Check out your Company Bowl for anonymous work chats.
Here's 3 simple steps to have fun with your colleagues: 1. Buy an animal making balloon kit (make sure you have a balloon pump!) 2. Inflate and then twist and turn your balloon as appropriate 3. Laugh a lot! Our Castle Hill branch team followed these steps and had a great time making balloon animals for their Fun Friday activity. Branch Manager Jessica Panarello says she’s been making them since she was young and knew the team would enjoy learning something new. “I remember I got a book from book club at primary school one day and I just started learning how to make them. My little brother asked me to make crazy things for him, so I taught myself for him.” “The team always come up with something super creative to do on Fun Fridays. This time it was how to create a sausage dog balloon animal. We called them Hank and Harla as they are my two sausage dogs. I showed the team once and then they continued to make their own. Even on their lunch break they kept trying. It was a lot of fun!” What a great team activity that facilitates fun and connection through creativity! #GreatPlaceToWork #FunFridays
Asking RUOK not just today, but every day. 💛 Our team goes the extra mile to ensure that every customer feels seen, heard, and supported. That couldn't be more true of Louise Roberts from our Mt Gravatt branch. While today is RUOK Day, she checks in with customers every day and was able to help a family through a difficult housing situation recently. With compassion and understanding, Louise provided guidance on support services available, including linking the family to our partner Mission Australia, to help them navigate a challenging time. Louise says she builds relationships to enable these moments by openly sharing her own experiences, enabling customers to ask questions and asking questions herself to find ways to connect and help. "The change you can make for others in one conversation is so important. I talk to my customers like I already know them because walking into a bank can be confronting for some people. I often draw visual examples to support them in asking extra questions. If they mention things that I know about in our conversation, I'll share back what I know. That's where genuine connection is built,” she says. Thank you for asking the important questions and listening with empathy, Louise. Everyone has their own unique story and we aim to create safe and supportive spaces in our branches for customers to share theirs. By fostering deeper connections, we can build a community that genuinely cares for one another. #RUOKday #HereToHear
What was the best advice you were given at the end of high school? Our Brisbane office was a stop on a major trip to Melbourne for the boys from Clontarf’s Goondiwindi Academy this week as they celebrate their upcoming completion of year 12. 🎉 Through corporate partnerships like ours, the Clontarf Foundation is improving the education, life skills and employment prospects of young Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander boys. Over lunch, the boys shared the great outcomes Clontarf is achieving including 80% school attendance, over 900 boys completing year 12 nationally last year, and around 80% of school leavers remaining employed after their first year. Hosted by our Sustainability Manager Brooke Murray the boys were joined by several team members from different areas of the business for a chat. Our cyber team presented some handy tips for how to avoid scams, and Talent Acquisition Specialist Anna Madill shared some fantastic career advice on creating networks and being genuinely yourself during interviews. The boys were excited to be catching some football games during their trip and thankful to our sponsorships team for lining up a tour of the Carlton Football Club facility while in Melbourne. We’re so glad we could be part of such a milestone Clontarf Foundation! Share the best career advice you received at the end of high school and we’ll pass it along.
Simple sustainability ideas come from everywhere… and this one comes from our Toowoomba branch! Branch Manager Haylie Goulding saw an opportunity to reduce our environmental impact with a simple but powerful idea - the Great Southern Bank Uniform Xchange. She says the new 'buy and swap' group created on our internal communications platform Workplace provides team members the option to recycle or exchange their uniforms and support our commitments to climate action (Read more on our commitments here: https://lnkd.in/gVUdjv6a). "When I first started at Toowoomba branch there were some old uniforms in the storage room, and it got me thinking about recycling and our climate action goals. I wanted to see if we could provide our branch teams with the option to exchange their uniforms instead of them being discarded and potentially ending up in landfill." "While we've only just started the group, I'm hopeful we'll be able to minimise waste and also create a mindset in our branch team members to check the group before sourcing a brand-new item." We recognise the importance of reducing waste and the environmental impact of the fashion industry. Thank you for taking the initiative to bring your idea to life Haylie, we appreciate your commitment to encouraging repurposing and recycling. Does your workplace have a uniform exchange option? #ClimateAction #UniformExchange #Recycling #EnvironmentalImpact
Did you know 2 out of 3 young LGBTQ+ people experience harassment due to their identity? It's a worrying statistic that was shared during our Wear It Purple Day morning tea in the Brisbane Hub this morning, hosted by our Pride Tribe Executive leaders Tracey Lake and Naushad Ahmed. Wear It Purple Day raises important awareness of and celebrates diversity and inclusion in LGBTQ+ youth, empowering them to be proud of who they are. In addition to wearing purple, this year we raised awareness through a short Mentimeter quiz and by holding a virtual scavenger hunt where team members were encouraged to share the purple in their lives. Pride Tribe Ally Dave Dreimann from our Melbourne Hub says it's important for individuals and businesses alike to be visible in their support for our youth. "Being young and LGBTQ+ is really hard. We know that visible advocacy and support can make it easier. Dressing in purple is a fun way we can show LGBTQ+ youth that they are not alone and that they matter.” "As one of the largest customer owned banks in Australia, Great Southern Bank can reach a huge audience. If one LGBTQ+ youth feels some hope because of seeing us in purple, we've contributed to the bigger change we aspire to see in ensuring every young person knows they are safe and supported to be who they are." Were you wearing purple today? 💜 #DiversityandInclusion #WearItPurple #GreatPlacetoWork
Our newest partnership will have multiple community and environmental impacts. Over the last year our team has taken a detailed look at what housing stability and affordability means for the communities in which we operate, what the key issues are well below the surface, what they mean for financial inclusion and how we as a bank can make a meaningful impact. We're proud to announce that impact will come through our new community partnership with Mission Australia. When it comes to housing affordability, for many Australians in moderate to high income brackets using electricity doesn't typically come at the expense of not being able to buy groceries or medication. But for those in lower income brackets, it often does (read more about this in our latest FIAP: https://lnkd.in/gsH2qUWT). By investing $1 million over the next three years to upgrade Mission Australian properties with energy and water efficient technologies, we're helping to reduce the cost of power and water bills for hundreds of low-income households. This will not only reduce the cost-of-living pressure, but also reduce emissions as part of our commitment to climate action. We love the fact that Mission Australian share similar values and a desire to see every Australian have a safe, affordable, and stable place to call home.
Where do your workplace products come from? A number of ours come from First Nations suppliers, including Muru Office Supplies (we love their lemon myrtle hand sanitiser) who was named Certified Supplier of the Year at Supply Nation Connect 2023 🎉. Strategic Partnerships Managers Di Petley and Sree Aiyar attended the event this week, along with a record-breaking 2,400+ First Nations businesses, corporate and government members, international delegates, and community members. Di says the theme of 'Empowering Indigenous Futures' spoke to the significant political, social, and economic changes that have led to greater outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. "What I took away from the day was how important it is to be an ally for and support First Nations suppliers. These businesses have a genuine impact on their communities and are empowering future generations through not only creating employment opportunities, but leading the way in business mindset. A highlight for me was the fashion parade by Buluuy Mirrii (https://lnkd.in/g28n5HnP), it was a great showcase of indigenous designs." Sree says an important part of the event was to acknowledge the role businesses play in empowering First Nations peoples’ futures. "It was great to see the wide varieties of offerings from First Nations organisations. The takeaway for me is that it's up to us to be the agents of change through active engagement with and support of First Nations businesses."
Great Southern Bank has an exceptional team of people who are genuinely committed to our purpose of helping all Australians own their own home. Here’s a look back at some of our best moments from 2022 and the people who made it happen. #OurPeople #YearInReview ⭐💙
We’ve published our 2022 Annual Report – a key record of how, over the last 12 months, we’ve supported our customers, helped our communities and had a positive impact on the wider environment. In particular, this year’s report reveals how we’ve: • worked with thousands of customers through the pandemic and natural disasters • made critical steps on our journey towards being a more responsible, sustainable bank, and • stayed focused on our purpose of helping Australians into home ownership. In the first of three videos, hear from our CEO Paul Lewis about how we helped more Australians into homes over the past year, issued more loans to first time buyers, and remained true to the customer-centric principles we were founded on over 75 years ago. You can also read more in our 2022 Annual Report http://spr.ly/6040Mc2J2
Ahead of our partner Carlton Football Club’s first home Pride Round of the AFLW season tonight, the Chair of our Pride Tribe employee resource group Belinda Whamond had the opportunity to meet the team on the field and talk all things inclusion. “Meeting the Carlton team at the Pride Round photo shoot is a highlight of my career at Great Southern Bank. They were so welcoming, even when they found out I was a Bulldogs supporter,” says Belinda, who is based in our Melbourne contact centre. We love learning about Carlton’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and it’s been an honour to be involved in the leadup to Pride Round. “Just being able to see how much Carlton Football Club really appreciates and respects their sponsors and their LGBTI+ supporters was incredible. Being able to be yourself no matter your gender, age or sexuality is something that should be normalised; sportspeople in the public eye don’t always get that opportunity. This round lets everyone, fans and players alike, know that it is ok to come out and you will not be judged but loved." Read more at the link!
