SEEK & ANZ Bank Explore Workplace Giving To Increase Talent Engagement

 

Australia’s leading online employment marketplace SEEK and ANZ, which provide banking and financial products and services to over 8.5 million customers, joined a panel event with Workplace Giving Australia and their charity and corporate giving member group, The Network. 

Hosted in Melbourne at the SEEK office, Workplace Giving Australia’s member corporations and charities heard from panel members Ukari Warmann, HR Director ANZ at SEEK, and Sangi Ratnakanthan, Inclusion Program Manager at ANZ, who shared workplace giving insights from their organisations. 

The impact of workplace giving extends far beyond monetary contribution. There are multiple benefits for the workplace, including strengthening company culture, enhancing employee engagement, and cultivating a shared commitment to social responsibility. Below are insights from this groundbreaking panel discussion: 

• The latest SEEK’s Laws of Attraction survey revealed that salary had been knocked off the number one spot by work-life balance for the first time. While there is some chatter that businesses are keen to attract their people back to the workplace, this survey shows that the workforce is responding with a strong message that flexible working arrangements are a top priority. Ukari Warmann from SEEK shared that various models were being employed in their workplace. 
• Ukari also showcased SEEK’s payroll giving program, ‘Small Change’ program (at 63% participation rate and with business matching). This includes gamification via a highly visible pink telephone box filled with ‘donation balls’ in the office which engages staff and maintains awareness of the program. 
• Sangi Ratnakanthan from ANZ shared the impact of their program working alongside the Brotherhood of St Laurence, which advocates to recruit refugees and asylum seekers into the bank. 
• ANZ’s involvement in this program, ‘Given the Chance’, has achieved transformational impact over the last 15 years. A case study of one of the 450+ placements at ANZ was shared, and is a strong reminder of how storytelling supports engagement across the business. 

Several of the country’s leading businesses and charities attended the event, keen to learn more about using talent for good causes. Attendees discovered that people increasingly choose to work for best practice employers who share their values and actively give back to their community.  

Top Panel Tips: 

• An active workplace giving program is a vital piece of the puzzle for an engaged workforce.  
• Finding the best platform with timely messages to communicate the impact of donating through salary is ongoing. Given the increased hybrid and remote workforce, programs can be at the core of connecting the employee to the employer.  
• To find out what your people are thinking, ask the question. Whether external surveys like SEEK’s Laws of Attraction, an internal questionnaire or a donor insights survey like Workplace Giving Australia’s annual research. 

Workplace giving enables support for causes while fostering a sense of purpose and unity within organisations. Recent research highlights that workplace giving offers advantages beyond good corporate citizenship and taxation benefits, with analysis highlighting workforce expectations and talent retention advantages and 85% of the survey respondents saying it is personally important that a company has a workplace giving program. The research  also shows that if employers matched staff donations and these employees gave one extra dollar per week, charities could receive an additional $1 billion annually.   

Nikki Anstis, Head of Advocacy & Engagement at Workplace Giving Australia, reflects: 

With a 13.8 million strong Australian workforce, workplace giving has the potential to change the landscape for charities in Australia, at the same time increasing retention and engagement for businesses.

To learn more about workplace giving and to join The Network, please contact us today.