Australia Post has been developing their Employer Value Proposition to attract the best talent from across Australia
A lot of businesses across the globe are realising talent is harder to find and employees have more choice about where they work, according to Quila Israelson, marketing manager, employer branding at Australia Post
“Large companies like Australia Post are realising that the paradigm is changing, the economy is changing and we need to transform the way that we approach talent,” she told HRD.
Consequently, Australia Post is investing in developing their Employer Value Proposition for nine key business units ranging across blue, pink and white collar roles.
Israelson said the EVP is an honest look into what it means and what it is like to work at Australia Post.
Australia Post looked at research which suggested that candidates, whether they are passively or actively looking for a role with any company, will have about 3-10 touchpoints with that company before actually applying.
“So it’s all about telling a story and showing them what it’s like to work at a place before they end up applying,” said Israelson.
“It gives us a more informed candidate, there is better retention and employees are happier because they know the culture, the type of work, the people, and even the location of where they are going to be working.
“It also speaks to their personal unique values, so gone are the days of money being the most important reason why somebody joins a company.
“It is very much about the environment they are going to be working in, the social situation and how they are viewed in the community.”
Our Women in Transport
One initiative Australia Post developed is called ‘Our Women in Transport’. It began after Australia Post spoke with their drivers as part of their EVP research.
They found that the reason why their drivers love coming to work is that they feel safe and secure driving every single day.
Moreover, Israelson said they are really proudly professional, they love being on the road and they also feel part of a community.
“If you ask them they will use the word ‘mateship’, they feel like the people they work with are their close mates,” she said.
“In the transport industry we know that there is really low female representation. At Australia Post, we wanted to make sure that diversity is something that we think of in every facet of the business given that we want to represent our customer base internally.”
Accordingly, Australia Post formulated a goal of increasing the amount of women coming into transport by 5% in FY18.
"We met with women across Victoria that range in age, tenure, experiences at the company and role type within the transport division," she said.
"We asked them what their experiences have been like and what initially attracted them to work at Australia Post.
"We never asked them questions related to the EVP but they all touched on those key points of feeling safe and secure, having a wonderful community, and what it means to be a woman in this industry."
Australia Post then created videos and images off the back of that which have been shared across Facebook, Instagram, and some traditional resourcing channels for jobs like SEEK.
“We have achieved amazing results so far as we have had more than 200 applications in one role, of which about 40% are women,” said Israelson.
“What we have been able to do is bring any great person into the business and train them with the skills that they need to make sure they are safe on the road.
“So they might not have the right licensing, but we are willing to train them to make sure they are safe if they are a great match for the company.”
Israelson added that the most important thing that they have learned in their EVP journey is that the trust doesn’t necessarily come from the brand sharing of the EVP messaging. It comes from the people.
“We trained our employees on how to use their social network, how to improve their professional presence on LinkedIn and they shared their unique story in working at Australia Post. The engagement has just been wild,” she said.
“So that’s how we are getting the EVP out, having employee ambassadors share our stories for us.”
