Five of the best perks offered by Australia’s top workplaces

A book that shares employees’ mental health journeys, two weeks of paid “COVID leave”, the ability to work from anywhere (not just home), and virtual personal training sessions were just some of the benefits offered by winners in the 2021 Australian Financial Review BOSS Best Places to Work list. The AFR BOSS Best Places to Work list is an annual list, judged by behavioural science consultancy Inventium, that ranks Australia and New Zealand’s best workplaces across 10 different industries. Work flexibility is a sign of a great workplace. Eve Fisher While improving the experience of employees was the last thing on the mind of many organisations across Australia (for many, the year was simply about survival), the nation’s best employers used a global pandemic as a reason to double down on making their workplace amazing. Many bosses expect their people to be responsive on email round the clock. Indeed, replying to emails after hours is often seen as the sign of a committed worker. The opposite is true at Australasia’s best workplaces.

Compared with the top 10 best places to work, employees at the 10 bottom-ranked organisations were 2.7 times more likely to check their emails after hours. In addition, they were 2.5 times more likely to feel they have no control over the hours they have to work. Amantha Imber of Inventium. Top-ranking organisations in the Best Places to Work list placed a huge emphasis on flexibility. Many granted extra leave days to help staff deal with the stress of 2020. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which was awarded the Most Outstanding Practice – Employee Flexibility, provided staff with an additional 10 days of paid leave in 2020. “This was an exceptionally difficult and challenging time for our people and those they cared for. We wanted to ensure employees had access to additional paid special leave, or pandemic leave, so they didn’t have to access other leave types for coronavirus-related situations,” explains Sian Lewis, group executive human resources at CBA. “The 10 days of paid leave provided an added level of comfort for our people if they were feeling unwell, caring for family members, or following government guidance on things like self-isolation and school closures.” While the majority of organisations were forced to let staff work from home, software company SixPivot (ranked No.2 in the Best Places to Work – Technology industry list) let staff work from anywhere – and has done so for the past five years. SixPivot CEO Faith Rees explains that the “work from anywhere” policy was born out of a deep desire to provide true flexibility. It allows people to work from wherever they work best. “Our team truly embrace our ‘work from anywhere’ policy. We have quite a number of caravan and camping fanatics who can literally be anywhere some days, weeks or months,” says Rees. “My favourite story is when one of our principal consultants was going to Mexico for a wedding and didn’t want to take the whole time as leave. He wanted to be able to flex between some work and play. He was literally in a tent, up a tree south of Playa del Carmen conducting Zoom calls with our customers”. Get creative about improving mental health Many organizations placed enormous emphasis on mental health support for their employees, in the form of employee assistance programs, additional counselling, and virtual training on topics such as resilience. Top ranking organizations took things a step further and thought outside the box. PHD Media, which topped the Best Places to Work for the media and marketing industry, created an initiative called Heart on my Sleeve. It was aimed at opening up conversations around mental health, whereby staff were asked to share their personal journeys. The result was a 15-page e-book of courageous and vulnerable stories. After the initiative was shared in the trade press, many agencies ended up replicating the idea and unlocked more supportive conversations around mental health across the industry. ”Sharing our vulnerability, when mental health wasn’t a topic people felt comfortable speaking about within our industry, wasn’t a decision we took lightly,” says Mark Jarrett, CEO of PHD Australia. “I am so proud of the people that contributed to this initiative. The honesty and authenticity shared in the book helped put mental health at the forefront of the industry.” All organisations can afford staff perks It’s easy to dismiss staff perks as something only big companies can afford. But at Carman’s Kitchen, which has a team of 50, perks have long been part of the organisation and became even more valued during 2020. At Carman’s Kitchen, which was awarded the Most Outstanding Practice – Employee Wellbeing, staff physical health is well looked after, and became even more of a focus during the pandemic. In 2020, after the pandemic hit, movement, meditation and yoga classes were held every morning for staff via Zoom, providing a great way for people to connect daily. In addition, targeted support was offered to parents who were juggling work and home schooling. And career advice and coaching were provided to family and friends of staff who were hit hard by the pandemic. “Given all of our employees spent most of 2020 working from home, it was important that we stayed connected daily with every single team member and provided the support and connection they needed,” explains Lainie Tayler, general manager people and culture at Carman’s Kitchen. “During the pandemic we doubled down on our offering in this space. However, we also extended all our wellbeing initiatives to their family and friends, to ensure we were supporting [not just] our employees, but also those very important them.” It’s not just about demographic diversity While demographic diversity is important (the top 20 ranking organisations were twice as likely to have a female CEO compared with the bottom 20), diversity of thought and different points of view are more likely to be embraced by managers at the best workplaces in Australasia. Compared with the top 10 best workplaces, employees at the bottom 10 were 2.5 times more likely to have a manager who criticised viewpoints that were different from their own. Staff at the bottom 10 were also three times more likely to feel their contributions were not valued or respected by their team. Australasia’s best workplaces went far beyond the norm during what has been a rough year for business and people. Check out the full list of winners of this year’s AFR BOSS Best Places to Work listand get more inspiration for what you can do to improve your workplace. Five great perks offered by the best workplaces

1. 10 days of additional paid COVID-19 leave – Commonwealth Bank of Australia

2. Daily meditation, movement and yoga classes via Zoom – Carman’s Kitchen

3. An e-book of staff mental health stories across 2020 called Heart on my Sleeve – PHD Media

4. A “work from anywhere” (not just home) policy – SixPivot

5. Career counselling for family and friends of employees – Carman’s Kitchen

Amantha Imber is the founder of Inventium, Australia’s leading behavioural science consultancy and the co-creator of the AFR BOSS Best Places to Work list. Amantha is also the host of How I Work, a podcast about the habits and rituals of the world’s most successful people.