Winner: Co-operative Bulk Handling Limited, Western Australia
Co-operative Bulk Handling offers six streams of skill development both in-house and externally, from professional development for staff below supervisory levels through to corporate governance for board members. The grain marketer has 850 full-time staff and up to 2,000 casual staff over harvest.
With an average tenure of 10 years, a large proportion of the workforce is ‘home grown’, benefiting from the company’s investment of the equivalent of 2.2 per cent of payroll annually in training.
Winner: Greenslopes Private Hospital, Queensland
Australia’s largest and fastest growing private hospital takes great pride in providing high quality training for its 1,600 employees. The Brisbane hospital offers 57 off-the-job programs covering clinical, medical, food and environmental services, administration and managerial skills training. On-the-job training opportunities, such as a three-tiered orientation program, are also provided to employees across the entire organisation.
The hospital’s integrated training programs are aligned with its business objectives and tackle the industry’s broader challenges of skills shortages, staff retention and recruitment.
Winner: Boss Homes, Queensland (finalist in Employer of the Year Award)
Gold Coast building company Boss Homes impressed the judges with its employees’ strong commitment to training. Managing director Ian Anderson says training is an integral part of the company’s overall business strategy. “Evidence of the contribution to training can be seen in our bottom line.
Good apprentices can return two to three times their wage once given the skills to develop independence on the job,” he says. It’s the second national training award in a row for a Gold Coast business, after The Riviera Group won Large Employer of the Year in 2003.
Winner: Centrelink (finalist in Employer of the Year Award)
Australia’s largest government agency won an industry award for its virtual training college linked to a national outreach network. Centrelink’s Virtual College has no conventional campuses of classrooms, yet provides training for around 6,000 employees with a measurable impact on job performance and business outcomes.
The agency also delivers training via Australia’s largest satellite network. The judging panel was particularly impressed by the college’s training infrastructure and its ongoing development of modules.
Winner: PMP Print, New South Wales
Sydney’s PMP Print provides commercial printing, binding and mass distribution services to retail, publishing and organisational clients. PMP Print staff are guaranteed to receive the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in a dynamic and competitive industry.
A combination of on-the-job technical training for production-based staff and off-site professional development for administrative personnel has bolstered the number of staff with formal qualifications from 47 per cent to 86 per cent. Training has facilitated a culture of ongoing improvements such as standardised procedures across departments, a reduction in print and landfill waste and lost time injuries
Winner: ACI Glass Packaging, South Australia (winner of Employer of the Year Award)
Adelaide glass manufacturer ACI Glass Packaging has successfully aligned training with its business objectives. It is affiliated with Owens-Illinois Inc, one of the largest glass manufacturing and plastics packaging companies in the world, and employs 274 people. Their training covers technical, business and people skills and provides opportunities for all employees to obtain national qualifications.
By integrating their training programs, ACI Glass Packaging is providing career pathways from factory floor to management. The company measures the benefits of its training through the impact on quality improvement, safety performance and productivity.
Winner: Crown Ltd, Victoria (finalist in Employer of the Year Award)
Crown Ltd’s ‘customer first, employee focus’ training and development culture has helped it win an Australian Training Awards industry category for two years in a row. As the largest single site, hospitality and tourism employer in the country, Crown knows quality training enables their employees to provide a world-class service experience to customers.
Crown starts training and development for its 8,300 staff at induction and continues through to higher management and executive development. Training services manager Angela Edwards says training is paramount.
“Well trained people with the right service focused attitude are the life blood of our business,” she says.