'It's about supporting employees at all life stages,' says director of people and culture
: Over the past year, global drinks company Australian Vintage achieved a 19% increase in female management representation. And this year, the company won the 2023 Most Improved Gender Equity Award at the Australian Drinks Awards in Sydney.
The company’s increase in female representation is an accomplishment the company attributes to its focus on welcoming and supporting women in senior roles.
Natasha Dale, Australian Vintage’s director of people and culture, told HRD Australia the company worked hard to support its employees, listening to feedback on how it can make the workplace inclusive.
“We've really taken a holistic approach to how we attract and retain particularly females to the company,” she said. “This includes fully flexible work practices, benefits, and also most importantly a culture where those females – and all employees – but females in particular, really feel like they can thrive [and] bring their whole self to work. And we really hold everyone to a high standard of inclusive behaviours.”
When it comes to improving gender equity and employee engagement in a business, Dale said “it’s about supporting employees at all life stages”.
For women in particular, Dale believes succession planning, talent management and mentoring is important. So too is providing education and support, running leadership programs, and having an inclusive culture that fosters inclusion and diversity.
“What has been really key for us is that it's not just one policy, it's not just one employee engagement survey,” she said. “You've really got to be consistent over a time period and I think employees have really got to see that change.”
A ‘generous benefits package’
Australian Vintage offers employees a “generous benefits package,” said Dale, where primary carers receive 26 weeks of paid parental leave; secondary carers can receive up to four weeks of paid parental leave. On top of that, primary and secondary carers can also take paid leave at half pay.
“Theoretically, as a primary carer, you could take a full year off at half pay, so still have that steady income coming through,” she said.
“For those wanting to take longer, we then offer up to another 12 months of unpaid leave. The super[annuation] payments are paid throughout the full parental leave period and if you drop down onto half pay or unpaid leave up to six months, you'll still get your full superannuation payments on your full-time salary.”
The company also offers up to 10 “keeping in touch days”, paid days where employees can briefly return to work from leave for activities such as a strategy days.
“[It] really helps with employees feeling like they're still in the loop if they want to,” Dale said. “They don't have to take those keeping in touch days, or they can choose to take them on their return to phase them coming back to the workplace.”
These benefits are in contrast to recent research from the University of Adelaide, which found that discrimination against pregnant women, particularly those who have returned to work after maternity leave, is still rife.
Attractive leave policies
Australian Vintage has several other benefits for employees. Annual leave may be purchased, with the option to take leave at half pay also offered. Employees get a day off on their birthday and after three years, they get an additional five days of annual leave.
“I think what’s happening is employees are getting more of a balance,” Dale said. “When they're given more annual leave, there's more of that work-life balance, people are getting less stressed, less burnt out, people are taking more of a break and longer breaks as well.”
The company also has a flexible work-from-anywhere policy, which has resonated well with its workers.
“We're finding that… people are extending those overseas breaks and possibly working from a different location,” she said. “And the feedback is that people are just extremely refreshed after those breaks and that additional annual leave.”
Not only that, the company rolled out its ‘summer Fridays’ benefit.
“We encourage people to finish early on a Friday to take that long weekend, go pick the kids up or have that extra time with family if needed and that's through the summer months,” Dale said. “I think holistically, it's all about autonomy and trust within the team. And being really outputs-driven to allow these policies to be able to work and thrive.”
Securing a gender equity award
While Australian Vintage secured the Most Improved Gender Equity Award, Dale acknowledged that it’s not just the awards the company uses to measure the success of its internal programs. It’s also about the levels of employee engagement.
“We've got high levels of employee engagement and we have over the last couple of years,” Dale said. “And we've seen an increase in the employee engagement scores around work-life balance, flexibility, and rewards and recognition. So our employees are telling us actively that they know we value that and they're satisfied with the benefits that we're offering.”
Dale added that it is important for HR leaders to implement policies that are going to make a difference in employee’s lives. This will in turn result in loyalty and discretionary effort from those employees.
“The return on investment outweighs the initial upfront investment for putting these policies in place, because you will get reduced turnover and you'll get really happy employees who are highly engaged and want to stick around,” she said.
