The Sentis approach to employee engagement has been recognised at the fourth annual Employee Engagement Awards, held in Sydney on 15 November 2018. Sentis was awarded ‘Company of the Year’ for the Australia and New Zealand region, recognising Sentis as a great place to work and showcasing the company’s ongoing commitment to its employees.The Employee Engagement Awards are a global accolade, with a presence in Europe, North America, Africa and Australasia. Created to showcase employee engagement best practice, the awards recognise companies who inspire action and drive both the industry and employee experience forward.Each year, the top honour is awarded to the organisation that demonstrates the most holistic and compelling approach to engaging their employees. Judges look for a variety of engagement methods and metrics to measure the ROI for each strategy.As the 2018 winner for Australia and New Zealand, Sentis are extremely proud to have received such a positive response from the judges:
“[Sentis is the] standout winner in 2018, with a story that shows the positive transformative impact on a business when its people are put at the heart of a business—congratulations.
CEO Anthony Gibbs presented on the Sentis journey at the conference and awards ceremony on 15 November 2018 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.“We want to be a great business that is a great place to work,” Anthony explains.“Our people and our values are at the core of every decision we make. This keeps us focused on the bigger picture and ensures we don’t lose our way in the day-to-day operations of the business.”
The Sentis Employee Engagement Journey
At Sentis, we believe success and employee engagement go hand-in-hand. Today, we’re incredibly proud of our employee engagement rate, but this wasn’t always the case. Following the global financial crisis and collapse of a record Australian mining boom, business performance took a hit, and so did employee engagement, according to COO Darren Kennedy.
“We were both surprised and disappointed with the results from our 2016 AON Hewitt Survey. There had been a significant decrease in our employee engagement, and we knew we had to make a change.”
The result has been a company-wide transformation, with strategy focused on not just improving employee engagement, but also business performance.
In 2003, Sentis was founded to help clients in heavy industries reduce fatalities and serious injury by challenging and changing a culture of inevitability
As part of this process, we have redefined our values, focused on key metrics for individual and company success, and regularly surveyed our people to measure engagement. There has also been a concerted effort to close feedback loops and encourage ownership among the team.The change in the business has been significant for employee Tanja Hooper, who recently returned from a period of parental leave.
“I’ve come back into an organisation that has a stronger and clearer focus. Leadership has really stepped up to nurture and support the talent within the business, creating an environment where team members can flourish.”
Two years down the track, employee engagement has increased by 40%, productivity is up by 49% and staff turnover has reduced by 70%. Most importantly, we have managed to reverse our downward trend, improve business performance and introduce a culture of transparency, open communication and trust.
“We’ve always held our values as a strong reference point for our culture, so redefining them was a good opportunity to reset and focus on a new evolution of Sentis,” explains employee Eagan Barnett.
“The uptake, genuine application and pride demonstrated around our current values, and therefore our culture, is the strongest I’ve seen in my 12 years at Sentis.”
Today, Sentis remains a positive, enjoyable place to work with a focus on teamwork, fun and celebrating success—both individually and as a business. We remain focused on our mission to change the lives of individuals and organisations for the better and are committed to helping our clients keep their employees safe for the people, places and things that matter most.
