Staff engagement key to organisational growth at IMPACT

With an organisational focus on improving lives, it was reassuring to see IMPACT excel in areas of people and wellbeing.

IMPACT scored at or above 80% in five categories including work and life blend, management, social connection, enablement, and teamwork and ownership.

IMPACT’s People and Culture Manager Karen Craft said employee engagement was important for us because high levels of employee engagement correlate to high levels of customer service and organisational performance.

She said the 2021 Employee Engagement Survey was a way of getting direct feedback from our employees and we had a 75% participation rate – which means most people had their say.

“Our engagement score was 76% which meets the benchmark for Australian companies with 100 – 2000 employee and exceeds the benchmark for global Not-For-Profit organisations by 1%,” she said.

“This is a good overall result, both in terms of our stand-alone performance and in comparison to similar sized organisations.

“77% of people who completed the survey also took the time to make a comment, so we have quantitative and qualitative information.”

In addition to the overall IMPACT result, Karen said there were results for teams of three staff or more and the table of results across the teams is called a ‘Heatmap’.

“There are some fantastic results for some teams and a small number of teams where we clearly need to do more to improve their engagement,” she said.

“Engagement reflects levels of enthusiasm and connection that people have with the organisation and the survey has been a way of showing that these things are wanting in a small number of teams.”

Managers are currently discussing the results with teams and we want to identify one action item with each team that’s relevant for them and one for IMPACT overall to improve.  

The actions and another round of communication will be finalised in February 2022.

By Tanya O'Shea, IMPACT Community Services' Managing Director

"STRONGER TOGETHER" is a weekly column where Tanya explores key issues. This week Tanya focuses on IMPACT's goals for 2022 and importance of healthy work-life balance.

Change is one of the few constants that we can expect daily in this world; IMPACT’s dedication to improving lives is another.

While we continue to navigate the social, business, and personal curveballs thrown throughout this pandemic, IMPACT Community Services remains steadfast in providing quality and consistent support to those who need it most.

With a focus on consistency and stability, this year’s organisational goals align to a theme of strengthening and stabilising our core.

One of the ways in which we do this is by investing in our people – the wellbeing and development our staff, volunteers, participants, and stakeholders is of the utmost importance during these challenging times.

Resilience and support are crucial: we can get through this together.

To boost resilience your mental health needs to take priority, and this can mean maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Our emphasis on personal wellbeing and flexible working hours was highlighted by our staff who recently took an engagement survey.

Of those who answered the survey, 94% felt they were able to arrange time out from work when they need to.

And 92% felt their manager genuinely cared about their wellbeing.

While empathy and perspective are incredibly valuable understanding as a human, it is also smart business-sense.

This is a fantastic result for everyone. When people are well and supported, it creates a more wholesome workplace and business efficiency.

Whereas a poor work-life balance can lead to stress and there’s already enough stress trigging factors in world, having a safe place to work shouldn’t be one of them.

As an employer, compassion and flexibility in the workplace can have an incredible impact.

We have a responsibility to set reasonable expectations and appropriate work boundaries so that people do not feel guilty about fulfilling their jobs without staying back long hours.

It is likewise important that as individuals we take control of their lives to maintain a healthy work-life balance – eating and sleep well and set aside a little time to exercise or pursue an activity that you.

Some of the benefits of a healthy work-life balance reduced stress levels, increased concentration levels, job satisfaction and, more opportunity to engage with family, friends and to pursue personal goals and hobbies.

If you would like to work at IMPACT Community Services, check out the latest job vacancies on our website to see which ones might be right for you!

IMPACT is located on 108 Bargara Rd, Bundaberg East and open from 8am-5pm Monday to Thursday and 8am – 4.30pm Fridays.