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Steph Young is many things. She’s a born and bred Brisbanite, a loyal Broncos fan and the Director of our River City off...
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Welcome to your people and culture update.👋 Meet our newest team members, Ishanie Arachchige, Chloe Jensen, Patience Njenje and Lakisha Cheng and learn more about them as they share three interesting facts about themselves.
Plus, dive into our latest blog about our Engagement and Culture Survey results and our Employee Value Proposition project.
We also have some current vacancies, so check out the exciting career opportunities at Ulton Careers. 🌟
Welcome to the team...
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Ishanie Arachchige Client Service Assistant, Values: Family, Leaving Legacy, Lifelong Learning, Adaptable to Change, Respect for Individual |
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Chloe Jensen Support Assistant, Bundaberg Office Values: Honesty, Family, Respect, Fairness, Maintaining Balance |
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Patience Njenje Graduate Accountant, Values: Trust, Accountable, Recognition, Achievement, Maintaining Balance |
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Lakisha Cheng Senior Accountant, Values: Respect for Individual, Accountable, Adaptable to Change, Credibility, Fairness |
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To all our new starters, we hope you settle in nicely and wish you every success in your new role. If you’re an “old hand” and see these new faces around the office, introduce yourself and make them feel at home.
Our Employee Value Proposition (EVP) project is underway, and the first key step was our Engagement and Culture Survey, conducted in February, followed by focus groups led by People Co. in early March.
This survey is crucial for our EVP development as it helps us understand your (our team's) values and aspirations. This understanding will enable us to further cultivate growth, holistic well-being, and a sense of purpose, all in alignment with our strategic plan.
We measured engagement using a 5-question engagement index and assessed our culture across six factors: Leadership, Enablement, Alignment, Development, Wellbeing, Belonging, and Total Reward.
Results are presented as "favourable," which includes all "agree" or "strongly agree" responses. Factor scores represent the average of these favourable responses. An impressive 90% of employees participated in the survey, ensuring the relevance of our findings. A score above 70% is considered positive.
The results of the Engagement and Culture Survey indicate a generally positive employee experience across Ulton, with an overall engagement score of 76%. We observed strong performance in several culture factors, achieving scores above the 70% benchmark in Leadership, Enablement, Alignment, Development, and Belonging.
The data also highlights opportunities for growth in Wellbeing and Total Reward. Specifically, our analysis suggests a need to refine how we package, communicate, and implement initiatives within these areas to enhance their impact.
Growth and development was consistently identified as a significant strength within Ulton. Participants in the focus groups specifically acknowledged the valuable opportunities provided by the business to support their ongoing learning, a factor particularly appealing to employees at all stages of their careers.
However, the feedback also highlighted a gap in the effective and consistent communication and execution of these opportunities by managers.
Flexibility, and its significant evolution in recent years, was consistently highlighted as a major strength of the organization. Employees appreciated the diverse range of options available to support their work-life balance and personal interests.
However, insightful feedback from the focus groups raised an important consideration regarding the perception of flexibility. Discussions around maintaining work-life balance and expectations for work delivery suggest a potential risk: that flexibility may increasingly be viewed as an entitlement rather than a reciprocal, 2-way arrangement.
The survey results identified Remuneration and Benefits as significant areas for improvement. While some existing offerings received positive feedback, it was suggested that benefits are sometimes perceived as tokenistic and there is an opportunity for them to have a greater impact.
Regarding Remuneration, both base salaries and additional components like incentives and bonuses were frequently highlighted by employees as a priority. This is understandable given the rising cost of living. However, feedback also indicated a strong desire for performance-based rewards that recognises and value high-performing employees. 
Our survey results indicate an opportunity to strengthen communication in several areas.
Directly, the data reveals a need for improvement in keeping employees informed and in clearly communicating expectations and requirements.
Indirectly, feedback within the comments highlighted instances of communication friction between leadership and team members. Furthermore, there's an opportunity to enhance how our benefits are packaged and communicated to ensure they are recognized and valued as benefits, rather than perceived as entitlements. While People & Culture can drive this effort, effective and consistent communication from leaders will be crucial for its success.
We are committed to transparency and have been actively sharing the survey results with all team members through office visits, internal updates on MS Teams, and this blog post.
We want to ensure you know that the team member feedback has been heard and Ulton is implementing changes based on the findings.
In the immediate future, we will continue our collaboration with People Co. to develop Ulton's comprehensive Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Simultaneously, People and Culture will formulate a strategic plan, which will include specific initiatives directly aligned with the survey findings.
We are dedicated to keeping you informed of our progress every step of the way, and will continue to share as the EVP Project progresses.
Remember, our Ulton culture isn't a static entity; it changes and can be influenced by individual actions and interactions. Meaning we all impact our culture, our behaviours can shape the environment we all experience.
The People and Culture Manager, Hannah Curran, will be visiting each office to discuss the results presented in this blog, as well as individual office results. We encourage all team members to attend:
If you have any questions please reach out to the People and Culture Manager, Hannah Curran.
We’re currently looking for talented, skilled and enthusiastic people to become part of the next chapter in Ulton’s success in the following roles:
Remember, internal applications are most welcome.
If you are interested personally or have an excellent recommendation, please contact me, Hannah, at hcurran@ulton.net
And don’t forget to check our Team Handbook for more information about our Team Member Referral Bonus policy. You may be eligible for a $7,500 bonus.
To share a specific job advertisement, go to:
1. https://ulton.elmotalent.com.au/careers/careers/jobs
2. Scroll to our vacancies (bottom of page)
3. Click on the job you wish to share
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Facebook or LinkedIn share buttons (see picture below)
For the complete list of career opportunities, go to: https://ulton.elmotalent.com.au/careers/careers/jobs
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