Telstra strives to offer a safe and supportive environment where employees are valued and have the opportunity to reach their full potential. To bring these ideals to life Telstra developed a company-wide values program, designed to support leaders and their people to agree on a set of behaviours that teams then hold each other accountable for.
In 2015 Telstra invested more than $1200 per employee in developing key business skills, such as driving change, strategic thinking and planning, commercial acumen, business partnering and coaching. Overall employees have completed more than 220,000 learning courses in the first half of 2016.
Telstra’s approach to its employees has been designed to empower its people to take focus and ownership of their personal growth and contributions. This contribution is recognized by reward and recognition programs, which include a range of discounts on Telstra products, services and applications, as well as salary packaging and employee share plans.
Telstra has also taken a group-wide approach to staff leave, where flexibility is considered to be the starting point for all roles. These progressive leave policies cover parental leave, personal (including carer’s) leave, cultural leave and the ability to purchase additional leave. In addition, Telstra has ambitious employee diversity targets led by a Diversity Council. Through this forum and its leadership framework, Telstra reinforce expectations of all leaders to lead inclusively and to value difference.
These values present themselves in Telstra’s approach to its policies and processes, which are simplified and digitised where possible. One example is recruitment where Telstra has recently streamlined its processes by removing unnecessary bureaucracy. These enhancements are designed to reduce the average recruitment process by one to two weeks, exceeding global best practice timeframes whilst driving a significantly improved candidate experience. A focus on removing bureaucratic processes across the company (reflecting one of the Telstra Values – “Make the Complex Simple”) reinforces trust in managers and frees up employees.
Darren Fewster, Teltra’s Executive Director Global Shared Services, said the company is founded on the belief that they can accomplish more as a team than individually. “Our employees are united by a common purpose – to improve the customer experience and to create better ways for people to connect and explore their own potential,” Mr Fewster said. Telstra continues to undertake surveying and consultation with employees to continually improve these and other programs and initiatives offered to employees. As a result, Telstra has been recognized as an Employer of Choice in The Australian Business Awards 2016.
