CarlyBairstow General Manager, People, Culture and Communications
ForHousingChoices tomeet its ambitious strategicandorganisational goals itmust attract andmotivate talentedsta and support theirdevelopment.
To help achieve this, Housing Choices o ers competitive remuneration and non-salaried benefits, a significant focus on learning and development, reward and recognition, and a professional, safe and collaborative work environment supported by sound human resource practices. sta to participate in a survey to measure employee perceptions across the organisation - 73% participated. From them, we heard that the organisation did have a clear vision and strong strategic direction, but that internally we needed to place greater focus on organisational learning and empowerment - valuable feedback indeed. A few months later, I was appointed to a new executive position as General Manager, People, Culture and Communications and began introducing systems and initiatives to work toward improving that focus. Since then, every sta member has prepared a formal, professional and personal development plan and held career discussions with their manager. Setting foundational learning requirements has also been a focus, with the majority of our sta across all o ces completing customer service and equal opportunity training. A number of front-line sta also completed mental health first aid training. Rewards and recognition inspires and motivates higher performance. Formal recognition is made through the Housing Choices ‘Going the Extra Mile’ (or GEM) program, which gives sta an opportunity to recognise the achievements of individuals whose work epitomises Housing Choices’ guiding principles - particularly our commitment to customer service. Understanding the real experience of our sta is incredibly important to us to nurture our internal culture. We asked
As our organisation grows, it’s important to continually improve how we practice workplace health and safety. Our new Workplace Health and Safety Strategy focusses on the prevention of both physical and psychological injuries, underpinned by actions that will build a workplace health and safety culture that will enable our people, and all those who do business with us, to return home safely from our workplaces. We also appointed a dedicated workplace health and safety manager to drive these actions and implement a contractor management system. The success of both internal and external initiatives in any organisation is dependent on quality communications. We need to be clear about our aims, expectations and opportunities, and provide e ective communications, in a ‘noisy’ digital world, that will cut through and reach our broad and varied stakeholder base; sta and residents, partners and governments, contractors and the general community. The expansion and development of our marketing and communications team this year has provided us with the capacity to deliver important messages, both externally and internally, with greater e ciency and creativity. Introduction of a monthly digital sta newsletter and a series of expanding initiatives for communicating our achievements and impact, have meant that collateral like our Impact Report , new Business Strategy and other key communications are also delivered e ciently to our internal audiences. With o ces in four states, and expansion a key priority, good communication is the key to ensuring that we remain a cohesive and close-knit organisation, regardless of distance.
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Developing a robust, resilient and agile organisation |
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