The top five characteristics of a good employer

Microsoft has been named ‘Best of the Best’ in the 2012 Aon Hewitt Best Employers in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) survey.

Best employer survey

Fourteen organisations were awarded Aon Hewitt Best Employer accreditation for 2012, including Hilti Australia, Janssen Australia and New Zealand, Peoplebank Australia and Wood & Grieve Engineers.

The survey spanned 165 companies and 74,000 employees in Australia and New Zealand. From this, 102 companies participated in the 2012 Best Employers accreditation program. The study is now in its 12th year.

“Aon Hewitt Best Employers have a fundamental belief that developing a highly engaged and productive workforce is a non-negotiable requirement,” said Aon Hewitt’s Best Employer Program Leader, James Rutherford. “Best employers do more than create a nice place to work. They create the conditions for people to excel and contribute discretionary effort.”

Five characteristics that make a good employer

According to the 2012 study, five characteristics distinguish a best employer from the pack:

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

Aon Hewitt says the links between engagement, discretionary effort and productivity are clear: best employers deliver 9% more profit on average per employee and double the revenue growth of their competitors. Despite this, Aon Hewitt says 31% of organisations actively aim to improve employee engagement levels.

“Many Australian and New Zealand organisations are currently facing substantial market challenges. Despite these challenges, boards, shareholders and other stakeholders expect most organisations to develop and deliver on growth targets,” said Stephen Hickey, Employee Engagement Practice Lead with 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.”