Who are our best employers?

Kincentric, a Spencer Stuart company, has named 10 organisations as 2020 Best Employers in Australia and New Zealand. This year, employees’ confidence in more gender balanced leadership teams as well as collaborative cultures have surfaced as key factors that contribute to the outperformance of accredited Kincentric Best Employers in these markets.

According to Kincentric’s latest study, Best Employers in Australia and New Zealand have higher average female representation in their leadership teams (41%), compared to 25% among other companies[1]. They are also performing better in terms of creating collaborative cultures with fewer silos. Two thirds (65%) of employees at Best Employers report a collaborative working culture. The numbers exceed other market peers by 18%.

Typically, leaders at Best Employers show greater self-awareness, display empathy, connect with employees through regular transparent communication, and instil employee confidence through effective business decisions. Leaders at Australia and New Zealand Best Employers are no exception. As a result, they have garnered the trust from as much as three quarters (75%) of their organizations’ employees when the market average was only 55% among companies in Australia and New Zealand.

Collectively, these factors have contributed to Best Employers having an average 21 points higher level of employee engagement when compared to market average. 

In the last three years, Kincentric has supported over 700 companies across the Australia and New Zealand markets along their organization development journey. Based on the most objective measure possible – employee opinion, only 10% of the top-notch participants in the Best Employers program have received the prestigious certification. This year’s Best Employers include Coca-Cola Amatil New Zealand, Four Square, Carlisle Homes, EISS Super and Regional Australia Bank, to name a few. It is also the 5th year in a row that Coca-Cola Amatil New Zealand takes home the accreditation. (Full list of accredited organizations follows.)

Commenting on the recognition, Chris Litchfield, Managing Director of Coca-Cola Amatil New Zealand, said, “We set our business a challenge back in 2015, to create a 5-year plan to become one of the best bottlers in the world. Having our people so involved and empowered has helped us with our engagement scores, and as leaders, we are always focused on listening to our people right across our organisation. Their engagement is a critical component of our success. They know our customers, our brands and our business better than anyone.”

Other key findings from this year’s study include:

•       Best Employers in Australia and New Zealand continue to invest in creating a highly engaged workforce, with an employee engagement score of 81%.

•       Technology investment at Best Employers is driving better employee productivity with around 75% of the total employee population agreeing it helps them to be as productive as possible, significantly higher than market average by 20%.

•       As a consequence of leaders building more collaborative and high trust cultures, a majority of employees (64%) at Best Employers believe that they are paid fairly for the contributions they make to the organization’s success, as compared with a 50% market average.

Stephen Hickey, Culture & Engagement APMEA Practice Leader at Kincentric, said, “2020 has been a year like no other. The COVID-19 pandemic and the various macro, social and political events have brought unprecedented impact to businesses around the world. What we are seeing is that those organizations that do well in our accreditation process are performing better in the COVID-19 environment. Employees at these workplaces have higher trust in their leaders who communicate openly, honestly and frequently. Coupled with other factors like flexible working practices and employee wellbeing programs even before any lockdowns, these companies are better positioned to adjust when unexpected headwinds arise.”

“This year, Kincentric once again recognises the Best Employers from Australia and New Zealand for their outstanding efforts in creating a work environment where their people are empowered and committed to excellence. We congratulate all of our Best Employers and wish them even greater success in the years to come.”

Full list of 2020 Australia and New Zealand Best Employers (in alphabetical order):

To learn more about Kincentric and the Best Employers program, please visit kincentric.com.