People First

Building resilience and a mentally healthy workplace

Tonkin Consulting

Tonkin have won the People First Gold Award in this year’s awards for excellence for Building resilience and a mentally healthy workplace, their industry-leading mental health and wellbeing program.

Tonkin have been recognised by the Consult Australia judges as a leader in the industry, receiving the People First award for delivering an outstanding initiative that has benefitted their people.

Tonkin’s CEO, Gerry Doyle and one of Consult Australia’s Mental Health Ambassadors, said “We are delighted to achieve this level of recognition. This award demonstrates the dedication and hard work of our people, who are passionate about delivering exceptional outcomes for our clients through a supportive, encouraging and courageous organisational culture. We are proud to lead our industry by putting our most precious resource, our people, first.”

Mental illness affects one in five Australians and is the biggest safety issue facing our industry. Tonkin have developed a mental health program to build the resilience of their people. This program helps their people to be physically and mentally healthy, founded on Tonkin’s ‘It’s ok to ask for help’ culture.

Tonkin believes that their role is to support their people to be the best that they can be, not just the person at work, but the complete person. With this program they set out to:

* Educate their staff about their mental and their physical health, so that they could understand the things that they could do.

* Understand how they could design their workplace to assist people in improving their mental health.

Tonkin’s commitment to support the mental health and wellbeing of their people is a fundamental part of their strategy to 2022. What was striking about the success of this program, was the impact it has had on their people, their productivity, and their performance.

Since 2017, Tonkin’s revenue has grown significantly, and the firm has expanded into new markets and regions. Despite rapid growth and major change, their people feel Mental illness affects one in five Australians and is the biggest safety issue facing our industry. Tonkin have developed a mental health program to build the resilience of their people. This program helps their people to be physically and mentally healthy, founded on Tonkin’s ‘It’s ok to ask for help’ culture.

more empowered, supported, and confident about the organisation’s future than ever before.

Gerry Doyle says “For us, this is an indicator of truly sustainable growth. The major success from this program was the strength of our teams within the business. The support that our people provide each other in managing stress and maintaining connection has lifted considerably.” “A key indicator of the program’s success has been the firm’s ability to adapt to change. In 2020 this was tested with COVID-19. Our teams came together to support each other through major change. The business adapted rapidly to the new way of working and we quickly came up with ways to have fun and support each other remotely.”

Tonkin, deserving winners of this year’s People First Gold Award, congratulations to their team.

PEOPLE FIRST

Judges’ Comments:

In 2020 especially, this award submission was especially prudent, Tonkin should be congratulated for the proactive approach they have undertaken in the mental health and well being space. They are very much deserving winners in the People First category.

Tonkin and their CEO Gerry Doyle have really taken an industry lead on highlighting the importance of the mental health of its employees. One could argue that not only is leading in the Consulting industry, it is leading across all Australian industries. The program has also been highly relevant in the COVID-19 pandemic we are all navigating through. The program also espouses the old adage that the most important issue for any organisation are its staff and herein their "mental health wellbeing".

The judges called it a fantastic initiative and an outstanding program with brave leadership from the top and demonstrated success in terms of financial outcomes and employee empowerment. The judges recognised this is an area receiving greater attention across industry and could not be more poignant than in 2020. It focuses on the value in humanistic behaviour and addresses a most important aspect of a better world - inclusion. It is not unique or new, but this program demonstrates that this firm has the will and the passion to drive change for the betterment of all. A great exemplar for our industry.

“A key indicator of the program’s success has been the firm’s ability to adapt to change. In 2020 this was tested with COVID-19. Our teams came together to support each other through major change. The business adapted rapidly to the new way of working and we quickly came up with ways to have fun and support each other remotely.”