by John Hoffman, CEO
At Altis Consulting, we know that we’re one of the best places to work but we never get tired of being nominated, shortlisted and then recognised as one of the Best Places to Work in Australia. It’s an achievement we pride ourselves on.
For the past six years in a row, Altis has been recognised by BRW the leader in workplace media, as a great workplace. It’s a testament to the great team that make it possible that flows onto how we value both our staff and our clients.
A great team means better insights delivered to loyal customers. At Altis, we are different than other firms. Our family dynamic runs throughout the company through initiatives such as empowering women in Information Management.
Demonstrating our commitment
- At least 40 per cent of our management team are women who champion positive female role-models, such as our ACT Regional Manager, Katrina Pilcher who was a finalist for the 2013 Telstra ACT Business Women’s Awards
- In 2015 John Hoffman, CEO of Altis was recognised as a ‘Pay Equity Ambassador’ by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. (This is a group of CEOs including Ian Narev (CBA) and Pip Marlow from Microsoft, whose mission is to have every employer in Australia conduct a gender pay gap analysis as the first step to identify and address gender bias in the workplace.)
- We ensure that there is an ongoing emphasis on training, upskilling and personal growth of women within the workplace, not only within Altis but as thought leaders within Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence; a traditionally male-dominated industry.
The reality is that in an industry where women are sometimes outnumbered by as much as 8:1, inequalities including wage are a real challenge. Altis Director Hyun Choi, says
“within Altis, we are able to provide a workplace that genuinely seeks to enable the women of our organisation to live their lives fully in all their roles whilst continuing to develop their careers to their full potential. It is particularly satisfying to be able to do this in the IT industry, which remains male-dominated. Gender equality in the workplace is a key to gender equality in society. As the mother of two, a boy and a girl, I feel it is our responsibility in the here and now to strive toward a future where gender becomes irrelevant in workplace opportunities for our children and future generations”
Keeping people engaged
The challenge for us as an Information Management consultancy in the Australian market is that we’re a specialist organisation and there’s only a finite pool of talented people that we can draw upon. This means that our people who are the best in the industry are in demand and we work hard to keep them engaged.
To increase staff retention we maintain and develop our inclusive workplace culture and reinforce the values of Altis. This is reflected in the Altis’ low attrition rate (less than 13 per cent for FY14/15) and an average tenure of more than 5 years and having 100% of new mothers return back to Altis when they decide to re-enter the workforce. We are proud that they choose to return to Altis and we actively work together to accommodate changing needs and demands, both within their own family structure but also out at clients.
We’re a team focused organisation and prioritise the wellbeing of our team and the work-life balance. To us, it is of the utmost importance and is why we offer flexible working arrangements, not only with mothers, but also fathers and carers within our team.
We celebrate each milestone with our consultants and welcome the occasional visit by their families to our offices; injecting fun and laughter and cooing on those days.
Partnership with purpose
We all know that team building is important but we also know that keeping the ties within the Altis family and the community are as important. That’s why we introduced the Altis Family Day, a day where the team and their families meet up, be it at the water park or the local park for a BBQ and soccer.
We also get the entire team together, including our New Zealand and UK offices every couple of years, for a weekend retreat where we spend quality time together as one big family, getting to know new team members and also strengthening the Altis family ties.
Many will know our charity partner, Variety- the Children’s Charity. This year, we encouraged our team’s family and friends to be a part of our fundraising initiatives with Variety, getting dressed up in dinosaur costumes at a sausage sizzle and collecting funds for the Variety Bash.
It has never been more fun and rewarding to Variety, and ourselves and as a bonus, the kids get to sit in the Altisaurus; Altis’ car for the Variety Bash, complete with roaring dinosaur sounds.
We are proud to be recognised as one of the ‘Best Places to Work in Australia’ and will continue to develop our workplace and culture creating a positive working environment in our offices, at our client sites, within family units and the greater Information Management and IT industry.
Check out our careers page for any new opportunities.