Workplace Giving Excellence Award Winner

EnergyAustralia

FROM THE JUDGES

It’s great to see the reporting of real outputs such as 24 volunteers prepping 624 meals for one of their partners!”

RESULTS + FEATURES :

  • Engaged a representative group from across site to do a charity review which strengthened the result and engaged a broader audience with their charity partner
  • Expanded the partnership to include volunteering which quickly increased their staff’s understanding of the social issue of food insecurity. 24 volunteers prepped 624 meals (and counting)!
  • 55% participation rate
  • Company matching (over $18,000 in 9 months)
  • Using regular communications across multiple channels about the impact of volunteering and staff donations to build their partnership profile.
  • Social media posts reach an audience of 100,000 people, raising the awareness of their important work and the scale of the social issue in the local community.

OVERVIEW + HIGHLIGHTS :

EnergyAustralia supplies electricity and gas to around 2.4 million accounts around Australia. They employ around 2500 staff in a variety of roles including contact centres consultants, energy site tradespeople and office professionals. They launched their program in 2018 with all partners signed for an initial 3-year term, leading to a review in October 2021.

During the refresh, their 4 national partners were retained due to their connection and continued alignment with diversity and inclusion priorities. After comprehensive review, representative site committees decided to retain some of their local partners and investigate new ones that would continue to resonate with their employees.

All committees did an outstanding job of quickly building relationships with their new charity partners, especially with The People’s Kitchen, which included the introduction of volunteering.

EnergyAustralia used multiple tailored communications channels to ensure information was accessible to all. On site, this included ‘toolbox talks’ by leaders and flyers in kitchen tea rooms. Announcements were made through site’s newsletter, Yammer, videos, posters, and emails, providing new content regularly.

The introduction of volunteering with their partner provided first-hand experience for site leaders and their teams. Through this experience, they hope to quickly build their people’s connection with their charity, potentially leading to increased financial support in future.