What makes Australia’s best workplace so great?

Recently dubbed Australia’s best workplace, Atlassian has set out on a road trip around the country to hire new talent and cement its reputation as a top employer.

Atlassian was named the nation’s top employer by Great Place to Work Australia, and credits its company mantra for its success as a workplace.

Atlassian’s company culture centres around several values, including: ‘Open Company, No BS’, ‘Build with Heart and Balance’, ‘Play, as a Team’, and ‘Be the Change You Seek’.

The organisation topped a survey of 28,000 workers to be named the nation’s best place to work.

“We don’t just hire people to come in and execute on what we’ve already decided, we really empower our employees,” Cait Staunton, head of Asia-Pacific recruiting at Atlassian, told Business Spectator. “We want their ideas and their minds, not just their code.”

Atlassian’s headquarters are in Sydney, with other offices in Austin, Amsterdam and San Francisco.

Once a quarter, employees at Atlassian get the chance to work on anything that relates to the company's products, and deliver it during ShipIt Day, a 24-hour hackathon. They've also adopted Google’s ‘20% time’ mantra, which permits staff to spend 20% of their working hours on a passion project.

Staunton also attributed free food, boutique beer on tap, pool and table tennis tables and leave allowances to partake in charity work to the company’s success as an employer.

Staunton explained that despite their distinguished company culture, there is still a need to cast their net wide when sourcing talent – hence the road trip.

“A lot of the people that we hire are really happy in their jobs, because they're great people and they find great employers who treat them really well,” she said.

Atlassian is using the journey around Australia as an opportunity to fill 150 roles – which is hoped to be achieved by June. The company is offering generous remuneration and support to help potential employees to relocate to Sydney.

As a tech company, the company is highly successful in holding onto top talent when its competitors are so globally prominent with their perk packages.  According to Staunton, this is down to good change management and maintaining fundamental values.

“The culture has changed but the values have not," Staunton told Business Spectator. “The culture is always going to change, and I don't think that's something we necessarily want to keep the same.

We tell every person that we hire we want them to add to our culture and bring it to the next level. But the values remain constant, and that's a big part of what makes Atlassian a great place to work.”