Winning talent isn’t just about splashing cash

This year Atlassian said it would hire another 100 employees in Australia over the next year, and who wouldn’t want to work there? Free lunches and boutique beer on tap, schmick offices located in Martin Place, all-expenses-paid relocation packages and, as the company gets richer, a rising ability to compete on salary.

But smaller, newer entrants who don’t yet have this kind of firepower don’t need to give up the chase for the best talent. Companies on this year’s Best Places to Work list assert some of the best things employers can do to create a great culture and attract and retain their star workers are within reach of most companies.

Graeme Strange, managing director of app developer Readify, says some of the company’s most popular policies around employee autonomy actually save money. Advocating a flexible workplace and the ability to work from home enables the company to attract staff they might not otherwise be able to afford, he says.

“There’s talented people out there who enjoy the freedom to work from home and the flexibility that affords them,” Strange says.

Readify provides $3000 every two years for staff to buy their own device, which is their own property, not the company’s. After two years they give it to a family member or sell it on eBay. It’s more popular than mandating a device, and also cheaper and less hassle, he says. “They look after it more,” Strange says. “The cases of dropped laptops and broken cases have become less and less.”

The same principle applies to providing around $60 a month for employees to spend on a mobile phone plan (with more given to sales consultants).

The company no longer has to monitor an employees’ phone spend. If they lose their phone or exceed data allowance, it’s their responsibility.

Readify holds an awards ceremony each year, with the winners voted in by their colleagues. The prize is $4000 towards the conference of the employee’s choice, anywhere in the world. It is a steep bill for an early-stage company, but the winner networks on behalf of the company and brings back new knowledge and experience. It brings in a marketing and a professional development kickback as well as leaving a lucky employee thoroughly chuffed.

And the company’s down-to-earth handbook helps put people at ease. Instead of being the usual dense, impenetrable corporate drivel that nobody reads, Strange assures BRW that there isn’t a single mention of the words “mission statement”.

“If you make it corporate speak people don’t read it and they genuinely don’t identify with it,” Strange says.

We’ll eat and drink to that

A lot of jobs are repetitive in nature, and Simon Moss at recruitment firm TRC says injecting a bit of competition is a good way to keep people engaged.

“Recruitment is a process built up of a few different steps and key performance indicators,” Moss says. “To keep those fresh and keep people interested in doing them we do games.”

For example, over a two-week period, consultants at the office earned chips for milestones like arranging an interview or landing an exclusive new role. At the end of the day they could gamble their chips on an office-based roulette wheel or in games of poker.

The consultant with the most chips at the end of that two weeks won $500, and ended up giving it to charity. Games like this are common, and are sometimes held around major sporting events. It’s not just about hitting performance benchmarks, but also creating activities that bring people together.

The TRC staff are culturally diverse, so the office gets on board with national days of celebration from other people’s country of origin. St Patrick’s day from Ireland is of course a favourite, but others include Bastille Day from France or Belgium’s National Day. It usually involves food and drink.

“Sometimes staff make a traditional food and bring it in, and it can be interesting the food that you try,” Moss says. “Belgians just bring in Stella Artois beer. So there are varying levels of adventure.”

The workplace maxims displayed around the office also help create a sense of shared purpose. It helps people understand why decisions are made, even if they are unpleasant, Moss says.

Part of creating an open and transparent office culture is making it known what people are expected to achieve, and what happens if they don’t hit their milestones. Moss says he learned from early mistakes in this regard.

“I think we were too focused on the nice,” Moss says. “Everyone has a bit of paper saying if you do this, you will get promoted, and this is how much extra you will get paid, and this is what your responsibility is. But we have people who get promoted, people who don’t, and people who need to get coaching. We didn’t focus on what happens in the third scenario. Everyone dips, and being open about that has been quite effective. We’re actually putting them on that process to help them.”

Among this year’s Best Places to Work, there are some notable initiatives that win kudos from employees and don’t cost too much. Amgen Australia employees leave at 2pm one Friday a month. AIME Mentoring holds staff meetings outside. Ansarada gifts new employees a Kindle, and offers them four days of paid leave each year to be devoted to a charitable cause.

Communication a key

At IT distribution company Distribution Central, managing director Nick Verykios and executive chairman Scott Frew try to make themselves available to their 114 Australian employees. Every time they are in Sydney they organise a staff dinner for 12 at a local restaurant every month, rotating through all employees.

“It’s about open communication,” says HR manager Jean Scott. “We are a very flat structure and we try and maintain that. The other benefit is we do look for innovation from our employees. When you’re in a relaxed environment it’s easier to talk about ideas you have.”

Even job interviews are conducted in a relatively informal way. “We don’t call it an interview,” Scott says. “In a large sense it is a subjective judgement. Our interviews are like a conversation between peers. People who come in with prepared answers, it’s very obvious. I think putting people in a very casual conversation environment, you can assess whether someone understand the company and whether they have done their research into the company.”

Associate Professor Julie Cogin of UNSW’s Australian School of Business says with the increasing time people are spending at work, friendships between bosses and employees are inevitable, and it is a place where our human needs for community and socialisation are met. But the mistake some well-intending employers make is losing the ability to convey difficult truths or make tough decisions.

“There is a need for authentic conversations and real feedback on an ongoing basis,” Cogin says. “If you’re a leader that wants to build friendships at work, you need to think ‘Am I still able to have these conversations, am I able to performance manage these individuals and potentially manage them out as well?’”

Helping employees have a good balance between life and work can potentially save an organisation money and increase productivity, she says.

“You end up getting two employees for the price of one. When you pick the right people they are so motivated to make the arrangement work, you end up getting better value.”

But giving women flexibility to manage child responsibilities is only one facet, and employers should consider accommodating other needs as well – like older people who want to spend more time with their grandchildren, or employees wishing to study or travel.

And game-based incentive systems are great, she says, as long as you’re rewarding the right things. Things like being collegiate, collaborative and helping others need to be recognised as well as meeting sales targets. “You need to have a balanced scorecard approach, and think carefully for each job what are the things I really need. It’s got to be more than just timesheets and sales and customer satisfaction.”

With Mercedes Ruehl

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