Banks, big tech top workplaces to grow career in Australia
Banks, financial services and tech firms are the best workplaces for professionals to grow their careers in Australia, according to LinkedIn’s 2022 Top 25 Companies list, which ranks the top 25 firms investing in their talent and helping people build careers.
Among the firms ranking highest, in the top 10, are financial services firms Commonwealth Bank, NAB, Westpac Group and ANZ, along with tech giants Salesforce, DXC Technology and Alphabet – recognised as companies that excel when it comes to investing in employee success and continued skill development, with generous offers of training, education and mentorship to help employees grow.
The Top 10 2022 Australia LinkedIn companies
1. Commonwealth Bank
2. Woolworths Group
3. NAB
4. Westpac Group
5. ANZ
6. Telstra
7. WPP
8. Salesforce
9. DXC Technology
10. Alphabet
Benefits – from compensation to flexibility to mental health support
To attract talent, the top-ranking companies are extending benefits, from compensation and paid leave to more flexible working policies.
Financial Services Westpac Group, which ranks fourth on the list, has recently extended paid maternity leave from 13 weeks to 16 weeks, and included additional special paid parental leave entitlements for premature births.
Benefits have increased at Salesforce, which ranks eighth in the list, as the tech giant commits to supporting a changing working landscape. New conditions at the global firm, which has 2,465 employees in Australia, include things like claiming home gym equipment as a wellness expense, and introducing a US$100-per-day allowance for emergency back-up childcare.
Many firms are committing to employee education and upskilling. Third highest ranking NAB, the parent company of Bank of New Zealand, is looking to fill 1,500 technology roles across the business in 2022, and as such is bringing on board 500 interns and reskilling workers from different careers for in-demand roles.
Focused more on sustainability, Westpac is preparing for a lower emissions economy by upskilling 800 team members across Australia in ESG issues.
When it comes to attracting talent, the top-ranking businesses are offering employees flexible work arrangements.
Banking giant ANZ, which ranks fifth, has embraced a workforce looking for more flexible options, providing team members with the option to work parts of their week from the office, home, on the road or wherever they are comfortable and able to work. That includes remote onboarding for graduates during the pandemic and establishing online communities within their workforce such as a pride network and people-leader guidance groups.
Similarly, Telstra, ranked sixth, is ensuring geography is no barrier to entry, onboarding talent from anywhere in Australia as part of its flexible working model. The telecoms giant, which has an Australian workforce of 23,000, has built its vision of a hybrid workplace of the future with the company’s new Adelaide offices. The offices aim to be a place team members can get together for meetings, training, and other activities rather than the traditional 9 to 5 work model.
And marketing and advertising giant WPP, ranked seventh, recently revealed a vision to ‘make advertising better’, both to support clients and attract the best talent. For this initiative, workers are encouraged to define what their working day looks like, with flexibility around where they work, with time-out factored for wellness programs or school pick-up, and expanded parental leave policies.
Spotlighting the creation of a diverse workforce
Many of those ranked high on the list are taking action on the diversification of their workforce to ensure a more inclusive environment – something increasingly attractive to employees.
For businesses too, delivering more diverse hiring practices opens them up to a richer talent pool, and helps them meet the current demand-supply gap for talent.
Take top-ranking Commonwealth Bank, whose Australia headcount is 48,000, which has publicly announced goals around diversity and inclusion, which includes 47%-50% gender equality in executive manager and above roles by 2025.
Diversity is also a hot topic at NAB, with a particular focus on neurodiversity. The bank, which has 32,000 employees in Australia, is onboarding a group of neurodiverse individuals for a new pilot program. The program follows a successful pilot in 2019, and sees the bank bring on four additional autistic interns to the technology team.
According to Vanessa Weaver, Head of Technology, Financial Crime Fraud at NAB, the neurodiverse interns “bring a tenacity and attention to detail when they are building fraud solutions across our systems” with their technical skills, determination, and diligence “invaluable in getting the job done”.
And at Salesforce, new benefit conditions for employees include a US$50,000 package for transgender workers to accommodate gender affirmation surgeries, prescription drugs, therapies and other allowances to ease the financial and time burden associated with new gender identities.
Commitment to technological investment in Australia and employees
Proving they are invested in the future and in their employees, the top-ranking firms are investing in the latest technologies. Top-ranking Commonwealth Bank – the parent company of Bankwest, Colonial First State and Comminsure – is keeping itself at the forefront of new technology, with big investments, particularly in AI. The bank has invested in Silicon Valley tech firm H20.ai and plans to establish a technology hub at the new Entrepreneur and Innovation Centre at Lot Fourteen in Adelaide.
Similarly, retail giant Woolworths Group, the parent company of Woolworths Supermarkets, Big W, WooliesX, had made multiple big tech investments showing the retail group’s commitment to digital expansion. The Group recently invested in a new third-party online marketplace offering, with hopes of competing with eBay and Amazon, while Woolworths is expanding its online grocery offering, with a new robotic warehouse in Sydney under construction.
Google parent company Alphabet, which ranks tenth and which has 2,000 employees in Australia, is investing in an Australian research hub as part of a US$1bn Digital Future Initiative to increase cloud capacity and partnerships with local organisations. The initiative seeks to address local issues specifically, such as improving monitoring of native Australian sea life with the CSIRO and will support 6,000 new jobs directly and up to 28,000 indirectly over the next five years.
And DXC Technology, ranked ninth, is investing in the future workforce, hiring more than 130 graduates in 2022 for its graduate program, which includes self-paced training and development courses, The IT and services firm has also collaborated with Western Sydney University to launch the student ‘Innovating Human Identity’ challenge, seeking to develop ideas around the future of digital identities in respect to biometrics and AI.
Top 25 best workplaces Australia, LinkedIn
