Australia’s top companies have been ranked and rated in a recent report. How did these firms succeed where others failed?
Twenty-five of Australia’s best firms have been ranked, and details about the inner workings of these organisations revealed, in the 2016 Best Places to Work Study by Great Place to Work.
The report used survey data from more than 50,000 employees at 135 companies. Great Place to Work also evaluated each organisation’s policies in nine different practice areas.
For firms with over 100 employees, the top ten best places to work are listed below:
- Salesforce (IT/software)
- Stryker (health care/medical sales & distribution)
- Atlassian (IT/software)
- Mecca Brands (retail)
- Adobe Systems (IT/software)
- Optiver (financial services)
- MEC (media services)
- NetApp Australia (IT/data management)
- Summit Homes Group (construction & real estate)
- OMD Australia (advertising & marketing)
There were definite trends amongst those listed in the report too. For instance, 90% of top-ranked firms offered subsidies to encourage employees to participate in continuing education. The maximum amount offered per year was $5,700.
In addition to this, 96% provided individual development plans and 58% offered exchange programs with international affiliates. On average, a total of 124 hours of on-the-job training were offered.
Regarding flexible work arrangements, numbers were also high. Ninety-six per cent of employers offered flexible scheduling – a benefit taken up by 55% of staff.
Similarly, 96% of top ranked firms allowed employees to work from home or telecommute. Take-up rates were generally high in this area too with 44% of staff benefiting from these policies.
Other offerings were not as widely accepted however. For instance while 54% of included companies allowed job sharing, only 4.6% of employees took advantage of this benefit.
These policies had definite advantages for all companies involved though. Not only were employee engagement scores consistently high at 89% but the average revenue growth for all Best Places to Work over the 12 months prior was 39.6%.
“Leaders at these companies know that what is good for the workplace is also good for business, and that being a great workplace and having great employees leads to better client retention, customer satisfaction, and in turn a healthier bottom line,” said Zrinka Lovrencic, managing director at Great Place to Work Australia.
“Great workplaces secure employee retention and provide ample opportunities for ongoing training and leadership development. They keep employees inspired and save resources on recruitment and new hire training, while helping employees develop the knowledge and skills needed to grow the business.”
