Drastic change does not have to impact employee engagement

In 2013 Smartsalary faced one of the biggest challenges an organisation can face, when legislative change threatened to make a significant part of its business defunct.

The organisation rallied and not only managed to maintain but improve its employee engagement scores, achieving Best Employer accreditation for the second time in 2014.

Smartsalary attributes its successful navigation through this turbulent period to communication and a strong people focus. The organisation worked hard to ensure that a single message was delivered to all employees in a manner that was transparent, timely and two-way. The organisation’s executive management team played a key role in delivering information and made themselves totally accessible. Employees were involved in decision making and problem solving wherever it was possible and appropriate, allowing them to feel truly valued throughout the process.

During this challenging time Smartsalary made an early decision not to cut roles and to maintain the existing operational structure for as long as possible. A recruitment freeze was put in place but no roles were made redundant. Workloads were managed to ensure that all employees were focused on delivering to customers.

Due to the resourcefulness of its highly engaged workforce, Smartsalary experienced better operational and financial performance than many of its peers during the period of uncertainty.

Smartsalary is one of Australia’s largest outsourced salary packaging companies. The organisation specialises in servicing large corporate clients, Commonwealth and State Governments, major health care groups, and other Public Benevolent Institutions.

Smartsalary Pty Ltd

What you can learn from Smartsalary

� Drastic change does not have to impact employee engagement

� Goals should resonate for individuals, teams and the organisation as a whole

� Ongoing tracking keeps engagement on the agenda

“As gruelling as it is to become a Best Employer, once you get there, what’s more daunting is the realisation of how much further you could go.”

Deven Billimoria Chief Executive Officer, Smartsalary

aonhewitt.com.au

Goals should resonate for individuals, teams and the organisation as a whole

One of Smartsalary’s key strengths is connecting its staff with its strategy and vision. The organisation’s performance management process is designed so that ‘company-wide Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)’ are shared by all employees. These KPIs represent all elements of the organisation’s strategy and cascade to form functional then departmental goals, and ultimately individual goals.

This process ensures that each and every employee understands and contributes to these broad organisational goals in the work they undertake on a regular basis. An ongoing feedback and review process ensures that these goals and the organisation’s broader strategy are always front of mind.

Ongoing tracking keeps engagement on the agenda

Smartsalary’s people strategy is focused on developing, implementing and maintaining people initiatives that are driven and executed by highly capable and confident line managers. The organisation utilises the Smartsalary Engagement Maturity Scorecard to track the organisation’s capabilities in relation to people initiatives and processes. The scorecard forms part of the company-wide KPIs, providing Smartsalary with a sense of urgency with respect to improving engagement capability, year in and year out, for each of the past six years and counting.

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