Technology companies dominated the winners podium in the second annual employer of choice survey, conducted by HRD Magazine.
Technology company Data
#3 took out the gold medal, while software provider
MYOB and health company Johnson & Johnson took home the silver and bronze medals respectively for their commitment to leadership, work-life balance and overall employee engagement.
HC spoke to the winner of the gold medal in the large (500+ employees) category, Tash Macknish, national manager, OD & HR at Data
#3 about the accolade.
HC: What does this award mean for your organisation and why do you think your employees rated you so highly?
Tash Macknish: We are thrilled to receive this award. Our people and industry contacts obviously feel that we are doing a good job living up to the high standards that we set ourselves. To have this achievement recognised in a forum such as this is outstanding. We pride ourselves on living our values and keeping our key stakeholders at the forefront of all our business decisions, which is instrumental in building this culture.
HC: What does this award mean for you personally, and your HR team?
TM: It’s fantastic external validation for the hard work the team put in. We are a small team of 10 professionals who are passionate about what we do and are committed to the people of Data
#3. It is great to know that our people can feel the effort that we put in and are happy to say so.
HC: How would you sum up the corporate culture at Data#3 and how do you ensure this culture is communicated and ‘lived’?
TM: Our culture is built on our core values – HEART (Honesty, Excellence, Agility, Respect and Teamwork). These values are integral to the way we work as a business and the way we interact with each other within the business. We firmly believe that culture starts at the top and our CEO and leadership team are champions of our culture. We understand that our people shape our business and while we don’t always get it right, we are always seeking feedback and striving to improve.
HC: Data#3 received ‘top performer’ status in the ‘Work-Life Balance’ sub-category. What does your company do to get this balance right? Do you offer flexible work options?
TM: We understand that flexible work options are not just a privilege, but a necessity given the evolving nature of the working landscape. We strive to balance business priorities with personal needs and come up with the best outcomes. Central to making such arrangements a positive experience is effective communication; where employees are comfortable communicating their needs with managers, and managers are comfortable about communicating expectations to employees. We are always working to maintain an environment where that kind of communication is commonplace.
Iain Hopkins, editor of HRD, spoke to HC about the methodology behind the program. "In the second annual
HRD Employer of Choice Awards, sponsored by Maxxia, we posed a range of questions to employees, asking about everything from their satisfaction with current remuneration through to leadership effectiveness within their organisation. Importantly, these awards were voted on not by HR professionals themselves, but the people within their organisation" said Hopkins.
"Those companies that achieved the highest average scores from employees are acknowledged as ‘top performers’ in each sub-category" he said.
The Employer of Choice survey is conducted annually and the findings are published in Human Resources Director Magazine's May issue.
