Aon Hewitt announces 2012 'Best Employers'

For immediate release

Aon Hewitt announces 2012 Best Employers

Sydney , 5 June 2012: Aon Hewitt announced its 2012 Best Employers in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) survey, with Microsoft Australia being named the Best of the Best for 2012.

Fourteen organisations received the Aon Hewitt Best Employer accreditation in 2012 including Chorus New Zealand Limited, Express Data (Australia and New Zealand), FedEx Express (Australia), FedEx Express (New Zealand), Frucor Beverages Australia, Hilti Australia, Janssen Australia and New Zealand, Microsoft Australia Pty Ltd, Peoplebank Australia Limited, SEEK Limited (Australia and New Zealand), Shire Australia Pty Ltd, Starlight’s Children’s Foundation, Trilby Misso Lawyers and Wood & Grieve Engineers Limited.

Now in its twelfth year, the study reflected the opinions of over 74,000 employees across 165 companies within Australia and New Zealand , from this, 102 companies participated in the 2012 Best Employers accreditation program

“Aon Hewitt Best Employers have a fundamental belief that developing a highly engaged and productive workforce is a non-negotiable requirement” comments Jocelyn Anso, Best Employer program lead for New Zealand , Aon Hewitt “Best employers do more than create a nice place to work. They create the conditions for people to excel and contribute discretionary effort.”

The 2012 study identified five distinguishable characteristics of a Best Employer:

1. unwavering commitment from senior leaders to the importance of developing highly engaged and productive employees
2. clear performance expectations that align people to the organisation’s goals and values, and bring meaning to their work
3. people managers who create the conditions for their people to excel
4. reward and recognition practices that encourage employees to contribute discretionary effort
5. clear communication on what employees can expect which in turn helps the organisation to be more competitive in attracting and retaining in a tight labour market.

Engagement linked to productivity and profitability

The links between engagement, discretionary effort and productivity are proven, with Aon Hewitt Best Employers delivering on average 9% more profit per employee and double the revenue growth of other organisations. Despite this, and the increasingly competitive global market, only 31% of Australian and New Zealand organisations are improving employee engagement levels.

“Many Australian and New Zealand organisations are currently facing substantial market challenges. Despite these challenges, boards, shareholder and other stakeholders expect most organisations to develop and deliver on growth targets.” comments Stephen Hickey, employee engagement practice lead, Aon Hewitt. “In this environment, there is significant value in organisations using employee engagement and the discretionary effort of their people to drive performance outcomes” Hickey concludes.

Best Employer organisations for 2012
Aon_Hewitt_Accredited_Best_Employers_2012.pdf

Key quotes from the leaders of 2012 Best Employers
Key_quotes_from_2012_accredited_Best_Employers_ANZ.pdf

ENDS

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