Telstra Corporation Ltd.
Sydney, Australia
Grade: A
| Summary: Work for an exciting carrier evolving into a provider of connectivity. The company offers great opportunities to meet with industry leaders as well as start-ups. Focus on shared spaces, not desks, P2P recognition and Work Life Coaching Program. |
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Intro: The following points define what it means to be working with Telstra: We believe the following factors make Telstra appealing to candidates: Brand Recognition – Telstra is one of Australia’s top brands operating locally for more than 100 years and internationally for more than 70 years. Our expansion across Asia and around the world enables us to increase mindshare across the more than 20 countries in which we operate. A company with a strong brand recall, one that candidates will be proud to have in their resume and is highly attractive to prospective employees. Reputation for Driving New Ways of Working – One of the key factors that makes Telstra highly appealing to candidates is our approach to work flexibility. Through a programme called “All Roles Flex” launched in September 2013, we give employees the opportunity to define what flexible ways of working mean to them and allow them to apply flexibility in different ways across different roles. Please click here to find out more. Our program, “Future Ways of Working” looks at designing Telstra offices with less focus on individual desks and a greater focus on shared spaces – encouraging collaboration. Global Opportunities for Career Growth – As a company that employs more than 36,000 staff in 20 countries around the world, Telstra offers employees many different opportunities to pursue personal and professional growth. Globally, we provide prospective employees with the opportunity to be part of a world class organization and we offer certain of our current employees the opportunity to work in other Telstra offices around the world. More than a Telco – While Telstra is known as a telecommunications company whose core business is connectivity, our vision is to be a world-class technology company that empowers people to connect. We invest in innovative companies and build in-house capabilities that can develop platforms and applications to be used either internally, to enhance business processes or added to our product portfolio to deliver more value to our customers. We invest in the start up community through our incubator program muru-D and foster a community of developers through our T.Dev API program. Telstra has a place for talents with network and communications background and those whose passion is to develop applications that make a difference in the way our customers live, work and conduct business. We provide a creative, varied and stimulating environment for candidates who are passionate about technology and the changes it can bring to peoples’ lives. |
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Impact statements:
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Advancement Opportunities:
Conversations more than “Talent Review”:
Telstra recognizes that employees are different from each other. We have different strengths, development needs, aspirations and personal circumstances. By understanding our differences we are able to target developmental opportunities to grow and contribute the most to Telstra's success. We hold our leaders accountable for talent management and development. We have a simple talent framework that is applied consistently, focusing on the quality of the conversation between leaders and employees and less on the mechanics of talent review. Development plans are crisp, relevant and effective, focusing on experiential learning opportunities.
Training opportunities:
We have enterprise core capability programs for all Telstra employees which look at how an employee can gain or improve his/her leadership skills, build his/her capabilities in preparation for the next steps in his/her career. Building these skills will enable our employees to connect to our customers, execute on our strategy, enhance collaboration and help strengthen advocacy. We put emphasis on all the skills an employee needs to succeed in his/her current role and to continue to develop his/her career aspirations.
Medical benefits:
Work Life Coaching: At Telstra, we value mental wellness as much as we value physical health. Since 2012, Telstra introduced Work Life Coaching/Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to all permanent staff. Employees, including their families in different regions are eligible for a free and confidential session with one of our independent WLC/EAP consultants. The consultation services deal with everything from work stress to relationship issues, financial management and lifestyle modifications (e.g. support to quit smoking).
Special accommodations:
Some examples of investment in experienced hires are:
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Staggered sign on bonuses to ensure there is short and long term incentives to motivate and retain people |
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Placement of top hires on high potential programs alongside more tenured people |
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Placement of top hires immediately on succession plans, to ensure that they are visible to senior leaders and their past experience is being valued |
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Provision of a mentor and buddy for top hires |
Community service/charitable causes:
Positive Contribution Globally: Telstra is committed to making positive contributions to domestic and international communities, for instance in FY 2015, we contributed a total of AUD214 M in social and community programs, AUD186 M to “Everyone Connected” Digital Inclusion program, AUD3.5 M in disaster relief and AUD4.7 M in volunteering and giving.
Paid Volunteer Leave – Since 2011 every Telstra employee is entitled to one day volunteering leave per year with which they can make a difference by contributing to community service programs and charitable causes. We have a One Day portal where employees can browse volunteering opportunities and request volunteer leave.
The link below identifies the many exciting volunteering opportunities and charitable programs that Telstra employees participate in.
charitable programs that Telstra employees participate in.
https://careers.telstra.com/Explore-Telstra/Sustainability
Measuring satisfaction:
At Telstra we use EES (Employee Engagement Survey) to measure employee engagement and satisfaction. Full surveys are conducted every second year. Towers Watson, Telstra’s EES provider, manages the survey process. We use Yammer as an internal social network tool to see how our employees in a live setting.
Creative meeting places:
Since Telstra has a globally dispersed workforce, online collaboration is part of our day to day activities. Our meeting rooms are equipped with modern video conferencing and telepresence facilities which leverage Telstra’s high capacity network to ensure high quality video communication.
Our offices follow the open layout design principles with low partition tables, quiet rooms and pods for one on one and small group meetings. Our pantries/cafeterias are designed to accommodate small group meetings.
Perks:
Our Zing Program, created to promote workplace reward and recognition, offers attractive vouchers as the reward for having one’s great work recognized.
Peer to Peer Recognition: Telstra has launched ZING, a peer-to-peer recognition system that allows staff to recognize their colleagues for the great work they have done. By sending a ZING alert, both the person being recognized and his or her manager gets notified.
Find out more about our employees’ reward programs.
Fun:
Some of our facilities are equipped with game rooms and quiet areas for people to relax. Our social committees, in different locations create different enjoyable yet rewarding activities on a regular basis.
For instance, our Singapore employees have taken preschool students to a theme park and our China employees took a day out to clean up portions of the Great Wall.
Collaboration tools:
Best in Class Communication Tools: As a technology company, Telstra leverages best in class technologies, including its own high capacity, low latency network, to encourage collaboration and enhance productivity in the workplace. Besides high quality video and telepresence facilities, we use an advanced IP telephony system with video capabilities, WebEx and cloud-based collaboration tools that enable fast and efficient collaboration globally using different devices and platforms. We use Yammer as an internal social media platform to keep our employees engaged and connected.
Appreciation platform – We use an internal reward and recognition platform called Zing which allows employees to “Zing” their colleagues to show appreciation for the great work they have done.
How corporate vision is communicated:
We use a variety of channels to communicate our corporate vision to employees. From corporate intranet and daily newsletter, team meetings, staff forums with the CEO, and Yammer. Telstra’s vision is to be a world-class technology company that empowers people to connect. This vision is bold and game-changing in an industry where players are not known to deviate from traditional business models. We make sure that this vision is articulated at every opportunity so our employees will imbibe a culture that puts high emphasis on innovation, disruptiveness and excellent customer service.
Empowering employees:
Please click here to view specific examples of how we empower our employees to make decisions and see how you'll gain access to world-class organizations as well as exciting start-ups.
Encouraging Innovation: Telstra has built an Innovation Hub for employees to share and discover ideas, collaborate with colleagues and see innovation brought to life. Participants can earn Innovation Dollars for doing important work and invest Innovation Dollars in ideas they’d like to support.
Participation in Customer Advocacy Program: Today, every Telstra employee is part of an enterprise-wide customer advocacy program that conducts activities such as induction sessions, international forums as well as events that give rewards and recognition to employees for customer-centric behaviour and contribution.
Enterprise-Wide Customer Advocacy Program: To set ourselves apart from the competition, Telstra has determined that we must collectively work towards delivering excellent customer experiences that are consistent across all the market segments we serve globally. Our approach to enhancing customer experience has been centred on developing customer advocates through the introduction of the Net Promoter Score (NPS) which measures customer satisfaction by their response to a single question: “Using a 0-10 scale, how likely is it that you would recommend Telstra to a friend or colleague?” Through regular reviews of the NPS results and customer feedback, we remain connected with our customers. These ongoing conversations enable us to shift our focus from the traditional technical break/fix proposition to truly understanding our customers’ businesses and the impact an outage will have on their operations. Telstra’s Customer Advocacy improvement efforts over the past two financial years has seen our NPS scores improve +3 points in FY14, +5 points in FY15.
Ensuring well-being:
Driving Work Life Balance: Telstra is committed to supporting our employees in maintaining work life balance and is proactive in supporting a healthy lifestyle. Besides All Roles Flex, we offer our permanent employees in Asia free access to a Work Life Coaching Program which is run by an external provider. Employees and their immediate family have free access to: 24/7 phone and email confidential consultations services, five face-to-face confidential consultations per year, E-library resources about health lifestyles, personal growth, work and career development issues etc.
Flexibility as a Key Priority: Telstra connects people and organizations through mobility and flexibility. From a policy perspective, our position has visibly supported flexible work for all roles, unless there is a significant business reason why it can’t work. Our “All Roles Flex” program has been the catalyst to further elevate the subject of flexible work and careers at Telstra.
Promoting “All Roles Flex”: All Roles Flex means flexibility is the starting point for working at Telstra. Our leaders aim to model balance. We focus on outcomes, not face-time, and we use technology, workplace design and new attitudes to support how we work.
Future Ways of Working: As mentioned in our response to Question#1, Telstra’s activity-based design office concept provides flexible use of office space and integration with other teams and employees to increase productivity and collaboration.
Telstra has standard business operating hours in most countries and regions. However, our flexible work practices enable most employees to agree with their manager an approach that works best for the individual and the business in which they operate. This can mean different things for different people including alternate start and finish times, condensed working hours, part time arrangements, job share and working from home or alternate locations. In addition, Telstra is, in most cases, supportive of its employees working in our offices aboard following a period of leave or a vacation.
Telstra provides paid leave in the form of annual, vacation, privilege leave in all locations where we operate for employees to enjoy private recreational or personal activities. The entitlements vary in each country based on relevant labour law requirements and market practice. Employees are encouraged and supported to use their annual leave entitlements each calendar year.
Teamwork:
Enterprise-wide Customer Advocacy Program
Telstra has made customer advocacy its number one strategic priority, creating a common bond that ties everyone together within our organization. Today, every Telstra employee is part of an enterprise-wide customer advocacy program that conducts activities such as induction sessions, international forums as well as events that give rewards and recognition to employees for customer-centric behaviour and contribution. In addition, Telstra has linked 40% of our employees’ short-term incentives (bonuses) to Net Promoter Score (NPS) results as a way to encourage company-wide awareness, acceptance of, and active participation in activities that support our customer advocacy goals.
Diversity:
Supporting Diversity: Telstra is committed to valuing diversity including but not limited to gender, disability, sexual orientation and cultural background. We have publicly disclosed measurable objectives including female representation targets and these are reflected in hiring practices that ensure females are included on shortlists and interview panels.
Diversity in Contractor Selection: In our supplier code of conduct, we state: “Telstra prefers suppliers who share our vision for more gender-balanced teams and strong female gender representation, including at the senior leadership level. Telstra seeks to partner with organisations that can demonstrate progress to improve gender equality at all levels, who actively promote women and work to address gender pay equity gaps and over-representation of women in departures. Telstra’s Supported Workforce Program is an initiative that creates employment opportunities for people with disability or who are disadvantaged. Telstra looks favourably on suppliers that initiate procurement activities aimed at improving the lives of people with disability or who are disadvantaged.”
Longevity:
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Average tenure of management/executive team is 2.8 years |
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Average tenure of Marketing portfolio and pricing is 2.3 years |
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Average tenure of engineering is 16 years |
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Closing company statements: Telstra is redefining its position in the telecommunications industry by endeavouring to be more than just a provider of connectivity. We are at the heart of technological change and we’re helping make it happen by connecting everything to everyone. Here you’ll work on great things that matter. It’s stimulating, varied and challenging – it’s work you can be proud of. To have a better understanding of Telstra’s tech culture, we encourage you to visit our career website. |
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