Yarra Valley Water has become the first government enterprise in a decade to be named on the prestigious list of the country’s best employers.
The Victorian utility made the Aon Hewitt Best Employers of 2017 list for its commendable employee engagement scores, which were significantly above national averages.
Yarra Valley Water Managing Director Pat McCafferty said the entire Australian water industry should be celebrating.
“We are so pleased to share this news with the rest of the water industry. This is not solely a Yarra Valley Water success; it is an achievement for the entire industry, demonstrating the enormous work which is happening to make our organisations the best that they can be,” McCafferty said.
“We are all continually improving performance to achieve the best outcomes for our community, but more importantly attracting the right people to the right jobs and more closely representing the community we service.”
McCafferty said the results were a long time in the making, and that improving and developing workplace cultures takes patience and dedication.
“This achievement has not happened for us overnight; our culture of transformation started many years ago,” he said.
“Everyone has contributed in different ways to build our constructive culture, with the underlying goal being to provide the very best outcomes for the community.”
The survey was completed by 87% of Yarra Valley Water staff, resulting in an overall company engagement score of 83%.
“You can feel the pride our employees bring to work every day, but it is always very rewarding to have this externally benchmarked and validated,” McCafferty said.
“We are so proud of this achievement, however [we] believe this is not the end of the journey for us. We will continue to build a workplace where people want to do their best work and are fulfilled in doing so.”