Champions of change in the workplace

DIVERSITY consultants have a name for people who do not know that change is supposed to be difficult.

"We call them workplace champions," says Justine Murphy, a director of consultancy company Diversity at Work.

"Very often, when we are called out to these places, particularly small to medium-sized firms, there is usually one person who says: 'I know how to fix this'."

At Hervey Bay company Astro Alloys, that workplace champion is 30-year-old Danielle Hore.

Astro Alloys won the mature category (small business) in the national Diversity at Work awards , which were presented earlier this month.

Another Queensland nomination, a global consulting company with offices at Spring Hill in Brisbane, Sinclair Knight Merz, won the indigenous category of the awards.

 
Astro Alloys, which operates in an area not known for its youthful population, was losing its workforce to retirement so Danielle Hore, the company's human resources manager, set herself the task of finding out how to make the workplace more mature-age friendly and retain more of its admittedly ageing employees.

She went to the Workplace Authority, attended some workshops run by the Employment Advocate and then spoke to staff before drawing up workplace agreements - all without legal assistance.

"It was all about finding out and fitting in with what the employees themselves wanted," Hore says.

The result is a business which has grown because it hangs on to its older workers.

Sales have increased, staff turnover is down, productivity has improved and absenteeism has dropped.

 
The move to a more flexible workplace was strongly supported by owners of the business, Danielle's parents, Gayle and Ken Hore.

"We all thought the same thing. We had to do something," Hore says. "We do have a fair bit of a skills shortage here in Hervey Bay and we also employ a lot of mature-age workers.

 
"We had to look at what we could do that would benefit the workers as well as us."

 
While Hore can understand some small business owners may be daunted by the prospect of implementing flexible work practices, she says the process was actually quite simple.

"It's pretty easy really," she says. "Now the Workplace Authority has done a wizard where you can build your own agreements. Business owners can just select the best options for them and for their employees."

With its phased retirement, staggered starting hours, casual and part-time options, Astro Alloys has become a model for flexible working arrangements.

Although most workers are on casual agreements, they are able to bank hours and take paid holiday leave.

Starting times were also changed. Some workers start at 7am and finish at 1.30pm. Most of the workforce has Friday afternoons off. The workers are also able to change the number of days they work and move into other roles, such as supervisory positions.

Hore says there has been no resentment from other workers about the mature-age workers' conditions because everyone has access to the same arrangements.

It is in the area of sales staff that Astro Alloys has had most success. It has found the experienced workers have the most successful sales figures.

"In the sales area, it's normal to have a pretty high turnover but now we have a "much lower staff turnover in sales," Hore says.

In Sinclair Knight Merz's case, the company wanted to set an example for corporate Australia by providing opportunities for indigenous Australians.

SKM principal Bill Lawson, who is also founder of the Beacon Foundation, says the attitude was incorporated into company philosophy and a range of activities regularly take place within the organisation to ensure the philosophy filters through the organisation.

The company employs 14 Aboriginal cadets nationwide who are reading for a range of bachelor degrees.

SKM also is involved in project management, providing a large degree of pro bono work, for the Something Concrete project at Kununurra. The project is a joint venture between the Beacon Foundation, Wunan Foundation and the shire of Wyndham and East Kimberley in Western Australia and provides locally produced precast housing for Aboriginal people across the East Kimberley.

 
Indigenous young people from the area are employed as trainees in the precast concrete work to ensure skills are developed within the community.

The company is closely involved in the Beacon Foundation's indigenous focus in projects such as Something Concrete, participation in an indigenous school retention program in Perth, and a No Dole program in the Pilbara, which involves BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Woodside, and Argyle Diamond Mine at Kununurra.

At a cultural level, the company commissioned an original artwork by Aboriginal artist Deann Grant which has been incorporated into the branding of the company's indigenous activities and initiatives.

 
Each year, the company also recognises the International World Day for the World's Indigenous People in August in its offices in Australia.

Reference: The Courier Mail - November 16, 2007