COVER STORY
best practice NAME: SHARYN SCHULTZ TITLE: HEAD OF HR COMPANY: LUXOTTICA WHY HOT? As the head of HR for Luxottica, the
NAME: AMANDA REVIS TITLE: GROUP EXECUTIVE HR COMPANY: SUNCORP GROUP WHY HOT? The Suncorp people and culture
home of OPSM, Sunglass Hut, and other retail brands, Sharyn Schultz believes HR is about more than just people. She is pragmatic in how she sees HR striking the right balance between people decisions and business outcomes. “One of my key learnings in HR is that there’s a whole heap of grey. Sometimes there is no right or wrong way of doing it… but we’ve got to make sure whatever we’re doing links back to the culture and the business strategy,” she says. Schultz sees her function as accountable to three key deliverables: focusing the business, simplifying the business, and connecting to the customer – and these will be crucial as the business undergoes future brand rationalisation. In addition, Schultz and the executive team have launched Luxottica’s OneSight foundation, which provides people in disadvantaged communities access to free eye tests and free eyewear.
strategy is based on the premise that the more engaged and enabled the workforce is, the more value is generated for all stakeholders. In a historically complex business, the execution is the key. Amanda Revis, who has been at the helm for just over two years, has ensured Suncorp’s people frameworks and methods are simple to understand and use and also provide staff with a clear line of sight between what they do, how they do it and the strategic objectives of the organisation. The company has also been acknowledged as a leader in e-learning/social learning and is constantly researching new and improved technologies and ways of delivering learning. A company with several strong cultures (brands include Vero, AAMI, GIO), Revis maintains the benefits of each culture, whilst at the same time ensuring that everyone works together in a culture of ‘One Company, Many Brands’.
NAME: EMMA HOGAN TITLE: DIRECTOR OF PEOPLE AND CULTURE COMPANY: FOXTEL WHY HOT? In 2011 Foxtel was the winner of the HR Team of the Year at the Australian HR Awards. Leading the HR team is Emma Hogan, whose initiatives have set the company apart. Always a strong advocate of the HR team at executive level, Hogan says credibility comes from understanding the business first, with everything HR can deliver from a people and culture perspective second. “For instance, at Foxtel we need to know the price of our product, we need to know what the new release content is, we need to know what’s coming soon,” she told HCTV. For Hogan, a successful HR team is one that has a diverse background and is open to continuous learning and changing. “Most of my team have been in more than one role while at Foxtel. Mixing skills and empowering them to do their roles is really key to the retention of the team but also key to the success of the business,” she says. This attitude works well in an organisation that is continuously changing. In May, the $2.5bn merger between Foxtel and Austar was approved – which means the new Foxtel will directly employ approximately 2,500 people. And, as with any merger a delicate touch is required as redundancies and redeployments have been confirmed. 26
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SHARON SCHULTZ
FINALIST: AUSTRALIAN HR AWARDS, HR DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
EMMA HOGAN
NAME: VAUGHAN PAUL TITLE: VICE PRESIDENT, HR, GROUP CONSUMER COMPANY: OPTUS WHY HOT? Optus is no ordinary employer. The company’s Sydney HQ comprises seven buildings in a dedicated campus, and focuses on common spaces to encourage collaboration and relationship building – meetings happen in cafes, outdoors in leafy surrounds, town squares and breakouts. Flexible working arrangements are used by 70% of Optus staff, while a wide range of perks, including an on-site bar, on-site physio and other services like Tai Chi, massage services, weekly fruit and vegetable markets and product discounts keep employees smiling. Vaughan Paul, who has been with Optus since late 2005, has pulled Optus ahead of the competition. The corporate strategy headline is to ‘Break through in Customer Experience’, and the company still prides itself on its challenger spirit, which Paul has noted is a key component of the company’s EVP. HR has played a critical role in creating a customer-centric culture, and buying and developing leaders who will drive transformational change.
AMANDA REVIS
VAUGHAN PAUL
FINALIST: AUSTRALIAN HR AWARDS, HR DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR