Success Stories

Sydney Water: A clear objective to put the customer and community at the heart of everything the organisation

FROM THE JUDGES:

Impressive that a focus on workplace giving continued despite so much disruption, including a change in leadership, COVID and the severe drought.”

KEY RESULTS + FEATURES

  • Workplace giving (wpg) participation rate of 13.2%
  • Average annual donation per employee of $636
  • Matched amount $526 per employee

 OVERVIEW + HIGHLIGHTS

  • As Australia’s largest water utility, Sydney Water’s vision is to create a better life through world-class water services. They supply over 5 million people across Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains and the Illawarra with drinking water, water and storm water services. They have 2,754 permanent and approximately 2,500 contractor staff who work across corporate offices, and 28 service depots and water filtration and water recycling plants.
  • Sydney Water’s wpg program’s objective is to provide an equitable opportunity for staff to give back to causes that are close to their hearts. This is
    enabled through a multi-pronged approach to giving which includes support for two corporate charity partners – WaterAid and Orange Sky, payroll giving, which is matched by Sydney Water, volunteering, annual and emergency relief appeals, community grants, personal fundraising and team based charity activities.
  • As a state owned organisation, Sydney Water’s community program is highly scrutinised as it is spending taxpayer’s money. They have a thorough
    policy in place and tools that support the delivery of the program. They use Good2Give’s payroll donations and grants platforms, including their Fundraising@work partnership with GoFundraise.
  • Their program is introduced to staff during induction, where they can opt-in to any of their community activities. The communication approach is top down, bottom up. The leadership team champions the programs and they are supported by all levels of management, team champions and staff in the graduate program.
  • Sydney Water provides two days of volunteer leave and their 200+ volunteers average around 1000 hours per year. In 2019, Sydney Water’s Community Grants program awarded $80,000. In addition, they have 50 portable water stations which are loaned to community organisations, schools, and councils for use at community events.