour (including kissing a female employee without her consent and remarks about another female employee’s underwear) because the misbehaviour occurred in a bar upstairs from the work Christmas function and after it had concluded.

The FWC authorities have established that if the behaviour does not occur at work the employer can discipline the employee only if: • the conduct is likely to cause serious damage to the relationship between the employer and employee; or • the conduct damages the employer’s interests (eg reputation or operations); or • the conduct is clearly incompatible with the employee’s duty as an employee.

“a single act of drunkenness at an after work function which did not involve any abusive or aggressive behaviour, and for which no serious risk to the reputation or viability of the employer’s business could be established, would not represent misconduct that provided a sound … reason for dismissal”. The Commissioner went on to say: “Frankly, if one act of inoffensive drunkenness at an after work function provided valid reason for dismissal, I suspect that the majority of Australian workers may have potentially lost their jobs.” While the decision has caused quite a stir, it helps reinforce that the existence of misconduct itself (whether intoxication or other impropriety) never automatically gives rise to the right to dismiss. Each situation must be examined individually. When it comes to out-of-work conduct, employers still need to identify a significant impact on the business or a substantial compromising of the employment relation-

The existence of misconduct itself (whether intoxication or other impropriety) never automatically gives rise to the right to dismiss ‘Inoffensive drunkenness’ That would seem clear-cut in most cases, however in Puszka the lines became somewhat blurred when a project administrator attended a farewell hosted by the Sydney Opera House, her employer’s client. The employee became intoxicated at the function and proceeded to vomit on the floor of the Opera House’s bar area, before requiring assistance to leave due to her intoxication. The employee faced disciplinary action when her employer found out about the incident, and the employee was dismissed. In a somewhat surprising twist, the FWC’s Commissioner Cambridge not only found that the decision to dismiss the employee was harsh but also reinstated the employee in her job. In the Commissioner’s view,

ship in order to justify any decision to dismiss. To minimise the prospect of dealing with tricky and often messy situations, every business should at a minimum take the following actions prior to work events involving alcohol: employers should ensure they distribute a clear alcohol and drugs policy to staff; communicate and enforce function start and finish times; follow responsible service of alcohol; and clear the work function swiftly at finish time.

If this article has made you think twice about what your business does, get in touch with Luis Izzo for guidance. Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors – Voted #1 Employment Law Firm 2018.

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EXPERT INSIGHT

OPINION

The truth about culture ﬁt Culture fit: the enemy of diversity; the path to conformity; the reason you didn’t offer that job. Right? Not so fast, writes Kyle Brykman IT HAS become increasingly popular to demonise ‘culture fit’ and attribute bad recruitment experiences to it. However, most of these criticisms either misunderstand the term or are driven by vain attempts at non-conformity. The truth about culture fit – based on hundreds of studies in academic journals – is that it predicts whether an applicant will accept a job offer, as well as their happiness and success when hired. Culture fit reduces turnover and increases employee and company performance. It has nothing to do with creating a workplace of like-minded people or obstructing diversity. So why have we veered so far from the truth?

Culture fit myths The push against culture fit is driven by one persistent myth: culture fit erodes diversity. This logic suggests that hiring for culture fit creates homogenous workplaces filled with people who have the same personalities, attitudes, backgrounds, demographics, and so on. Another criticism is that it obscures discriminatory hiring practices. Whether recruiters get along with candidates has nothing to do with company culture, nor does it predict candidates’ job potential. Nonetheless, such imprecise, discriminatory ‘gut’ hiring practices persist. These issues persist because we have confused ‘fitting in’ with ‘fitting the culture’. Addressing these myths requires an understanding of what culture fit really means.

What is culture fit? Organisational culture reflects the shared basic assumptions, values and underlying beliefs that

describe a workplace and shape employees’ attitudes and behaviours. It’s taught to newcomers as the proper way to behave and is maintained through rituals, stories, and how problems are solved. Cultures aren’t inherently good or bad – whether you love or hate your company’s culture largely depends on your values and preferences and whether they align with your company’s. That is, whether you are a cultural fit. Culture fit describes the match between what employees want and what their company

and encourage employees to speak up about issues; others value discretion and discourage confrontation. Whether new ideas are brought to the table then does not depend on whether you’ve hired people who ‘think differently’, but whether your hires value open dialogue, which subsequently reinforces your culture. That’s why hiring for culture fit works – it strengthens the internal culture. Strong cultures excel by creating shared expectations of how employees should interact and why leadership makes certain decisions. Hiring people who are ‘cultural complements’ only stands to weaken your culture and make organisational life unpredictable. To remove bias and hire for culture fit, follow these simple steps: 1. Understand your culture. What are your values? How do employees interact? What are some implicit expectations? Solicit different perspectives and stick to behaviours and values that employees actually exhibit, rather than ideals. 2. Introduce standardised methods to assess and evaluate culture fit, and continually monitor

One criticism of culture fit is that it obscures discriminatory hiring practices – we have confused ‘fitting in’ with ‘fitting the culture’ supplies in terms of core values, normative behaviours, fundamental needs, and other preferences. For example, employees who value collegiality and autonomy experience greater culture fit in organisations that are highly collaborative and provide substantial independence over work tasks. Culture fit depends on candidates’ risk sensitivity, entrepreneurial spirit, rule orientation and desire for recognition, not whether they drink beer, love art or speak many languages. Culture fit has nothing to do with similarity of interests, personality, age, gender, ethnicity, education or upbringing, or with whether employees bring the same perspectives or ideas to the table. The latter is a cultural element. For instance, some cultures value openness

your system for biases. Use straightforward questions and identify ideal response types. 3. Develop metrics, collect data, and benchmark changes on employee happiness, retention and performance. Ultimately, the benefits of culture fit – increased happiness, commitment and performance – only materialise when we shift our focus from finding applicants who ‘fit in’ to applicants who fit our culture. Kyle Brykman is co-founder and head of research at TalentFit and assistant professor of management at Odette School of Business. He researches employee voice, interpersonal team dynamics, and organisational culture.

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12/04/2019 2:33:11 PM

SPECIAL REPORT

HRD EMPLOYER OF CHOICE

EMPLOYER OF CHOICE 2019 What makes an employer great to work for? HRD’s fifth annual Employer of Choice Awards highlight the companies that are both setting the bar high and looking for ways to reinvent what it means to be a great employer

THERE’S NO question that some employers are better to work for than others. Most readers could point to specific factors that make one company better than another. It’s even likely that you’ve provided suggestions to your companies’ management about how things could be improved. And many readers will have experienced employment situations that were less than desirable. The truth is that every business that plans to have a future wants to be an ‘Employer of Choice’. Given the demand for talent across the wider employment market, any business worth its salt is eager to have prospective employees actively seek them out. Importantly, they also want those employees to hang around for the long haul, after that initial ‘new job’ glow has worn off. This is an achievable goal. If employers are willing, they can equip themselves with the necessary tools and skills to deliver an above-

and-beyond experience for their employees. This will yield benefits too: employees will be far more likely to stay for longer periods and to also be more productive, which yields multiple benefits of its own. So, what elevates a company to the level of Employer of Choice? It’s clear that employers cannot merely provide an office and a pay cheque – those days have long since disappeared into the ether. There must be additional incentive. In an attempt to dissect this broader topic and consider all elements of the employee experience, HRD’s Employer of Choice survey asked participating employees about key areas that have been identified as critical to feeling engaged at work. Chief among these were whether their employers provided career paths, offered suitable learning and development opportunities, and rewarded and recognised a job well done (see boxout on opposite

page for the full list of questions asked). Those companies that achieved the highest average scores from employees across all questions are highlighted as ‘top performers’ in each subcategory. The cream of the crop are the Employer of Choice winners. Gold, Silver and Bronze awards have been given to those employers in our three size categories that are truly going above and beyond. As always, it was great to see a mix of returning stars from years past, while also witnessing the debut of rising forces in this area. The survey results are revealing. They provide key insights into the areas that employees value, the disparity that can exist between their views and what employers themselves may value, and how that gap can subsequently be closed. Read on to see who came out on top – and perhaps more importantly, why they came out on top.

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OVERALL RESPONDENT SNAPSHOT

Company size

How long have you worked for your current employer?

60 HOW MANY HOURS DO YOU WORK EACH WEEK?

% of overall votes

44%

30 20

21%

10 0

Less than 10 hours 1.5% 10–27 hours 9% 28–47 hours 71% 48–59 hours 16% Over 60 hours 2.5%

35%

1–99 employees

100–499 employees

500+ employees

52%

40 30 20

21%

10 0

Under 2 years

3–5 years

13% 13% 6–10 years

10+ years

How many days of annual leave have Will you change employer in the next you taken in the last 12 months? 12 months?

Gender

Less than 3 days

10%

4–10 days 11–20 days

Male

Female

43% 56%

Prefer not to say: 1%

21 or more days Other

21% 37%

93% No Yes 7%

28%

METHODOLOGY Date of survey: February–March 2019 Method: Online survey Number of respondents: 2,763 employees from 191 companies Employer of Choice status was determined by averaging employee scores given to a range of statements. Scores ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) for the following questions/statements: • “My employer provides satisfactory remuneration” • “My employer provides sufficient opportunities for training and professional development” • “My employer offers a clear career progression path for all employees” • “My employer has a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace” • “My employer provides access to the technology and resources I need to do my job effectively” • “My employer encourages effective communication at all levels of the organisation” • “My employer demonstrates effective leadership” • “My employer offers flexible work practices to help me achieve work-life balance” • “My employer supports my health and wellbeing”’ • “My employer effectively rewards and recognises my work performance” • “My employer follows a robust and effective recruitment and onboarding process to ensure cultural fit”

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12/04/2019 2:33:28 PM

SPECIAL REPORT

HRD EMPLOYER OF CHOICE

EMPLOYERS OF CHOICE: OVERALL WINNERS 1-99 EMPLOYEES

Gallup 1300apprentice Quinton Anthony

“At Gallup, we see ongoing development as essential for our people. We don’t have ‘bosses’ – we have coaches, and they work with their employees to help them reach their maximum potential” Claire de Carteret, Gallup

HRD SPEAKS to Claire de Carteret, regional director for APAC at Gallup, 2019’s Gold medal winner (1–99 employees). HRD: Congratulations on receiving the Gold medal in the Small Employer category (1–99 employees). How does it feel to win? Thank you! It’s very exciting and a real milestone for Gallup. It’s a credit to the whole team here, and to our overall employer brand. HRD: How would you describe the culture at Gallup? Culture isn’t something that lives in the employee handbook or mission statement. It needs to be lived out on a day-to-day basis and apparent to all staff. With this in mind, we spend a lot of time investing in our culture to ensure that we’re living up to our own stated goals. At Gallup, we have a strengths-based culture. We expect a lot of our people, but they work in flexible ways and have the opportunity to do what they do best every day. In practical terms, this means that we want people to be regularly recognised for their strengths. People need to be aware of how their contributions fit into the wider plans of the organisation, and aware that their strengths are a valued part of that plan. HRD: How important is an accolade like this to your employer brand? Positive recognition is always wonderful. We want prospective employees to know that Gallup is a place where their strengths can be valued and there will be a broad range of opportunities open to them in career terms. We think this award is a positive reflection of that.

HRD: Gallup finished strongly in a number of categories, including training and professional development, reward and recognition, and recruitment. What’s your philosophy in these areas? As a learning organisation ourselves, training and professional development is of key importance to us. We want to offer the best training programs possible so people can develop themselves internally. Additionally, we don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to development; it’s based around what the individual needs, according to their strengths, their individual development plans and their particular role. Reward and recognition is also a core symbol of our culture; it’s integrated into everything we do. We promote recognising people for their strengths in the moment, on a day-to-day basis. It’s not just reserved for an end-of-year awards ceremony. When it comes to recruitment, one of our big things is hiring for talent rather than experience. This opens up positions to a far broader range of candidates than might otherwise be possible. We have an instrument which helps assess a candidate’s potential in a given area; accordingly, we can then make hiring decisions that create a much more diverse organisation, both personally and professionally. HRD: What’s on top of your people management agenda in 2019? The top of our agenda is having our people do more of what they do best. To facilitate this, we want people to have clear pathways for their own development, appropriate support, and the opportunity to develop their own strengths.

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12/04/2019 2:33:31 PM

EMPLOYERS OF CHOICE: OVERALL WINNERS 100–499 EMPLOYEES

Act for Kids SwanCare Cooper Grace Ward

“People often describe Act for Kids as a ‘not-for-profit’ organisation, but we call ourselves a ‘for-purpose’ organisation” Dr Neil Carrington, Act for Kids

HRD CHATS to Dr Neil Carrington, CEO at Act for Kids and this year’s Gold winner (100–499 employees). HRD: Congratulations on winning the Gold medal in the midsize employer category (100–499 employees). How does it feel to win? It’s humbling for me personally. I unashamedly tell people I’ve got the best job in the world, because I get to help vulnerable kids every day. More importantly, it makes me feel proud of our team, because really this award is down to their efforts. It’s incredibly affirming for all of us. HRD: How would you describe the culture at Act for Kids? You have to strategise about culture and think carefully about how you want the organisation to operate. Ultimately, ‘culture’ is how the organisation – and the people in it – behaves when no one is looking. We have a very deliberate and intentional approach to culture at Act for Kids. When I started at the organisation, we had about 60 staff; now there are more than 400. All of those staff must be aligned as a collective, but that’s not necessarily the same thing as agreeing across every point. We put a lot of emphasis on teamwork and teaching people to disagree without being disagreeable. Staff also need to feel like they are contributing and their opinions matter. We do a lot of surveying and following up to ensure they’re satisfied in their roles. It’s a significant investment, and the end results are worth it. Our staff are an amazing team, and I think our proudest achievement is that we helped more kids in the last year than ever before.

HRD: How important is this accolade to your employer brand? It’s essential for spreading the word. We focus on treatment and prevention of childhood abuse, which is often a difficult topic for people to wrestle with. We also deliberately don’t spend on advertising, so that we can better invest in the kids in our care. This award will not only raise awareness but also affirm to others that we are a good organisation which cares about its purpose. HRD: The company finished strongly in a number of categories, including leadership, work-life balance and health and wellbeing. What’s your philosophy in these areas? People often confuse ‘management’ with ‘leadership’. The truth is that you manage events and situations, while you lead people. We put a ton of effort into leadership development, because being skilled in a day-to-day role is not the same thing as being a good leader. Similarly, I don’t use the phrase ‘work-life balance’, just ‘life balance’. Work should be a part of your life. It can really consume your life at various points, but you can’t stay in that situation forever; it’s not healthy. This ties closely to health and wellbeing. We deal with kids in traumatic situations, and so we need balanced, whole people working for us. Protecting the wellbeing of our staff is a key priority. HRD: What’s on top of your leadership agenda in 2019? First and foremost, we want to grow the people we’ve got while also growing the next layer of emerging leaders within Act for Kids. To do that, we also need to sustain and enhance our existing culture. We’ve got the right people and culture in place; we just need to be laser-like in our focus. Sometimes less is more.

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12/04/2019 2:33:33 PM

SPECIAL REPORT

HRD EMPLOYER OF CHOICE

EMPLOYERS OF CHOICE: OVERALL WINNERS 500+ EMPLOYEES

Data#3 NSW Business Chamber Employsure HRD CHATS to Tash Macknish, group manager, organisational development and HR, at Data#3 and Gold medal winner (500+ employees). HRD: Congratulations on winning the Gold medal in this category. How does it feel to receive this award? We are thrilled to receive the Gold medal again, our second in four years! This is a testament to Data#3’s continued investment in our people and the prioritisation of their experience and wellbeing in everything we do. We recently changed the way we engage with the business, creating new specialised teams to address talent acquisition and organisational development. This renewed focus has clearly been felt throughout the business. To see ourselves on the leaderboard for the last four years has been incredible and shows that our people are feeling the value we place on them as our most important asset. HRD: How would you describe the culture at Data#3? Culture is a challenging concept to define; every location and even every team at Data#3 has its own unique culture. Overall, however, our values of Honesty, Excellence, Agility, Respect and Teamwork (HEART) sit at the core of our culture and drive individual behaviours – everyone has their own unique way of living our values. Each year in our annual satisfaction survey we ask our people to tell us the main reasons they stay at Data#3. In our most recent survey, the top three reasons given were team, manager and the Data#3 culture, which tells us that we are maintaining a supportive culture that is playing a key role in retaining our people. HRD: How important is this accolade to your employer brand? Awards like this are vital and a key pillar of our talent attraction

“This business takes being an Employer of Choice very seriously – to the point where it is an ongoing strategic priority” Tash Macknish,, Data#3

strategy. This business takes being an Employer of Choice very seriously – to the point where it is an ongoing strategic priority. HRD: The company finished strongly in a number of categories, including access to technology, work-life balance and health and wellbeing. What’s your philosophy in these areas? Access to technology: We work with so many vendors/partners in our industry; we are lucky to have exposure and access to such a wide range of different and emerging technologies. This familiarity also helps staff in selling these solutions to our customers. Work-life balance: We work to foster a supportive culture with a focus on looking after our people and recognising that our employees are supported by their families. We have well-defined employee processes to ensure that no one ever falls through the cracks and everyone gets the help and support they need. Health and wellbeing: We have a strategic approach to wellness. Each year we encourage our employees to participate in an external, anonymous survey, the results of which set the tone for the health and wellness activities for the year. We focus on both physical and mental health, using strong support from our EAP as well as close relationships with our other wellness providers. These activities are not just part of a one-off event but are integrated into the calendar throughout the year. HRD: What’s on top of your people management agenda in 2019? One of our key strategic priorities for 2019 is to build a digital-ready culture. We are focusing our efforts on developing skills, talent, capability and performance across the organisation. Using our new OD and Talent teams, we are building talent and skills capability within the business, encouraging our people to take control of their own development and enabling them to do their best every day.

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REMUNERATION AS MIGHT be expected, remuneration remains one of the most important aspects of a positive employer-employee relationship. After all, it’s one of the main reasons people turn up at the office every day. Organisations that aren’t delivering on this front can expect employee discontent. The companies that stood out in this category have been successful in delivering above and beyond the base standard for satisfying their employees in this crucial area. “I believe people are remunerated commensurate with their skills and value to our clients,” said one practice manager. However, other comments suggested that businesses needed to improve their remuneration practices. There’s been a trend of minimal growth in remuneration as well as outright wage freezes in recent years. This indicates concerns about the wider Australian economy and was reflected in the responses to this survey. “No real wage increases for a number of years,” one respondent said. This is problematic from an employer standpoint, as over a long enough period minimal wage growth means there’s low incentive for an employee to stay with a company. Transparency is also crucial; inequity and favouritism will always be found out and breeds resentment among staff. One respondent commented that their organisation “lacks any form of transparent salary review or bonus structure”. Of course, not all remuneration is necessarily delivered in dollars and cents – there’s an increasing emphasis on flexibility of working hours and working from home. “Probably a little below market but flexibility is good,” another respondent said about their company. Similarly, some organisations look for alternative means of compensation, such as share options. “Every employee is part of our Employee Share Option Plan,” one chief people officer said. Whatever the approach to remuneration, the organisations highlighted here have marked themselves out as high achievers and a strong force within the field. Congratulations to these top performers.

TOP-PERFORMING COMPANIES

Black Dog Institute Cornerstone on Demand Learning Quest NSW Business Chamber “My boss understands identifying worth and [I am] compensated accordingly” Learning Quest survey respondent

“MY EMPLOYER PROVIDES SATISFACTORY REMUNERATION”

41.70% 38.90%

Strongly agree Agree

13.51%

Neutral

3.60%

Disagree

43%

Strongly disagree

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SPECIAL REPORT

HRD EMPLOYER OF CHOICE TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TOP-PERFORMING COMPANIES

City of Cockburn Edwards Lifesciences Gallup SwanCare “The City is a strong supporter of employees’ personal growth and development” City of Cockburn survey respondent

“THERE IS always education available for the employees to upgrade and upskill,” said an activities officer in response to the survey, reflecting the shift in businesses’ approach to training and professional development. Training and professional development are no longer optional extras in the modern workplace. There was a time when such opportunities were perceived as being solely for the ‘elite’ in an organisation. Upper management would receive periodic training, which would then theoretically flow down to other staff. But this cascading approach is not only antiquated but demonstrably inefficient. Key details may be lost in translation; important elements may not be communicated at all because the senior manager, removed from the day-to-day challenges of the ordinary worker, does not fully appreciate their significance. Fortunately, businesses have by and large opted for a more democratic approach to training and professional development. “They provide excellent opportunities,” said one respondent about their workplace. One of the primary obstacles under the old cascading model was the idea that if you trained up a staff member too well, they might take those newly acquired skills to another company, making it a waste of the company’s time and resources. Yet this failed to recognise the important role training and professional development can play in staff retention by giving employees opportunities to grow. While some staff may eventually leave, employers will have a stronger collective workforce by providing appropriate training in the first place. “Outstanding training and development opportunities. Best I have experienced in my career,” was one response. Another said: “There is equal opportunity for everyone, and my employer [and] my manager always encourage each one of us for training and professional development.” Highlighting the importance of having the right tools for success, a senior sales systems analyst said: “Our company is big on professional development and ensures that we are provided with the right tools and education/training to achieve this.” The companies highlighted here have marked themselves out as high achievers in this category. Congratulations to all.

“MY EMPLOYER PROVIDES SUFFICIENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT”

55.40%

Strongly agree

28.50%

Agree

10.40%

Neutral

3.10% 2.40%

Disagree Strongly disagree

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CAREER PROGRESSION VERY FEW employees want to remain in the same role for their entire career. Indeed, it would likely count against them if they did: an employee’s lack of enthusiasm for career progression is often interpreted as a lack of enthusiasm for their current role. But businesses often shoot themselves in the foot on this front. How can an employee want to progress if no clear path has been made apparent? The days of getting a promotion simply because you turned up and sat in the same chair for x number of years are long gone, and the whole process is far more multifaceted today than ever before. Organisations need to look closely at the opportunities for progression they offer, at where they can improve, and how the whole process can be made more transparent for employees. “Career progression pathways were good before but have recently been improved across the board and are now excellent,” said a lead software engineer. Understandably, the path may be less clear for new companies, or organisations undergoing expansion. But the promise of opportunities is still essential. Highlighting his company’s progress, one VP of sales wrote: “Growing rapidly, as are opportunities.” Another respondent said, “At this stage, the organisation is limited by its size in this regard; however, it is growing all the time and does what it can to provide opportunities to staff.” Real problems arise when these opportunities are not present, or the career path isn’t clear. “Unfortunately, there is no clear career progression; nobody knows what their chances are to get a better job,” one respondent said. But the good news is that many have done and continue to do good work in this area. “We have an excellent career path,” was the sentiment echoed by a number of employees. One respondent expanded in more detail: “The company has a skills matrix for each role and makes it very transparent on what is required to progress. Each role is well defined, and it is a very fair process that goes through a panel, rather than being [individually] decided.” Congratulations to the top performers in this category that have demonstrated their commitment to enabling career progression.

TOP-PERFORMING COMPANIES

Big Commerce City of Cockburn Colin Biggers & Paisley Cornerstone on Demand “So far I have found a progressive increase in level of responsibility and am rewarded for good work with strengthened involvement in large projects” Colin Biggers & Paisley survey respondent

“MY EMPLOYER OFFERS A CLEAR CAREER PROGRESSION PATH FOR ALL EMPLOYEES”

36.40% 35%

Strongly agree Agree

18.50%

Neutral

6.40% 3.40%

Disagree Strongly disagree

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SPECIAL REPORT

HRD EMPLOYER OF CHOICE

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION THE VALUE of diversity and inclusion in the workplace is receiving growing attention in the corporate world, which is helping to drive cultural change in Australian organisations. As an increasingly diverse nation, it makes sense that companies and corporate bodies should reflect the wider make-up of the population. It’s apparent from respondents’ comments in this year’s survey that an active diversity and inclusion policy is now considered the bare minimum for large organisations, rather than an optional extra. What’s clear is how much individual staff members value these initiatives. Making the workplace safer and more inclusive for some ultimately makes it better for all. “We have a lot of diversity in our workplace; people of various cultural and religious backgrounds as well as women and LGBTQ+ people are all supported and accommodated,” said one assistant accountant. “The overall team culture is very important to our management, and they are committed to fostering it.” This highlights the multifaceted response needed to achieve effective diversity and inclusion. HR teams must be willing and able to equip staff with the requisite facilities to enable a better workplace for all. “Our HR team support us to be the best we can be with tools, mentorship, training programs,” wrote one respondent. While comments like this are a positive indicator of change in the workforce, a recurrent theme of the responses was that management have been slower to change and embrace diversity themselves. “Would be nice to see a bit more diversity when it comes to management. However, we are taking steps in the right direction, no doubt,” stated one respondent. Similarly, another said their company had made “good efforts but would like to see at management level improved”. Still, change frequently comes from the bottom up, rather than being a topdown affair. Those who are included today can and will become the leaders of tomorrow. In the meantime, managers need to look closely at how they can make better decisions about hiring within their own ranks. The organisations above have marked themselves out as committed to diversity and inclusion. Congratulations to this year’s top-performing companies.

TOP-PERFORMING COMPANIES

Cooper Grace Ward Employsure Quinton Anthony Talent International “One of the most diverse organisations I’ve ever worked for from a gender, nationality and ethnicity perspective” Talent International survey respondent

“MY EMPLOYER HAS A STRONG COMMITMENT TO PROMOTING DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN THE WORKPLACE”

67.90%

Strongly agree

22.10%

Agree

5.80% 1.40% 2.60%

Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

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ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY IS integral to the modern workplace. It’s near impossible to imagine a company doing business on any sort of scale without the internet, a variety of different devices and the appropriate suite of software. The idea of high-tech devices being confined to a few elite employees has gone the way of the dodo. Staff with access to the appropriate technology are not only going to be more productive but happier as a result – this was reflected in the comments from survey respondents. “Very progressive and embraces new technology,” one said of their company. “Anything staff need to do their job correctly is always provided,” said another respondent. In similar vein, a PCC/activities officer said: “Computer, tablets, and resources are provided to us so that we can do our job easily.” One respondent highlighted the important role of the IT department in pioneering change in this field: “With IT support being onsite and always looking at new ways to innovate, we are very lucky.” The role IT plays is crucial to the wider productivity of the business. As one dissatisfied employee wrote, “… the equipment provided to me is substandard and has a negative impact on my productivity”. When assessing productivity, companies also need to be careful about making choices that are appropriate to the workplace. Hot-desking is one initiative that drew negative feedback. Many companies feel the need to embrace hot desks as part of a wider technological shift, buy one salesperson said: “The hot desks are unsuitable for most salespeople, yet we are forced to use them”. Still, there are a variety of applications of new technology that have been wholly positive. Greater access to training is seen as key, as it can now be delivered in more flexible formats that suit the employee, rather than causing them to “lose productivity” by having to attend training at designated times. “Excellent technology tools are available. The one that stands out for me is our online training and development module; this is really great,” said one respondent. The organisations above have committed to providing staff with the tech tools they require for their roles. Congratulations to this year’s top-performing companies.

TOP-PERFORMING COMPANIES

Data#3 Employsure HROnboard SwanCare “We have access to the latest apps, tools and to mentors to inspire us to the next stage of growth. Pretty amazing for the size and stage of our business” HROnboard survey respondent

“MY EMPLOYER PROVIDES ACCESS TO THE TECHNOLOGY AND RESOURCES I NEED TO DO MY WORK EFFECTIVELY”

65.20%

Strongly agree

24.10%

Agree

6.50% 1.80% 2.20%

Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

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SPECIAL REPORT

HRD EMPLOYER OF CHOICE

COMMUNICATION TOP-PERFORMING COMPANIES

Central Highlands Regional Council Insight NSW Business Chamber performHR “We have a strong leadership team that makes a great effort to spend as much time communicating with their staff as needed/possible” Central Highlands Regional Council survey respondent

THERE IS a compelling case to be made that communication is the foundation of all other elements of successful HR practice. After all, if the key ideals of the business cannot be clearly communicated, the company is sure to go off course sooner rather than later. “When the communication breaks down,” one respondent said, “we ensure we do everything in our power to ensure the process is reviewed and resources are revised.” The experiences of this year’s respondents ranged from the outstanding to the abysmal, serving as both good examples to learn from and cautionary tales. “My director is easily accessible and is always willing and able to give the time to talk,” said one respondent. Indeed, access to senior staff was a recurrent theme. “[We have] weekly meetings with managers and any time I need to talk to someone they always go out of their way to help,” said one sales development representative. On the negative side: “New manager commenced last week, and advised that all internal communications need to be ran by him for his distribution to the correct individual,” a respondent lamented. In contrast, another highlighted their company’s broad range of communication channels, praising it for the transparency it offered: “We have extremely transparent and collaborative channels of communication. These include daily huddles at all levels of the organisation, regular inclusion of the CEO at these huddles, weekly collaborative management meetings where we not only discuss priorities but have the opportunity to workshop hair-on-fire issues; social media channels, tech updates and good old communication boards. The CEO always involves the team at all levels in good news and challenges – the transparency is exceptional.” Communication need not always be direct, however. Sometimes it’s down to the little details in the background. “Have overheard positive and respectful conversations between management, and [was] very impressed by how they handled challenges,” one respondent said. The organisations above have stood out as impressive communicators, both at staff and senior management level. Congratulations to these top performers.

“MY EMPLOYER ENCOURAGES EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AT ALL LEVELS OF THE ORGANISATION”

57.7%

Strongly agree

28.5%

Agree

7% 3.2% 2.8%

Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

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LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP can be a difficult quality to define. Among other strengths, a natural leader demonstrates vision, charisma, a positive attitude and an understanding of employees’ day-to-day challenges. There is no set formula, and the qualities that make someone a good leader in one field will often be transferable to another. “I am very lucky to work with a group of leaders that are authentic in their approach to staff,” said one practice supervisor. Another wrote: “We have an extremely supportive board that communicates with all the employees without ever undermining the leadership team. They personally ensure that not only I but the entire team are aware of the support they have for them and the company. I have not experienced this in other companies and admire how they fully support the mission of the company and the staff too.” When good leadership is absent, employees and managers alike will soon begin to notice. This has real consequences for the business: workers who have lost faith in their leader are likely to lose faith in the business itself and potentially leave. The good news is that while some may possess more natural leadership qualities than others, it’s still a skill that can be learned and taught. Additionally, leadership is not solely confined to management; it’s something that can be put into action from the ground up. “This is practised at all levels with the ethos of lead self, others and the organisation,” a team leader said. Sometimes fresh blood can revitalise a company’s leadership, as one respondent indicated: “Our new CEO has bought focus, drive, engagement and the commercial acumen required to take us to the next level as a scaling technology firm.” Importantly, good leaders show concern for their individual employees, not just the collective. One respondent described their positive experience of this: “Our executive team is constantly checking up on our needs and will do their best to provide the necessary care and resources. This includes maternity leave (for both mothers and fathers), childcare considerations (coming in late or leaving early) and making sure we aren’t overloaded.” The above organisations have demonstrated a high standard of leadership within their respective workplaces. Congratulations to all.

TOP-PERFORMING COMPANIES

1300apprentice Act for Kids LiveHire The Disability Trust “Our managers lead by example, not just giving orders. They are the type that will always do what it takes for us to reach our goals, whether this is helping with expos, recruitment, performance monitoring or safety. There is never anything that is in the ‘too-hard basket’, from the simplest to the most complex tasks” 1300apprentice survey respondent

“MY EMPLOYER DEMONSTRATES EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP”

56.70%

Strongly agree

29.50%

Agree

7.8% 3.60% 2.10%

Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

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SPECIAL REPORT

HRD EMPLOYER OF CHOICE

WORK-LIFE BALANCE TOP-PERFORMING COMPANIES

Act for Kids Central Highlands Regional Council Data#3 Quinton Anthony “We have very flexible working arrangements to allow parents (and non-parents) the ability to manage all aspects of their lives. Working from home is approved, and post-probation we have unlimited paid annual leave so we are able to take proper breaks from work” Quinton Anthony survey respondent

MAINTAINING A healthy work-life balance is one of the biggest challenges of today’s employees. Commuting and work responsibilities outside of regular office hours can be remarkably time-consuming. Technology has also enabled greater efficiency while simultaneously increasing demand for productivity. However, as one respondent said, “Technology enablement promotes remote/ flexible working”, and they are absolutely correct. With the aid of technology, the requirement to be in one office environment from nine to five, Monday to Friday is no longer strictly necessary. The conventional idea of the ‘office’ is beginning to shift, and many businesses are looking for alternative options to fill this gap. Flexible working arrangements are one of the most popular choices for maintaining work-life balance. “Flexible hours and the ability to work from home are offered and utilised by many staff,” said one customer service representative. Many staff are keen to work hours or in locations that are more beneficial to them or their families. Additionally, more businesses are aware that keeping their staff at optimum performance level means allowing breaks from the office. “Very supportive of child and study commitments,” said one respondent of their employer. This is an increasingly valuable point of difference for employers. “I have never had an employer ask me what hours would I like. Being able to start and finish early and be able to collect my kids after school is a major benefit,” said one respondent, expressing their satisfaction with their current employer. “This is the first company that I joined who truly implements this and not only on paper,” wrote another. If flexible hours are offered, it’s important to be consistent in how they are applied. One respondent said of their workplace: “Flexible work policy is ‘offered’ – however, the ability of an individual to use it will depend on the individual team’s beliefs (particularly manager beliefs/attitudes) around flexible working.” Describing a more positive experience, one admin assistant said: “All staff are given as much flexibility as reasonable to ensure a good home/work-life balance.” Congrats to these top-performing companies for their commitment to helping their employees maintain a work-life balance.

“MY EMPLOYER OFFERS FLEXIBLE WORK PRACTICES TO HELP ME ACHIEVE WORK-LIFE BALANCE”

70.50%

Strongly agree

18.90%

Agree

5.70% 1.60% 3.00%

Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

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HEALTH & WELLBEING PRESERVING THE health and wellbeing of employees is of key importance to any organisation. At one level, it’s a sound investment – healthy employees are more productive. And it can also be argued that employers have a wider ethical responsibility to help care for their employees. This year there were a number of extremely positive comments from respondents; it appears that many Australian businesses are treating this as an issue of importance. But what is clear is that such policies need to be accessible and equitable, allowing all staff to participate. “Health (including mental health) is of high importance, and support from the top down is effective,” wrote one customer service representative. A facility manager also had a positive view: “[Our] OSH program supports this. Staff are offered skin checks, support to give up smoking, safe celebrations at Christmas time, free vaccinations.” Health and wellbeing isn’t limited to responsive action either – businesses are frequently proactive in helping their staff stay healthy. “We run regular training, personal and professional development events, encourage group and individual activities and have a wellness plan as part of our development package,” said one respondent. Another commented: “We have a weekly boot camp led by a personal trainer, free of charge to staff. Regular masseuses roaming the office. Health checks like skin cancer check-ups and the opportunity to meet with health insurance and superannuation providers.” Something more low-key can also yield benefits. “With free yoga classes twice a week, it’s a great help,” said one respondent. As in many of the other categories, health and wellbeing policies can also be a great way for a business to stand out to potential employees. “This company by far exceeds any place else I have worked in terms of offering wellbeing programs to employees, including free counselling services, neck massages at your desk every couple months and lots of other things,” one respondent wrote. Congratulations to the high achievers in this category, who are going above and beyond to look after their employees’ health and wellbeing.

TOP-PERFORMING COMPANIES

Act for Kids Cooper Grace Ward Data#3 SwanCare “Data#3 is very focused on supporting health and wellbeing. My colleagues and I have been approached many times to reassure us that anything we require to help support our health and wellbeing the appropriate changes would be made to accommodate this” Data#3 survey respondent

“MY EMPLOYER SUPPORTS MY HEALTH AND WELLBEING”

70.30%

Strongly agree

20.10%

Agree

5.20% 1.60% 2.40%

Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

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SPECIAL REPORT

HRD EMPLOYER OF CHOICE

REWARDS AND RECOGNITION TOP-PERFORMING COMPANIES

Gallup The Disability Trust Black Dog Institute Genworth “Genworth has ... both individual and group awards for people who go above and beyond their ordinary responsibilities as well as demonstrate Genworth values. We have an annual Coach’s Award which recognises outstanding people leaders who support the growth and development of others through effective coaching and mentoring” Genworth survey respondent

REWARDS AND recognition are undoubtedly one of the toughest things to get right in the workplace. Give too much too often and it’s easy to lose a sense of proportion around how things should be recognised. Give too little and it will be perceived as ingratitude on the part of management, or simply insulting. One famous example of poor staff recognition hit the headlines in 2012. Torbay Hospital in the UK received a prestigious award for its high standards in acute healthcare, and staff were subsequently ‘rewarded’ for their hard work with a voucher for a Kit Kat included in their payslip. To avoid this sort of situation – and the subsequent PR disaster – businesses must have some sort of scheme in place to effectively and respectfully reward staff. This has become markedly easier thanks to HR technologies that allow for more regular assessments of staff, but it also starts with more fundamental practices, such as setting clear expectations of employess, including KPIs and timelines. As the graph indicates, many respondents felt their employers did recognise and reward performance. “Good recognition from the management team and senior leaders,” said one employment connections manager. But there was dissatisfaction, too, particularly around the consistency of recognition: “… this is dependent on who the executive is”, one respondent revealed. Ideally, management should use an even hand in order to prevent resentment. Rewards and recognition can go beyond compliments and cash, as appreciated as those can be. There should also be a focus on collective performance, not just that of the individual. “Outside of remuneration and commission, performance is rewarded through other aspects and celebrated with the team as a whole.” Swiftness of recognition was also considered important. One respondent said they felt they received recognition “in the form of a performance-related bonus, not so much day-to-day”. Another, clearly more content, said: “Great reward and recognition program running as it is immediate. I also like to be able to recognise teammates who do extra to support me.” Congratulations to the top-performing companies that have demonstrated their committment to recognising and rewarding staff on a regular basis.

“MY EMPLOYER EFFECTIVELY REWARDS AND RECOGNISES MY WORK PERFORMANCE”

52.70%

Strongly agree

29.70%

Agree

10.60%

Neutral

3.90% 2.80%

Disagree Strongly disagree

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RECRUITMENT AND ONBOARDING WHILE RECRUITMENT methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated, numerous challenges remain. People who interview well don’t always translate to good employees, and sometimes employees who deliver quality work aren’t necessarily a good cultural fit for an organisation. This year’s respondents provided not only positive commentary on the hiring practices at their companies but suggestions for improvement. It’s clear that businesses that are good at recruitment understand that sometimes it’s better to wait to find the right person, rather than hiring just to fill a gap. “We currently have many open positions, but there are never any shortcuts taken in the recruitment process,” a respondent said. It’s also important to remember that HR has an ongoing role in the recruitment process that doesn’t simply finish after induction. “The recruitment process is good as the departmental heads interview and pick the candidates; however, follow-up from HR could be improved,” said another respondent. In some cases, it’s evident that the wrong choices are repeatedly made. Asked whether they felt their business was committed to making positive recruitment choices, one respondent said: “The amount of people that are getting terminated proves that is not the case.” Several respondents highlighted the importance of values-based hiring in ensuring that new team members are not only talented but good cultural fits for the organisation. “I work personally within the recruitment team and we hire very much focused on values. We ensure we get the right like-minded people on board who work well with each team they are placed in,” said a talent acquisition adviser. “The entire recruitment process is focused around values-based hiring to ensure we are bringing the right people on the bus,” stated another respondent. Recruitment is always going to be fraught with risk, but by learning from past mistakes businesses can minimise that risk and make better hiring decisions. Congratulations to the top-performing companies that are commited to best practices in recruitment, while continually looking for ways to improve in the future.

TOP-PERFORMING COMPANIES

1300apprentice Central Highlands Regional Council Employsure Gallup “While everyone is different, part of what makes us a great company is that everyone fits in perfectly” 1300apprentice survey respondent

“MY EMPLOYER FOLLOWS A ROBUST AND EFFECTIVE RECRUITMENT AND ONBOARDING PROCESS TO ENSURE CULTURAL FIT”

57.10%

Strongly agree

26.30%

Agree

11.0%

Neutral

3.10% 2.22%

Disagree Strongly disagree

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FEATURES

ENGAGEMENT

Engaging technology Before you implement wellness, happy hour and mentoring programs, think about how technology can underpin your engagement initiatives. Kim Boyd, national sales and marketing manager at Frontier Software, explains how it can be used more effectively

A 2018 survey conducted by Human Resource Executive magazine, “What’s Keeping HR Leaders Up at Night”, found that 32% of respondents considered employee engagement and productivity as their primary concern, an increase of 3% over last year. These findings reflect a growing awareness

reported higher levels of engagement than in 2016. This news is positive given the direct and indirect costs of staff turnover. Increasingly, HR and senior management teams are touting the need to engage employees. But what does that mean and how can they achieve it?

“Equipping employees with technologies that enhances their work experience should be a priority for any HR team” Nick Southcombe, CEO, Frontier Software in HR circles of the relationship between engagement and organisational success. Employee engagement has long been on the list of global HR trends. A 2017 survey conducted by Aon Hewitt noted that Australian employees were less engaged than the global average. But, unlike the global downward trend, Australian employees

Finding a conclusive definition of employee engagement is challenging. A plethora of views and definitions exist, but analysis of these will uncover common themes. First, employees become engaged at an emotional level. Unlike satisfied employees who are content in their roles, engaged employees feel a visceral

commitment to their organisation. The emotion then drives their behaviour as representatives of the company. Often, engaged employees exhibit elevated levels of enthusiasm for and dedication to their employers. The behaviours elicited by such states produce positive outcomes for the organisations that hire them. Hence, we will define employee engagement as: “the positive emotional and psychological connection an employee has to the organisation for which they work, as evidenced by voluntary, value-adding behaviours and activities”. There is little doubt engaged employees can produce beneficial outcomes for their organisations. Statistics vary, but typically those organisations with highly engaged workforces also report correlations with productivity gains, some suggesting over 20%, and earnings per share as much as 147% (Gallup) of their peers’ with lessengaged workforces. The means by which employees can be engaged are dynamic, with both established and emerging ideas vying for HR attention. Some published lists have up to 60 activities that HR teams can implement to engage and retain their workforces. The “What’s Keeping HR Leaders Up at Night” survey identified the most prevalent practices adopted by respondents, as shown in the boxout on page 36. Other common engagement strategies include providing the right tools to succeed at work, excellent onboarding processes, developing interpersonal relationships with team members, and, less often, welcome kits, dress codes and flexible work spaces. Despite the broad range of engagement activities and options, global surveys indicate a general decline in employee engagement levels – but why? According to a recent survey by TINYPulse, several factors are in play.

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Employees don’t feel connected to their peers Earlier surveys showed employees like nothing more than feeling connected to their co-workers. Typically, that means members of their immediate team and not colleagues in other departments. Most recent results show that only 24% of respondents feel their employers build teams well. Cross-department team-building is rarely undertaken.

Recognition programs Seventy-four per cent of respondents didn’t feel valued. But, of these, 58% indicated more recognition would increase engagement levels.

Culture trumps perks A common belief that salaries, benefits and perks are important to engagement

appears unfounded. Respondents reported that having fun at work, working with happy people, and company culture are the things that drive happiness and engagement. Perks are great, but culture still reigns supreme.

Opportunities for professional development Only 26% of employees reported that there were enough opportunities for professional development. Put simply, there aren’t enough meaningful, exciting and self-actualising jobs for everyone, and it is unrealistic to expect that organisations can achieve engagement from all employees.

Performance reviews are outdated Engaged employees prefer performance feedback on a more regular basis.

Organisations relying on annual performance reviews are not providing the opportunity for employees to receive this feedback. In fact, 79% of survey respondents felt their employer’s review process was outdated. These are only some of the reasons for the declining engagement levels. Even for companies with great engagement programs, is it possible that employees have come to view these as the norm, rather than an exception? For HR practitioners, the challenge becomes one of determining what they can do with the discretionary budgets they have. They also need to turn their attention to the employee experience rather than a singular notion of engagement. According to Gallup, only one in three employees strongly agree they have the tools needed to do their job well. Nick Southcombe,

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WHAT’S KEEPING HR LEADERS UP AT NIGHT

59% sought to increase employee communication

55% provided more training and development

52%

42%

32%

focused on leadership training

focused their efforts around recognition and feedback

reviewed remuneration/ compensation

Source: Human Resource Executive, “What’s Keeping HR Leaders Up at Night” survey, 2019

CEO of Frontier Software concurs. “As a major contributor to engagement programs, equipping employees with technologies that enhance their work experience should be a priority for any HR team,” says Southcombe. “The idea is not to disengage the employee from their peers and colleagues but to minimise the time required to complete necessary administrative tasks.” The employee is then free to pursue those activities that engage them with their employer and thus return benefits. Employee self-service (ESS) is a simple tool that empowers employees by giving them access to their own data. Deployment options include both browser-based and mobile apps, thus ensuring that employees with flexible work arrangements can access their data as and when required. ESS offers employers the following benefits:

be updated and payslips viewed and printed directly from the portal itself. Research by the Aberdeen Group showed employee selfservice was capable of creating employee engagement scores that were 18% higher than those of companies without ESS.

ESS software increases employee input into decision-making ESS can be used to link to survey software. This allows employee sentiment to be quickly ascertained as frequently as the organisation deems appropriate. As mentioned earlier, seeking employee feedback is an engagement strategy that many HR teams will adopt this year. Surveys provide an excellent way to do this, and deployment via ESS ensures that every employee can access and participate in the survey, regardless of location. For such initiatives to be effective, however, the feedback must be seen to be acknowledged and/or addressed.

Increased employee autonomy ESS systems empower employees by granting access to their own data. Transactional workflows, such as leave and timesheet submissions, can be quickly completed online. In addition, employees can be granted access to organisation charts, policies and third-party portals such as salarypackaging providers. Banking details can

ESS software drives L&D, performance appraisal and career planning Apart from powering transactional and data management operations, ESS provides a portal to learning management systems and a means by which course catalogues can be viewed and training bookings made.

Performance and other appraisals can be completed via the self-service terminal, with advanced systems ensuring that appraisals can be undertaken at any frequency that suits the role and company. Training courses can be linked to developmental requirements, enabling employees to focus on their professional development. Succession planning can be aided by screens capturing career aspirations and manager comments about readiness to move. The power of ESS lies in its ability to enable processes that underpin employee engagement. When coupled with the potential cost savings and process efficiencies, ESS offers organisations a practical and effective tool to facilitate engagement activities. Evidence shows that engaged workers produce better outcomes for their employers, with perhaps no better evidence than the famous business turnaround experienced by Campbell’s Soup when they focused on the employee experience. As American businessman, Doug Conant, famously said, “To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace”. Smart HR practitioners know this and are already considering ways to embed technology in their employee engagement experiences.

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INTEGRATED

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INSIDE HR

Brewed in the Northern Rivers

HRD talks to Elise Skinner, Brewlife manager at Stone & Wood, about the latest HR developments in the world of craft brewing

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IN 2008, three friends started a brewery, inspired by the traditional idea of a village brewery. More than simply a place to buy beer, it was to be a central hub of the local town that could give back to the surrounding community. From this vision, Stone & Wood was born. For Elise Skinner, now Brewlife manager at Stone & Wood, a key part of her role is to maintain those core values, even as the

and that guides our decisions.” Skinner originally took steps into HR with a stint in recruitment, then later made a full transition to the field, working for many more years in a variety of companies and industries. When Skinner and her husband eventually decided it was time for a sea change with a move to Byron Bay, in a striking piece of synchronicity this coincided with a new

“We talk to and work with everyone in the company to evolve our understanding of how to build employee engagement, develop capabilities, and keep communication fresh” Elise Skinner, Stone & Wood business continues to expand beyond its humble origins. “Stone & Wood started with a desire to build a conscious business, and it’s still reflected in the way we run today,” says Skinner. “Ultimately, we want to create a sustainable brewing business that develops, embraces and adds value to its communities,

HR role opening up at Stone & Wood. “I was doing some contract work while I waited for my next HR gig to come along,” she says. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this role advertised at Stone & Wood; it seemed like the natural next step in my career.” Signing on two years ago, Skinner joined at a transitional point for the organisation.

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INSIDE HR

STONE & WOOD AT A GLANCE

Founded in 2008

Launched in Byron Bay, NSW

Second brewery opened in Murwillumbah, NSW, in 2014

130 employees

Accredited as a B Corp company

Stone & Wood was a business that already prided itself on its innovation and how it cared for its people and culture – but it was also a business that had experienced significant growth in the years prior, and there were plenty of HR projects to tackle.

Widening horizons During her time in the role, Skinner has worked with her team to balance operational HR needs with a desire to progress, innovate and think creatively. “There has been an emphasis on getting some fundamentals in place around systems and processes to keep step with the growth,” says Skinner. In this vein, continuing the development of leadership and employee engagement has also been a significant undertaking. Leaders across the team have recently invested time in the art of giving feedback and coaching, with a view to enabling teams and avoiding the need for a hierarchical management structure. Embedding this learning into the wider Stone & Wood culture and behaviours as part of the

norm is still underway, says Skinner. “We talk to and work with everyone in the company to evolve our understanding of how to build employee engagement, develop capabilities, and keep communication fresh,” she says. Though Stone & Wood remains a relatively small player in the overall Australian beer market, business and distribution have consistently expanded since it began operations. So there’s an element of futureproofing at play in its strategy. Craft beer is a dynamic segment of the market that is always evolving, particularly as its popularity expands around the world. It’s therefore become increasingly common for multinational liquor distributors to acquire smaller breweries, then subsequently launch brands that give the impression of being small-run craft beers themselves. This, says Skinner adamantly, is not a direction Stone & Wood wants to pursue. Independence is highly valued by the company. “We are firmly focused on remaining a local independent brewery that supports

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the community and creates value for its stakeholders,” says Skinner. “We aim to brew a good life for our people, just as much as we brew good beers.”

Brewlife philosophy HR policies must reflect this attitude, and accordingly the company’s ‘Brewlife’ philosophy has been created with this in mind. Brewlife spans not only the company’s HR initiatives, processes and strategies but is ‘owned’ beyond the HR team. It reflects the importance of

workforce is often accompanied by the financial pressures of caring for children. “Around 12 months ago we did a survey to gauge the needs and the issues that employees were experiencing,” says Skinner. “Recognising that costs of childcare are often a barrier to the decision to get back into work, it seemed like a sensible first step to direct our support there.” This new scheme allows employees to access up to $5,000 to cover professional childcare fees within 18 months of birth or

“We are firmly focused on remaining a local independent brewery that supports the community and creates value for its stakeholders. We aim to brew a good life for our people” Elise Skinner, Stone & Wood employees as integral stakeholders in the business model, and the role they play in the culture, behaviours and future of the Stone & Wood story. One of the most significant of Brewlife’s initiatives is employee ownership. Stone & Wood has an annual share offering for eligible staff, and as of early 2019, 75% of the team are now considered owners within the business. “Our Employee Share Scheme gives a sense that we are all in this together,” says Skinner. “But it also has the potential to generate a nest egg for our people and their family over time.”

adoption of their child when they return to work. Importantly, this benefit is not only available to individuals within the business. It’s also available to partners of employees who are returning to work – even if they are not employed by Stone & Wood and are heading back to work with another business in the local community. “Ultimately, we determined our key motivation was supporting diversity in our community,” says Skinner. “The desire to help primary carers from all kinds of families in returning to work arose from that motivation.”

Helping parents get back to work

Future Brewlife initiatives

Another recent Brewlife initiative has been the introduction of financial support for childcare among its workplace benefits, after acknowledging that the decision to get back into the

There are plenty of plans afoot for the coming months, too. April will see Stone & Wood kick off a new approach to engagement surveys, introducing quarterly ‘pulse checks’ and

CREATING AN INCLUSIVE CULTURE It would be fair to say that brewing is perceived as being a ‘blokey’ industry. But Elise Skinner, Brewlife manager at Stone & Wood, is quick to point out that the perception doesn’t necessarily match reality when it comes to this company. “One of the things I love about Stone & Wood is that our culture doesn’t reflect the perception some might have of brewing,” says Skinner. “It is a maledominated industry, but we invest a lot of time in hiring great people and have a fantastic bunch of women and men in our crew. Our culture is very accepting and inclusive, which is pretty awesome.”

targeted feedback. This is a progression of the existing annual engagement process, allowing for more regular feedback, stronger insights and more effective measurement of longer-term goals. “At the moment we’re also focusing on bringing our capability framework to life by developing our own internal training workshops as well as drawing on external expert support when needed,” says Skinner. “We’re helping our teams to further define core skills and competencies to support their career planning.” Stone & Wood’s safety agenda is also being shifted beyond traditional ideas of physical safety to include a mental wellbeing and personal resilience program. Skinner is keen to note that the core purpose of the business remains, and these initiatives are simply tools that will enable that purpose to be carried out as they continue to evolve. “At the end of the day, we also want to make sure everyone has fun, enjoys being part of this unique family, and makes time to chat together over a beer!” she says.

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FEATURES

WORKPLACE MENTAL HEALTH

Helping hands for mental health Mental health is an increasingly important part of the conversation around workplace health and safety. Darren Black, CEO of OzHelp, talks to HRD about how businesses can better invest in this important facet of wellbeing THE PUBLIC perception and attitudes to mental health over the last few years have undergone a dramatic shift, with increased advocacy around the important correlation between mental health and physical health and safety. However, there is still a great deal of work to be done for this to achieve the

workplaces,” says Black. “We work across a broad variety of industries, but the common factor is that they’re blue-collar and maledominated. These industries tend to have a much higher risk of suicide, in large part because the issues aren’t being spotted early enough.”

“What we’re seeing at the moment are increasing rates of mental health-related and stress-related incidents of injury and illness related to the workplace” Darren Black, CEO, OzHelp recognition it requires in the workplace. Darren Black, CEO of OzHelp, is a man on a mission to ensure that mental health and suicide prevention receive the attention they deserve. “We provide mental health and wellbeing assessments and training to high-risk

OzHelp was originally founded in 2001, following the suicide of a number of young Canberra apprentices. Today, OzHelp engages and supports 36,000 people nationally each year, and that number is rising rapidly. The nature of this engagement includes the design and delivery of health

and wellbeing programs that are created to uniquely address physical and mental health issues in each workplace. OzHelp offers employers market-leading tools to proactively support the health and wellbeing of their workforces. From OzHelp’s perspective, this means there is considerable emphasis on reaching out to workplaces that have traditionally been perceived as ‘hard to reach’. This can be quite literal in some cases, particularly when working with industries such as mining, oil or farming – but more frequently, it says something about the culture of the workplace, says Black. “There are a variety of reasons around it. There are the wider societal stigmas, which can be amplified in a ‘blokey’ environment,” says Black. “There may also be concerns about job security, or career limitations – people often feel that raising concerns about mental health may lead to their employment prospects being limited or their contract not being renewed.”

How can businesses help? Of course, to reach out to these employees, OzHelp needs to be well prepared with the relevant details. “We work with lots of big employers, regulators and insurers to gather the necessary data around these industries,” says Black. “What we’re seeing at the moment are increasing rates of mental health-related and stress-related incidents of injury and illness related to the workplace.” These figures continue to increase, while incidents related to physical health hold steady, or even decline. Black believes this is the result of greater awareness around mental health issues in the public eye – but also that work environments are growing more stressful, even as health and safety regulations improve. “Ten or 15 years ago, these things were viewed solely from a physical perspective, rather than a mental perspective,” says

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Black. “There’s been a lot of effort put into improving physical safety in the workplace, which is great. But it’s taken longer for HR professionals to see the correlation between physical and mental health.” Black also notes that more companies are investing in preventative mental health measures in the workplace. He also posits that it’s likely to become viewed in a similar light to other work and safety measures, with attendant legislation around best practice. “The truth is that mental health needs to be included as part of wider work, health and safety policy,” he says. “The early adopters are getting ahead of the wave and starting to pay attention to mental health now.” Black is passionate that this is the right

thing to do from an obligation and ethical standpoint. But he’s quick to point out that there are also net benefits to businesses that invest in the mental health of their workforces. “Businesses who invest proactively in mental health are ultimately going to increase their profitability,” says Black. “The benefits accrue over time – less sick leave taken, reduced absenteeism and reduced staff turnover are just some of the long-term benefits.”

The Workplace Tune-Up Key to OzHelp’s success is its Workplace Tune-Up (WTU), a holistic screening tool delivered online to each employee. This presents to the employer the aggregated

health and wellbeing data of a workforce or industry, benchmarked against other workplaces with in-built data analytics. The data available from the WTU can guide interventions based on need rather than gut instinct. The WTU report incorporates your workplace rating and benchmarking on a number of validated and reliable measures of employee health and wellbeing, including: • AusD risk – diabetes risk assessment • chronic disease risk assessment • WEMWBS (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale) • PHQ 9 depression scale • productivity measures as linked directly to wellbeing (SPS6)

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IMPECCABLE CREDENTIALS OzHelp programs are designed and evaluated by the University of Wollongong Graduate School of Medicine. OzHelp’s national delivery partner is the Safety Institute of Australia. Members receive discounted services. OzHelp was selected by the Federal Department of Health to deliver the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Strategy nationally. This means that for employers in industries defined as high risk, OzHelp programs are substantially subsidized. This funding subsidy is available now. High-risk industries include construction, mining, transport, utilities, manufacturing, agriculture and several others.

OZHELP Founded in 2001, OzHelp engages and supports approximately 36,000 people each year with their health and wellbeing. OzHelp offers employers market-leading tools to proactively support the health and wellbeing of their workforces. Its award-winning suite of life-saving programs are designed and evaluated in conjunction with the University of Wollongong Graduate School of Medicine and are available to workplaces in any location across Australia. For further information on the Workplace Tune-Up and all OzHelp services, visit www.ozhelpconnect.org.au or phone 1300 694 357.

By looking at factors such as physical health, diet, exercise, sleep, finance and relationships, the WTU helps identify not only the external symptoms (eg suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety or self-harm) but also what may be causing those issues for the individual. “It looks at the whole person, not just a checklist of risk factors,” says Black. “And importantly, we take a holistic view of partnering with the employer. We don’t just have a tick-box approach.” The process is usually well received by employees. As Black notes, there is often a real reluctance by individual employees

for prospective mental health ambassadors among staff.

Preparing for future challenges Black sees the WTU as a force for good in the workplace and points out that it can also indicate signs of a positive and healthy workplace culture. “When you’ve got good social connections, teams that look out for each other and team members that are eager to extend themselves, these are signs of a healthy workplace culture,” says Black. But while most workplaces think they’re unique in the challenges they face, Black

“Businesses who invest proactively in mental health are ultimately going to increase their profitability” Darren Black, CEO, OzHelp to report mental health issues within the company’s own chain of command. “We provide a report to management that provides a unique snapshot of the health of their workplace, and suggestions for workplace initiatives,” says Black. “But everything is de-identified, and we also maintain complete confidentiality. So employees are much happier to talk to independent outsiders.” Around 40% of employees will typically receive some kind of follow-up from OzHelp’s support staff in the following weeks. Sometimes it’s just a simple call; sometimes the individual is referred for clinical counselling. A series of leadership briefings are also held for management, to educate them and increase their awareness of how to respond to it from a leadership perspective. Education is also offered to the whole workforce, as well as training

notes that there is actually a high degree of commonality across industries. “Around 80% of the challenges we encounter in any workplace are very similar,” says Black. “However, it’s in that remaining 20% that the differences come in.” Some of these are simply due to the individual challenges facing a particular workplace, while others are industry-specific. Looking ahead, the WTU will continue to be updated to better accommodate the circumstances that arise in that 20%. Research, teamwork with partners and feedback from employers will continue to influence the future direction. “Eventually, we believe we’re going to have more industry-specific iterations of the WTU,” says Black. “We see the WTU as an iterative tool; it will continue to evolve as we gather more data, speak to employees at ground level and witness trends in the workplace change.”

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Is your workforce

FeeLING the strain?

Workplace psychological and physical health is the big challenge for many organisations. By implementing OzHelp’s Workplace Tune Up, you’ll receive data-driven insights to identify risk areas and guide decision making. Don’t be left in dark. Take an informed approach to workforce mental health and wellbeing... Your workforce will thank you.

Benefits for employers • Workforce screening and benchmark report • Prescribed programs mapped to identified areas of risk • Impact reporting to measure the effectiveness of interventions

Benefits for employees • Personalised report and recommendations • Confidential coaching and crisis referrals.

“Finally a program that pro-actively screens and supports the individual health and wellbeing of our employees while at the same time giving us a comprehensive benchmark data report on the whole workforce. HR Business Partner – Defence Industry

OzHelp’s evidence-based programs build resilience, productivity and individual capability to seek help when it’s needed.

“

did you know?

For more information or to try our Workplace Tune Up demo visit: www.ozhelpconnect.org.au or call 02 6251 4166 OzHelp gratefully acknowledges the funding provided by the Australian Government Department of Health and the ACT and NT Governments

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FEATURES

WORKSCORE

How a positive culture drives productivity Suzanne Deeming, co-founder and CEO of WorkScore, explains why building a strong working environment means investing in a positive workplace culture

GIVEN THE central role work plays in many of our lives, it seems logical that companies should invest in creating a positive working culture. After all, a positive culture has immediately tangible benefits in the wider workplace, leading to higher-performing employees, greater team cohesion and a better customer experience, with more profits as a result.

sense to invest properly in this area. “In a positive workplace culture, there is a strong sense of belonging and teamwork,” says Deeming. “This correlates with employees feeling less down or depressed, less anxious, more engaged and more productive.” On the flip side, she says, you can see a negative impact on employees when there isn’t a positive culture. This isn’t just

“Many businesses don’t yet fully understand the needs of their employees or the benefits of investing in wellbeing programs, but the interest is there” Suzanne Deeming, co-founder and CEO, WorkScore

The 2019 Wellbeing Report This report was designed to investigate the effects of work culture on a variety of employee and business outcomes, Deeming says. “We surveyed more than 12,500 Australian workers across a broad variety of industries,” she says. “The findings were remarkably consistent, with a third of those surveyed indicating that work had a negative impact on their wellbeing.” Within this group of negatively affected employees, 78% also indicated that they frequently experienced stress at work. Accordingly, they were also less happy and more anxious than employees who worked in an environment that had a positive impact on their wellbeing. Results across other areas make for compelling reading, too.

Gender matters Suzanne Deeming, co-founder and CEO of WorkScore, says a positive workplace culture is essential to the success of an organisation. Given the effect that it can have on a company’s ability to recruit, engage and retain talented employees, it makes

hyperbole either – recently, WorkScore published The 2019 Wellbeing Report, the results of a study investigating the importance of workplace culture. Deeming points to its findings as integral to the wider conversation around the issue.

The results of the survey also indicated that women in the workplace tend to be more anxious than their male counterparts. More women reported higher stress levels (65%) than men (51%). While the majority of men (68%) and women (79%) surveyed said

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they frequently experienced stress at work, there were significantly more females who struggled with stress.

Wake up to sleep issues What does sleep have to do with work performance? As it turns out, quite a lot. “We found less than one in three employees are getting enough sleep each night. Not getting enough sleep is a significant contributor to increased stress at work,” says Deeming.

Boost healthy mindsets Employees who rated their diet as healthy

were more positive, better able to deal with problems, and had fewer instances of mental health conditions than those who had an unhealthy diet. Specifically, more fruit and vegetables and less sugar increased positivity and general wellbeing; eating more than five serves of fruit per day (compared to one serve) increased their wellbeing rate by 10% and positivity by 13%.

The fitness factor While there’s a high correlation between regular exercise and being focused at work, 21% of people surveyed said they didn’t

exercise at all in an average week. Alarmingly, people who didn’t exercise also rated themselves as having low concentration at work, and as highly stressed.

Creating a positive workplace culture However, Deeming has good news – namely, that more employers are realising the need to focus on employee wellbeing. “Many businesses don’t yet fully understand the needs of their employees or the benefits of investing in wellbeing programs, but the interest is there,” Deeming says. “It’s up to HR to help steer the wider

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FEATURES

WORKSCORE

the key indicators of a positive workplace culture. According to Deeming, these are:

THE LINK BETWEEN WORK AND WELLBEING

51%

1 in 3

of people think their workplace cares about employee wellbeing

people think their workplace does not care about their wellbeing

People who rate their workplace as caring about employee wellbeing:

People who rate their workplace as not caring about employee wellbeing:

78% 74% 54% 47% 58% 52%

38% 22% 26% 71% 78% 75%

Feel engaged by work Are happy at work Have high energy levels Feel down/depressed often Feel anxious often Have high stress levels

Feel engaged by work Are happy at work Have high energy levels Feel down/depressed often Feel anxious often Have high stress levels Source: WorkScore: The 2019 Wellbeing Report

“In a positive workplace culture, there is a strong sense of belonging and teamwork. This correlates with employees feeling … less anxious, more engaged and more productive” Suzanne Deeming, co-founder and CEO, WorkScore business in the right direction.” Importantly, this is backed up by the data: of the respondents who felt their workplace cared about wellbeing, 78% rated themselves as engaged at work. “In workplaces that are rated as caring about employee wellbeing, there are 3.8 times more employees who are engaged at work, compared with workplaces who are rated as not caring about employee wellbeing,” says Deeming.

HR has an integral role to play in developing a more positive workplace culture. Listening to employee feedback, balancing employee needs versus manage ment expectations, and driving change from behind the scenes are all crucially important to achieving this. But to undertake cultural change HR leaders themselves need to have the right knowledge and the correct tools available. The first place to start is by measuring

• • • •

happiness at work engagement at work concentration at work sense of teamwork and belonging

This can be done in a variety of ways, including through a formal or informal survey of employees, or through general observations and staff discussions. WorkScore provides a platform that enables HR managers to track the overall wellbeing of employees. As WorkScore collects weekly data on a real-time basis, the platform delivers instant and ongoing insights into employee engagement through the vital lens of wellbeing. “Waiting for a biannual or annual engagement survey to check in with your people is fast becoming a thing of the past,” says Deeming. “Instead, we can use WorkScore as an indicator of employee wellbeing. It enables us to provide companies with real-time data on employees across a number of key areas, including work, body, fuel, fitness and mindset.”

Five simple steps Based on the findings of The 2019 Wellbeing Report, Deeming and her team have put together five simple steps to improving employee wellbeing and creating a culture of wellness.

Gather insights

To better understand the particular pressures employees are facing and their areas of importance, Deeming encourages businesses to undertake a wellbeing survey. “Once you’ve done that, you can build your wellbeing policy around the key areas that are identified,” she says.

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Create awareness

Invest in a wellbeing program

An awareness campaign should communicate to employees the importance of wellbeing and adopting a healthy lifestyle. “Importantly, bosses need to communicate their commitment to wellbeing with a formal policy,” says Deeming.

Ideally, a wellbeing program will be multifaceted, incorporating a variety of different features. These may include initiatives such as mental health training and programs; providing healthy food options (for example fruit, healthy vending machine snacks); and fitness or sporting activities for employees. “Depending on your workplace, this may also include providing workplace flexibility in hours and location,” says Deeming. “And for those in the office, it’s important to improve the ergonomics of workspaces and provide proper equipment to support overall wellness at work.”

Lead by example

Deeming is quick to point out that leading by example is a multifaceted

undertaking. Employee achievements must be recognised, and team-based activities are encouraged. However, she suggests that the most important thing is to encourage a healthy work-life balance. Leaders across the business should be visibly involved in the wellbeing program and role-model the work-life balance. “There are a number of ways to do this, including by encouraging regular breaks and full lunch breaks for employees,” Deeming says. “Additionally, let people switch off by reducing work calls and emails outside working hours.”

Check in regularly

Touching base regularly with employees allows HR to monitor the dynamic wellbeing of staff. Regular discussions, check-ins and encouraging open feedback are all of great value. It’s also important to remember that these programs are not simply ‘set and forget’ undertakings. “Employees are living, breathing and changing individuals,” Deeming says. “So you need to adapt your programs to cater for their changing needs.”

Weekly Check-In It’s time to check-in and update your WorkScore! Check-in

WORKSCORE At WorkScore, our mission is to empower every workplace to prioritise overall wellbeing, inspire employees to lead healthier lives, and create thriving workplaces. We believe that people are the core of any business and by providing key insights into employee wellbeing employers can provide targeted wellbeing and engagement programs, with accurate measurement of the results and a greater return on investment. For more information – and to see the full 2019 Wellbeing Report – visit www.workscore.com.au/ebook2019.

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FEATURES

EVENTS

The future of HR:

A collaboration of ideas Driven by rapid changes in technology and behaviour, the Australian workplace is undergoing an evolution. But what does its future hold? And how will HR be affected? That’s what the Cisco Webexsponsored event “The Future of HR: A Collaboration of Ideas” sought to uncover

HELD IN Hub Hyde Park on the afternoon of 21 March, the Cisco Webex event ‘The Future of HR: A Collaboration of Ideas’ highlighted thought leaders in the field of HR, demonstrating new ideas and ways of approaching the subject in 2019.

longer-term implications for HR. While best known for his various hosting roles, Koch himself has an extensive background in the world of small business and personal finance. In his introduction, he spoke of the diversity of small businesses in Australia

“How can we tap into the expertise and how do we provide the tech to go along with that revolution?” David Koch, Australian media personality The sessions were intended to help HR leaders thrive in the new world of work. To view the video summary of the event, visit cisco.com.au/thefutureofhr/. Emceed by noted TV personality David Koch, the event featured a number of speakers, each providing their insights into the modern working environment and the

and the challenges they face, including the growing competition for talent. Then there was the question of how businesses could create a positive culture within the workplace. The trend in the modern office, Koch said, has been towards a more collaborative environment made easier by new technology and digital tools. Placing greater emphasis

on such an approach not only encourages more creative thinking but also helps breed a better culture within organisations. When people are collaborating, it can enable a broader variety and higher quality of outcomes. “How can we tap into the expertise and how do we provide the tech to go along with that revolution?” asked Koch. He also spoke of his own interest in continual learning, and explained that his role in the Australian media had also enabled him to facilitate such learning both for himself and for viewers. The event was a logical extension of that interest, he said, before introducing Zach Kitschke, head of community at Canva.

Canva: Balancing rapid expansion with cultural preservation Founded in 2012, Canva was the brainchild of Melanie Perkins. Serving as an online graphic design platform, it provides images, templates and layouts to professionals and amateurs alike. In 2019, Canva now has 15 million customers around the world. Kitschke spoke about the unique HR challenges organisations face when they are undergoing rapid expansion. The fifth person to be employed by Canva in its early days, he’s seen the group expand from a handful of staff in 2012 to more than 500 employees across multiple countries today. Asked about the HR’s biggest challenge, Kitschke said: “HR needs to be more strategic and stop trying to be corporate HR” – largely because people often switch off when they feel they’re being “sold” to. Rather, the organisation needs to look for more effective ways to incorporate human elements. Kitschke stressed the need for organisations to scale their practices regularly. “Even going from five to 10 people it was a big shift!” he said. And with Canva hoping to drastically expand its employee numbers to 800–1,000 employees by the end of the year, there’s an urgent need to ensure that the

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CANVA company preserves its distinctive culture. Upskilling leaders internally will prepare for this change and retain the original culture, even as new leaders join the organisation. In practical terms, Canva has numerous tools in place for this kind of growth. Hiring choices are carefully considered in light of the company’s existing needs and culture. A hiring strategy document is drawn up for every new position, creating a brief on why the hire is necessary, what sort of duties will be carried out and what larger goals will need to be achieved. During the interview process, there isn’t a big emphasis on aptitude tests, but

Canva was founded in 2012 by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and Cam Adams. Today, Canva has millions of users across 179 countries, creating 10 new designs every second, resulting in over 300 million designs created since launch. With over 60,000 free templates and a library of over three million images, our design community is served with new inspiration every day, including local holiday favourites such as Chinese New Year, Fourth of July, Bastille Day and Diwali. Canva is available on desktop, iPad and iPhone, with Android soon to launch. For more information, visit www.canva.com.

considerable emphasis is placed on attitude, Kitschke said. With the company routinely attracting hundreds of applications per position, there’s an impressive pool of candidates, but there also needs to be an effective way to cut through unsuitable applicants quickly.

“We have quite a structured interview process that looks at problem-solving, values, and how [candidates have] gone about how they deal with challenging situations and environments,” he said. Once hired, onboarding at Canva also lasts around six months – Kitschke referred

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FEATURES

EVENTS

to it as a “boot camp” – which ingrains the organisation’s culture into the new recruits. Additionally, Canva invests extensively in its internal processes, assessing which employees are collectively setting high workplace standards, and what traits they possess. While not based on any one individual, it allows Canva to better determine best practice for future candidates. This is also built into future planning. Teams are deliberately developed to be modular, splitting into new teams if they become any larger than about eight people. “It’s time to split if they grow much bigger than that,” said Kitschke, also noting that this modular approach helps encourage a positive attitude towards change, and prevents individuals from getting too tied to specific roles or titles. Senior staff are still able to mentor younger staff, but there’s also scope for individuals to be self-contained and autonomous. Given that Canva offices now span the USA, Beijing and Manila, it’s not enough to communicate via telephone calls or meetings, Kitschke said. Rather, other purpose-built team collaboration tools need to be used to facilitate asynchronous communication in order to keep everyone on the same page. For any business with multiple locations and/or remote workers, technologies such as Cisco Webex Teams become crucial for

“HR needs to be more strategic and stop trying to be corporate HR” Zach Kitschke, head of community, Canva enabling virtual meetings, secure file sharing and real-time collaboration across the business. However, as Kitschke said, technology is just a starting point. Showing everyone how to use it properly and get the best out of it is essential – even with younger staff you can’t automatically assume that everyone is using

HUB AUSTRALIA Hub Australia’s mission has always been to create a home for businesses to grow, and we deliver this through beautiful, all-inclusive workspaces with inspirational national and global business communities. Founded by Brad Krauskopf in 2011, Hub Australia not only provides beautiful and functional workspaces but also connects people and organisations with talent, ideas and resources so they can achieve their goals. Hub has become the largest Australian-owned and operated co-working provider, with locations in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. For more information, visit www.hubaustralia.com.au.

it in the way you would expect or getting the best benefit from it. Founder Perkins’ vision for Canva was “a long time coming”, as she started pitching the initial concept about 15 years ago, Kitschke said. It’s a purity of vision that has enabled many aspects of the company to be effectively realised. “There’s a lot of clarity on what we’re moving towards and what we’re wanting to build,” said Kitschke.

Hub Australia: Making workplaces more flexible Next on the agenda was Brad Krauskopf, CEO and founder of Hub Australia. Hub Australia provides flexible co-working space for a variety of organisations, ranging from individual freelancers through to

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departmental subsidiaries of major corporations. Around 3,000 people use Hub’s co-working spaces across Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide every day. Speaking about the origins of the project, Krauskopf pointed to the GFC in 2008. All of a sudden there was a whole new group of freelancers, he said, largely as a result of mass layoffs throughout the world. However, many of these new freelancers didn’t simply want to work from their houses; the home environment presented too many distractions from the task at hand. But the cost of maintaining an office would have been excessive. A compromise was needed, and organisations like Hub stepped up to fill the gap. When Hub Australia was founded in 2011, Krauskopf said the market for co-working was largely individual freelancers or tiny start-ups. But it’s evolved since then, with larger companies increasingly seeing the value in co-working. The exposure to surrounding businesses and communal areas and the ability to move to a new location as required if the business expands or shrinks have proven a boon for many organisations. Krauskopf also feels that co-working has been given a boost by limitations inherent in remote working. Remote working is great, he says, but only up to a point. It can be extremely isolating, particularly over an extended period. Many employees need regular human interaction in order to produce their best work. Co-working, Krauskopf believes, provides a simple answer to the question of how a workplace can be made more flexible. The results have been evident in Hub Hyde Park, the site of the day’s proceedings. Currently, Krauskopf said, the Hub has 50/50 gender representation, while also displaying an impressive range of age di Kitschke versity. “That’s our workplace,” said Krauskopf proudly. Co-working does not have to be, and should not be, solely the preserve of youthful tech start-ups, he pointed out.

Ideas around the modern workplace are likely to continue to shift as work practices evolve. “You can no longer have an OK place to work; it has to be an amazing place to work,” said Krauskopf. If companies want employees to give their “heart and soul” to the organisation, they must also be willing to give back – and that extends beyond simple remuneration. Krauskopf predicts that co-working (and

be creating an office environment in which employees want to be, not a location they’re simply stuck in because of the rent.

Building a new best practice The afternoon was capped off with a Q&A with all of the speakers. With thoughtful questions from the audience and insightful commentary from host David Koch, it presented powerful new ideas about the workplace and the way it may affect best

“You can no longer have an OK place to work; it has to be an amazing place to work” Brad Krauskpof, CEO and founder, Hub Australia other flexible working arrangements) will become increasingly common over the next five years. While both he and Koch expressed some scepticism about their viability as commercial enterprises in remote areas, it seems likely that their popularity will continue to expand around major CBDs in Australia. “Culture, people and technology change, but property doesn’t change that often,” he said. Leases and other arrangements around property can have a negative impact on an organisation, inhibiting both its natural growth and cultural mores. Smart companies, says Krauskopf, should

practice in HR. For those who weren’t able to make the live event, a camera crew captured the key insights and learnings from the experts and attendees. “The Future of HR: A Collaboration of Ideas” was brought to you by Cisco Webex to help HR leaders thrive in the new world of work. From online meetings to whiteboarding to secure file sharing with the whole team, Cisco Webex enables millions of businesses to collaborate and do their best teamwork every day. To view the video summary of the event and learn more about Cisco Webex, visit cisco.com.au/thefutureofhr.

CISCO Cisco is the worldwide technology leader that has been making the internet work since 1984. Our people, products and partners help society securely connect and seize tomorrow’s digital opportunity today. Cisco Webex is the leading enterprise-grade solution for video conferencing, online meetings and team collaboration. With in-built tools such as screen share, secure file sharing and whiteboarding, Webex enables millions of businesses to collaborate and do their best teamwork every day. Collaboration just got easier with Cisco Webex. To learn more about Team Collaboration and Cisco Webex Teams, and to try Teams free, visit cisco.com.au/webex. Discover more at Cisco.com.au or follow us on Twitter at @CiscoANZ.

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FEATURES

EVENTS

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PEOPLE

CAREER PATH

FAST AND FURIOUS

He’s driven to challenge the status quo – and ‘be the most successful version of myself that I can be’, says Chris Purdy Chris Purdy’s first job, snagged at the age of 15, led to big things: his initial position on the registers at a Target store segued into various in-demand positions before he was promoted to supervisor. He ultimately rose to the position of manager of an entire division of one of the most profitable stores in WA. “I had a supportive manager – in essence my mentor – who provided me with direction and let me take things on and learn and grow.”

2006 SNAGS FIRST JOB

2007

2010

STARTS OWN BUSINESS While still in high school, teenage Purdy began working as a freelance graphic and web designer. “I taught myself coding and Photoshop and had a small business assisting clients with things I was naturally good at. I made time for it; I have that entrepreneurial drive. I wanted to be the most successful version of myself that I can be. I’m still a proud geek – I have an ability to understand technology and the role it plays in a business.”

2015

2012

LEARNS THE ROPES In his final role as operations manager at Target, Purdy, at the age of just 19, was accountable for all of the store’s HR functions. “It gave me an understanding of how a large operation runs and how HR fits into that. I strive to empower, not to be an obstacle. I see the bigger picture. I enjoy seeing a problem and how we can get around that problem.”

RELOCATES TO QLD

Purdy moved from his base in Perth to Surfers’ Paradise when he was promoted to a position created with him in mind. “I feel my ability to relate to people always got me a long way. While in WA I built up a good relationship with the executive director and a position was created for me [in Queensland]. I think being articulate and confident has helped a lot. I back my word – what I say is what I genuinely believe.”

2018

CRACKS THE BOOKS In his earlier years Purdy dabbled in higher education, although nothing held his attention; however, as recently as last year he commenced a course in change management – his latest educational achievement.

“[Previous HR-specific study] taught me to think differently. It gave me the ability to connect with other practitioners; to have a deeper understanding of why we do the things we do. These days I have my eyes set on an MBA”

DELVES INTO HR Intrigued by his HR experience at Target, Purdy zeroed in on the field and secured his first professional job at hotel giant Mantra in a position responsible for half of Australia. “I was involved in change and implementation across different sites and had to be mindful of building a relationship even when not seeing the other person frequently. My ability to relate to people always got me where I needed to be. I found it’s all about being open and transparent.”

2016

JOINS ACCORHOTELS Purdy stepped outside his comfort zone to take on a corporate-level role managing shared services at Mantra Group (now AccorHotels after 2018’s acquisition), bringing his operational HR experience to bear in transforming service delivery. “What we do from a hotel operational perspective is different from some of our competitors. With our focus on centralising key corporate functions we have been able to identify greater efficiencies and scale fast to suit different operating models.“

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PEOPLE

OTHER LIFE

TELL US ABOUT YOUR OTHER LIFE Email hrdeditor@keymedia.com

Ultimate ga mes typically see three ‘ha ndlers’ a nd four ‘cutters’ from each tea m taking to the field

Highest number of goals Xie has scored in a game

Number of out-of-town tournaments Xie plays in a season

Number of times Xie has been named MVP (in 2018 season)

THE ULTIMATE WIN

When she’s not furthering her HR skills, Rebecca Xie is likely to be throwing a competitive Frisbee REBECCA XIE first encountered Ultimate when a high-school pal needed a partner to try out for the team, but these days the Toronto-based HR assistant spends much of her summer dedicated to playing the Frisbee-based team sport as part of the competitive women’s touring team, Nox. As part of Nox, Xie has travelled across

Ontario competing in regional tournaments, an activity that sees her leaving Toronto on Friday evening to play up to nine games in two days before returning late on Sunday. Xie’s passion for the game is timeconsuming even beyond these weekends. While tournament season runs through

the summer, the fundraising activities that enable it begin in March and continue for much of the year, and this year Xie holds the position of fundraising coordinator. But for Xie the effort is well worth it. “The cohesion of the community is unlike any other sport I’ve played. It feels more like a family to me than a team.” Photo by Ed Kung; inset photos by Daniel Ngai

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