Sophie Stickland, Cashrewards' Head of Client Services, spoke at the 2022 Retail Leaders Forum in Melbourne about consolidating a connected and augmented workforce by focusing on flexible working, creating purpose and hiring well.
Flexible working
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we work for good. While working from home has been an unwelcome disruption for some, others have loved the change and are reluctant to go back into the office.
At Cashrewards, we're trying to give everyone the best of both worlds. We're making use of technology, letting people choose hybrid working arrangements and also making our office as enticing a place to be as possible. Our growth over the past two years has shown that the old fashioned model of office work isn't necessarily best and we trust our staff to make the right decisions for themselves.
Sophie said, "We've gone from 50 to 167 employees and we're still growing, so for us…we've got lots of exciting things happening to help build our culture and keep everyone connected."
"We know people want to work from home, we know some people want to come into the office. We rely heavily on the likes of Zoom, Slack, all those channels but we're really trying to keep that hybrid working culture for bringing people into the office."
"We've actually made the office a place that you want to be. We've just got this really amazing office in Town Hall. It's just a really nice place to be. For us, we want to go in, we want to collaborate, we want to work with our colleagues."
“We've relied on referrals which have been very successful for us. If you've got happy staff and they're talking positively about where they work, then that has a really positive knock-on effect with people in the industry.”- says Sophie Stickland, Head of Client Services, Cashrewards
Creating purpose
The Great Resignation has been one of the big talking points of recent times. A change of working styles has given workers the opportunity to reassess what they want to be doing with their lives and, often, this is reflected in doing work that gives them more than just a paycheque.
While extra benefits like more paid time off can help, often what really attracts and retains employees is work that has a purpose. This can be in the day-to-day jobs or it can be a major part of the company's vision.
Sophie said, "I've been at Cashrewards for five years. One thing I personally love is that it's a really purpose-driven place to work - it's about giving back, it's about helping people save money."
"If you give a team a clear direction, and everyone at every level feels part of that, and you're working towards your goals, I think that's very important."
"It also comes back to what we do with Starlight Foundation as well. We give back 1% to them, which has been a really big part of what we do."
We've currently donated more than $1 million, helping more than 26,000 sick children and their families.
While extra benefits like more paid time off can help, often what really attracts and retains employees is work that has a purpose. This can be in the day-to-day jobs or it can be a major part of the company's vision.
Happy staff encourage good hires
A few factors have aligned recently that have made hiring suitable talent more difficult for lots of organisations in Australia. From higher staff demands and an increase in self-employment to restricted travel and immigration, getting the right person in place can be hard.
The best advocates for your company are your staff. If they're miserable and looking to leave, you'll have higher turnover and a harder time filling jobs. If they're happy, not only will they stay longer but they'll also be happy to recommend working for you.
Sophie said, "We've relied on referrals which have been very successful for us. If you've got happy staff and they're talking positively about where they work, then that has a really positive knock-on effect with people in the industry."
"That's been a big one for us and our recruitment team has been super supportive of that. I think having talked to our culture within interviews and most conversations, it really shows through."
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