New Zealand organisations receive Best Employer accreditation

Aon Hewitt has announced the results of its 2011 Best Employers in Australia and New Zealand study, with two New Zealand organisations – FedEx Express New Zealand and Frucor Beverages (New Zealand) receiving Best Employer accreditation.

The study, which reflects the opinions of over 124,000 employees across 200 companies in Australia and New Zealand, aims to seek out and acknowledge the Best Employers in Australasia.
It forms part of a rigorous accreditation programme with 130 companies from the study participating for 2010/2011. Of those 130 organisations, nine others received Best Employer accreditation including; Aegis, Boehringer Ingelheim Australia and New Zealand, Flexirent Capital Pty Ltd, Frucor Beverages Australia, Hilti (Aust) Pty Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group, Johnson & Johnson Medical, Merck Serono Australia and Millward Brown Australia.

The accreditation programme involves three stages (an employee opinion survey, a people practices inventory and an organisational audit) and focuses on five key elements; engagement, leadership commitment, a compelling promise to employees, connecting employees to the company strategy and a differentiated high performance culture.

The organisations which complete the accreditation programme are then judged by an independent judging panel, with one organisation being named Best of the Best at an awards evening in Sydney, Australia, last Wednesday. After being awarded Best Employer status three years running, FedEx Express New Zealand was named runner-up, with Hilti (Aust) Pty Ltd taking out the top prize.

Jocelyn Anso, Aon Hewitt New Zealand’s Senior Talent Consultant, says the two New Zealand companies named as Best Employers were seen as front runners across all the key elements of the accreditation programme.

“FedEx Express New Zealand stood out as a company that had a strong sense of community, a family feel and a real commitment to customer service”, says Anso – a sentiment echoed by Kim Garner, Managing Director FedEx Express Australia and New Zealand.

“At FedEx, our senior executives put our people-first culture into practice by leading by example and consistently ‘walking the talk’ in real, tangible ways to reinforce our commitment to our people-service-profit philosophy”, Garner said.

Jocelyn Anso adds that Frucor Beverages (New Zealand) is an organisation committed to its people and innovation.

“There were so many great leadership stories that emerged throughout the accreditation process”, says Anso. “And Frucor stood out as an organisation where people were excited to work – an organisation with a distinctive employment brand”.

Carl Bergstrom, CEO of Frucor Beverages (New Zealand) believes it’s the people that have driven value creation in the organisation.

“Our return on financial capital is extremely high (100% ROFE) and this is due to the investment we make in our human capital”, he said.

“Most industries have had a challenging few years given the external economic environment. We have ensured that throughout the GFC we have not changed our commitment to our people and culture.

“This is evidenced by our continuing to invest in leadership development at all levels, our strong focus on innovation and our commitment to ensuring Frucor is a great place to grow. We have been able to sustain our competitive position in the market place while growing many parts of our business in a tough trading environment.”

Three key findings emerged from this year’s study including that;

Employees are harder to engage
· Leadership is key
There are three questions employees are now asking
Is there a compelling reason to continue working here?
Is it worth putting in extra effort?
Am I supported to be successful in my role?

Aon Hewitt’s research into Best Employers presents a unique insight into the state of employee engagement and provides an in-depth look at how Best Employers drive business excellence by leading people practices. The research also shows that Best Employers achieved, on average, profit growth almost four times that of the other organisations that participated in the process.