2004-05 Annual Report - Australia Post

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CORPORATE
SUSTAINABILITY
The implementation and
application of ecologically
sustainable development
(ESD) within Australia Post
is a continuing program. In
addition to being required by
law, sustainability is necessary
to protect our brand and
business reputation, to maintain
the wellbeing of staff and
stakeholders and to respond to
the commercial requirements
of major customers.
Post has always practised most
elements of sustainability,
through a range of separate,
isolated initiatives. However,
PEOPLE
MANAGEMENT
Our people management
strategies have been the
foundation for sustained
productivity gains and have
made a significant contribution to
Post’s growing profitability. Over
the past 15 years, our people
have played a significant role
in transforming our culture and
since 2002, these programs
have been formally arranged
into a sustainability program
that involves monitoring all of
the corporation’s economic,
social, environmental and
human impacts.
Our sustainability steering
committee sets overall directions
for the corporation’s ESD
program and is comprised of
executives at group manager
level or above. A permanent
working party, comprised of
senior managers from across the
business, is responsible for the
planning and implementation of
CORPORATE
SUSTAINABILITY
PEOPLE
co-operating in major change
programs that have made our
operations more efficient and
our business more customer
focussed.
Our corporate transformation has
been balanced throughout with
progressive industrial relations
policies, proactive management
of occupational health and safety
issues, a strong commitment to
diversity and equal employment
the ESD program. This working
party has developed a set of ESD
principles, based on the Global
Reporting Initiative model, which
are supported by action plans
aimed at integrating ESD into
Post’s operations and culture.
“[Australia Post] is regarded as a company
that comes up with fresh ideas. It is seen
as giving back to the community, and has
maintained high levels of trust among most
of its employees because it has not engaged
in recent years in swingeing retrenchments
or branch closures.”
– Business Review Weekly, 22 April 2004
opportunities, integrated
succession planning and effective
grievance procedures.
The total number of full-time
and part-time staff we employed
at 30 June 2005 fell slightly
to 34,804 (35,049 last year).
The number of full-time staff
decreased to 25,851 (26,019
last year) and the number of parttime
staff also declined, to 8,953
(9,030 last year).