The study also found that becoming a ‘best employer’ has tangible benefits for a company’s bottom line.

On average, the ‘best employers’ receive five job applications for every 2.8 received by other employers; the average staff turnover is around 15 percent compared to 20 percent; share prices tend to be higher than for other companies in the same sector; average revenue growth between 1998 and 2000 was 48 percent versus 25 percent for others, and profit growth was 62 percent versus 18 percent.

All of this requires a long-term investment of five to seven years of constant effort on behalf of the employer.

According to Andrew Bell from Hewitt Associates, there are four main elements that make up a ‘Best Employer’: "Best employers excel in people leadership, they create a compelling employment offer for employees, they accelerate development of their people, and culture and values are viewed as critically important."

Being named one of Australia’s top Ten Best Employers to Work for (companies under 1,000 staff) by The Hewitt & Associates/Australian Graduate School of Management award study is a very high honour indeed. It means that these ten companies have admirably performed above and beyond the basic requirements of an employer.

Salesforce is Australia’s largest outsourced call centre services provider, with over 1000 employees based in its head office in Carlton. There are also field sales teams in all capital cities and call centre operations in New Zealand, and Malaysia. SalesForce began life in 1994.

Salesforce has long since had a reputation for offering its recruits the opportunity to design their own career paths, as well as enviable benefits. It rated seventh on the list of best employers to work for with over 1000 staff.

Team development manager Stuart French stresses that as no two employees are the same, there is no strict range of benefits offered.

"Our culture and company philosophy recognises that individuals are motivated differently. What one employee finds a benefit of their employment may not have appeal to others so we offer diversity and flexibility in the benefits we offer the team," says French.

"We provide an environment that allows people to be themselves and encourages
creativity and questioning, resulting in a workforce that feels valued and
appreciated," he says.

This philosophy is put into practice through benefits such as massage, work/life balance seminars, financial planning seminars and other information and educational benefits, which are, says French, "part of the norm at SalesForce".

French also adds that all employees are placed on a level playing field when it comes to having their desires and opinions heard. "All employees have the communication
avenues to provide their own suggestions to enhance the environment and
continually stimulate motivation and increase productivity," he says.

One of SalesForce’s greatest drawcards is undoubtedly its career pathing programme. All team leaders and project managers started as phone agents, but if they show initiative and drive, are encouraged to move into other roles in the company. Phone veterans are now at work in the IT and finance sections, working as trainers, pursuing new business, coaching agents on client product developments and administration.

Another example of a top ten company is SC Johnson, a consumer goods company that makes and markets brands such as Glade, Windex, Pledge, Duck, Mr Muscle, Drano and Raid.

Andrew Meidler, SC Johnson’s Human Resources Director for Australia and New Zealand for the past three years says that there is no one thing that has placed SC Johnson so highly amongst the ten employers, at number seven on the list.

Meidler explains, "One of the main ways that we can grow our business is through developing new products that solve a consumer’s need. SC Johnson continues to grow both in terms of sales and profits annually. We have one office in Australia in Lane Cove, Sydney and another in Auckland."

SC Johnson make sure that their HR programs are focussed in four areas: work/life, balance, career development, personal development and recognition. Meidler says, "The main thing that makes SC Johnson stand out as a great place to work is the fact that we do not implement anything unless we an live up to and continue the promise."

Since being on the best employer list SC Johnson have received approximately 30 per cent more applications by mail and email. Three years ago SC Johnson was experiencing 75 employee retention, now they have an impressive 90 per cent retention of employees.

Meidler says that the company provides unlimited sick leave, five days paid carers leave and nine weeks paid maternity leave. SC Johnson has flexible hours (core hours of 9am-3pm), a subsidised canteen, on site gym, pick up and drop off dry cleaning and casual dress. In terms of training they spend at least two per cent of their total salary on development.

We provide leadership development training to everyone who has people responsibilities, communicate the strategic plan to all employees regardless of their role, hold quarterly employee communication meetings and have a values based culture that emphasises amongst other behaviour a respect for people.

One of our HR measures is the percentage of internal promotions rising every year. A mixture of classroom training and project work is typically used for development," explains Meidler.

Meidler is a very satisfied employee himself. "Some personal examples of why I think SC Johnson is a great company are the ability to leave early on Fridays and take my three children to swimming. I can also leave early on Tuesdays to coach a children’s soccer team and receive profit share payments twice a year from the company."

Results of the ‘Best Employers to Work for in Australia’ 2001 study, conducted jointly by the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) and Hewitt Associates.

 

 Australia Best employers with more than 1,000 staff: