8 EMPLOYEES

EMPLOYEE
CASE STUDY

Staying
power.
We are already in a war for talent.
 2006 STAKEHOLDER IMPACT REPORT 9

Helen O’Loughlin, Head of Careers@Westpac,

discusses career options in the new training centre
within Westpac Place.

O
UR PEOPLE ARE an invaluable resource that we Our Career Transitions workshop provides practical tools
cannot afford to take for granted. These are not and advice to find a new role within the bank. Career
just pleasant sentiments – our employees are Transitions also helps build skills in resumé writing and job
crucial to building the long-term shareholder interview techniques.
value of our company and in delivering on our core
business strategy. We know that finding – and keeping – the right people is
crucial for any successful business. That’s why, last year,
We are already in a war for talent, so once we’ve found the around 2,300 people found new jobs within Westpac and the
right person for Westpac – we work hard to keep them! number of people successfully re-deployed within Westpac
increased by 62% from 2005.
That’s why we established Careers@Westpac. It provides a
central contact point to access information on new jobs and Because, only by supporting and growing our people will we
apply for that next career move within Westpac. be able to support and grow our business into the future. l
10 EMPLOYEES

“ We are simplifying
things for
employees
and providing
What’s the
transparency to
our people.” future for
employees?
Greg Barnier
General Manager
Employee Shared Services

“ We are living our

values to deliver
01
PHILOSOPHY
on our promises.”
Tony Fiddes EMPLOYEES
Head of Culture

WHAT DO WE BELIEVE?
We believe in building an inclusive
environment where doing the right
thing is recognised and rewarded.
We recognise that our working environment is changing.
There is a shrinking pool of talent, an ageing workforce,
changing expectations of work with each generation and the
“ By supporting our active poaching of quality people. At the same time, we are
people, we’ll make asking more of our people to promote new behaviours and
it to number one in work styles and deliver on our business strategy.
customer service.”
Our People Strategy for 2006-2008 sets out a number of
Dharma Chandran work programs supporting the three areas we continue to
General Manager focus on:
BCB People & Performance
• Strengthening culture, leadership and values;
• Attracting, developing, motivating and retaining quality
people; and
• Simplifying our tools and processes.

Our employment policies and practices are set out on our

website and within ‘Our Principles for Doing Business’. l
 2006 STAKEHOLDER IMPACT REPORT 11

BUILDING A PLACE EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT FINANCIAL

WHERE PEOPLE VALUE
WANT TO WORK
EMPLOYEE RETENTION

PEOPLE
RECRUITMENT COSTS VALUE

“It is no surprise that WHY DO WE DO IT?

how we treat our people Without our people we have
feeds through to our no business.
customers’ experiences, It’s an obvious point, but as a services business, we are
which in turn drives our especially reliant on our employees. Technology and
systems matter of course, but for a bank, our success is
profitability.” fundamentally about the talents and energy of the people
who choose to work here. It is no surprise that how we
treat them feeds through to our customers’ experiences,
which in turn drives our profitability.
This link between our people, customers, and shareholder
returns is in fact the core strategic proposition – the
service-value chain – on which we base our business and
what we believe sets us apart from the competition.
02 Westpac in a nutshell.
VALUE
And, with an ageing population and growing war for
talent, attracting and retaining the best people is even
EMPLOYEES more fundamental to our long term prospects. l
12 EMPLOYEES

03
ISSUES

EMPLOYEES

WHAT ARE THEIR

CONCERNS?
“ Stop over-complicating what we
do and start improving the quality
of output.”

“There appears to be a reluctance to

allow work from home as a realistic
option for more than a few people.”

“ Westpac appears to be trying

to provide better/more flexible
conditions, but this is not filtering
down to all departments...”

“Even though we were shown…that

our pay was comparative to other
companies in the industry, I still feel
that we are underpaid as a whole…”

“Westpac’s objectives and ideals are

terrific and can be achieved. What does
need attention is the detail and process
when changes are made.”

All comments taken from WBC 2006 Staff Perspectives Survey.

 2006 STAKEHOLDER IMPACT REPORT 13

Q&A BERNARD SALT

Bernard Salt talks with Ilana Atlas, Westpac’s Group Executive,

People and Performance.

How is Westpac engaging and some high demand groups. We have

retaining Generation Y? What are you to be more creative both seeking this
doing to reduce their high churn rate? 04 talent in the market and developing it
Although it is below industry ADVOCACY ‘in house’.
benchmarks, turnover is still higher than We picked up on these trends some
we’d like it to be. The aim of the graduate EMPLOYEES years ago and have been actively
recruitment program is to enable young planning since; our age balance work,
people to find out more about the Bank started in 2002, is a good example.
and themselves, to develop new skills
The market will tighten further
and find a role which represents the best
fit of aspirations and capabilities.
And then we’re working to improve
HOW ARE WE because the demographic drivers
are unstoppable. On the upside this
certainly contributes to the business
everyone’s internal mobility so they can
stay with Westpac. Many young people
SHOWING case for diversity. Our customers are
increasingly diverse and we want our
who start their careers with us will want
to broaden their experience. We just THE WAY? workforce to mirror this. These labour
dynamics are the ‘burning platform’
hope we give them a good experience for change – encouraging us to look
– and that they find their way back, via If Generation Y is demanding special in talent pools we’ve traditionally not
our alumni network, bringing that wider treatment, how are you managing thought about.
world view with them. older and possibly resentful Xers
and Boomers? What is the uptake in job-sharing and
Do you see a trend in Boomers telecommuting – and what are the
extending their working life beyond We’ve provided flexible work options
for many years. It’s about giving practicalities of making this work?
55 and 60 by scaling back their hours/ We introduced home-based work in the
days of work? people choices and understanding
the diversity of needs: lifestyle, caring 1990s and have seen steady growth.
Very much so. Our people tell us they Along with part time work, career breaks
want to transition into retirement, responsibilities or health and well-
being. We need to stay on top of a and parental leave, the drivers are both
rather than go overnight from full time work-life balance and increasingly the
to no paid work. We are making this market that is getting more creative
– and make any changes available to all need to care for ageing parents.
happen, for example by encouraging
our people. Change is always difficult and
discussion between employees and
What does the skills shortage look like? sometimes managers are unconvinced
their managers to find a solution that
Is there light at the end of the tunnel? about flexible working. We challenge
suits the needs of the employee and the
We are seeing the impact of tightening this because ultimately we reckon
business; tackling any financial barriers
labour markets, although the short and flexibility is in the best interest of
around superannuation; and building
medium term risks are not as high as customers, our people and the Bank as
a leadership mindset that views as a
in sectors like health and education. a whole.
strength a team that spans a number of
generations. For us the problem is concentrated in
14 EMPLOYEES

HOW DID
05
WE DO? PROGRESS

EMPLOYEES

2006 OBJECTIVE PROGRESS TO DATE 2007 OBJECTIVE

Maintain top quartile employee Westpac’s employee Achieve Employee Commitment

commitment. commitment is 68%, two of 70%.
percentage points below top

✘
quartile performance.

Launch new induction program in Launched new induction program Resolve any outstanding issues
February 2006. called the Board Game which with Connect@Westpac.
covers our mission, vision and
values, and corporate

✔
responsibility program.

Complete research into employee Completed comprehensive Deliver Accessibility Action Plan.
retention by December 2005. interviews with all employees
who left the organisation over a

✔
three-month period.

Roll-out our new leadership model Launched new leadership model – Embed Living the Values across
– Living the Values – in 2005-06. Living the Values – which assesses Westpac Group by December
employee performance in two 2006.
ways: what is achieved, and
how it is achieved, relative to

✔
Westpac’s values.

Reduce Lost Time Injury Frequency As at September 2006, LTIFR Reduce the Lost Time Injury
Rate (LTIFR) by 10%. had fallen 10% from 5.8 for Frequency Rate by 5% to 4.97 as

✔
September 2005 to 5.2. at 30 September 2007.

Launch Corporate Responsibility The Corporate Responsibility Respond to three key areas of
E-learning program roll out in E-learning program is now focus identified in 2006 Staff
early 2006. being rolled out to all Perspectives Survey.

✔
Australian employees.
 2006 STAKEHOLDER IMPACT REPORT 15

WHAT ARE WE DOING?

Employee wrap-up
Workforce profile resulting in 10 placements in Work and life balance
and diversity Sydney and Perth. We have Westpac offers 12 weeks paid
We employ 22,083 people identified 11 trainees through parental leave and provides 06
in Australia of whom 71% our School Based Trainee access to child care through PERFORMANCE
are full-time, 28% are part Program in Sydney. Westpac-owned child care
time and 1% are temporary centres located in areas
Through our Age Balance EMPLOYEES
employees. Around 64% are of high demand. In 2006,
women and 36% are men. Strategy, we continue 1,025 employees accessed
to focus on improving paid parental leave and two
Through our Group-wide the retention of existing additional Westpac child Recruitment
Staff Perspectives Survey employees by better care centres opened. and retention
(SPS), around 55% of understanding retirement Careers@Westpac allows
respondents identify intentions and providing We were ranked first in the our people to source new
themselves as coming flexible work opportunities. Financial Sector for the third roles internally and supports
from an ethnic or cultural Westpac is recognised by year in the 2006 Annual redeployment activities
background other than the Federal Government as Benchmarking Survey “Work and external recruitment.
Australian, while 31% an Employee Champion for / Life Initiatives – The Way This year, total employee
speak a language other Mature Age Workers. Ahead 2006”. turnover (both resignations
than English at home. In and involuntary separations
addition, 3% self-identified Employee satisfaction This year, we have developed
such as retrenchments) has
as having a disability and More than 22,000 a Flexible Work Options
increased from 16 to 17%.
44% of our people have employees, or 80% Group- guide, an intranet based
While this increase is being
carer responsibilities of some wide, completed the 2006 tool to assist managers
driven by a higher resignation
kind, up from 42% in 2005. SPS. Employee Commitment and employees consider
rate of employees, we
We have found that people was 68%, which is just options for flexible work. We
compare favourably
with a disability consistently outside the top quartile of are developing a job share
to benchmarks with a
score lower in the SPS. We large Australian companies, technical solution as part
resignation rate around 14%
have examined this issue but compares favourably of Careers@Westpac. This
compared to finance industry
and will respond in our next to global financial services will help employees wishing
benchmarks around 16%.
Accessibility Action Plan. companies. We have set a to work reduced hours find
target to improve this to potential work partners or In 2006, we appointed our
Women in management is 70% next year. job share opportunities. first Employee Ombudsman,
now at 42%. We were again to confidentially address
successful in obtaining the Key areas of focus We also reviewed the Better
issues not resolved through
2006 EOWA Employer of to emerge for 2007 Life and Work program
the internal grievance process.
Choice for Women (EOCFW) include development (BLW) and decided not to
citation, the tenth year aspirations, improving extend the contract after We also launched a new
in a row we have been change management May 2006, as utilisation of employee induction program
recognised. and communication, this service has been quite where new Westpac
and matching pay with low. We are currently looking employees are taken through
In conjunction with the performance. We also saw for an alternative means of a series of challenges
Aboriginal Employment some claims of bullying and providing advice on work and covering our mission, vision
Strategy (AES), we piloted harassment, which we are life balance issues. and values. Teams are
an Indigenous recruitment examining to ensure it does confronted with a multi-
program in our retail bank, not emerge as an issue. dimensional dilemma as ‘the
16 EMPLOYEES

WHAT ARE WE DOING?

Westpac Board’, factoring issues and some additional We also continued our Occupational Health
in stakeholder concerns and minor systems errors. Enterprise Leadership and Safety (OHS)
ethical challenges. We have steadily worked Program for our top leaders. Our 2006 target was to
through and resolved these reduce the Lost Time Injury
Through Westpac’s Graduate problems, and ongoing Westpac Enterprise Frequency Rate (LTIFR) by
Recruitment Program we progress is communicated Development Agreement 10% to 5.2%.
have started the Westpac through a fortnightly (EDA) We achieved this.
Graduate Sustainability Connect@Westpac update. The Westpac EDA is made
Group, where participants up of twelve separate This year, all our Health
have the opportunity to Career and development agreements that cover our and Safety teams (OHS,
develop potential responses In 2006, we have made people across Westpac. Occupational Rehabilitation
to key issues affecting the a number of changes and and Workers’ Compensation)
Bank. This year, graduates additions to our Performance In October 2005, Westpac were brought under one
tackled climate change, Management system. The ceased negotiations for structure. This has allowed
engaging capital markets, most critical of these has a new EDA. This decision for a more systematic
and delivering sustainable been the refinement of was based on two factors. approach to analysing OHS
products and services. In leadership behaviours and We believed that we were data and a tighter focus on
2006, we received 5081 how they link with the unlikely to reach agreement priority issues. We have also
applications, and employed Performance Management with the Finance Sector established a Safety Council
120 graduates across 13 and Remuneration processes. Union (FSU) on our offer for in Westpac Place.
different graduate programs settlement made in April
for 2007. The Leadership model ‘Living 2005. Secondly, with the We implemented our
the Values’ was introduced introduction of the Federal e-Academy health and safety
Connect@Westpac on 1 October 2005 and Government’s WorkChoices learning and assessment. In
In May 2006, we launched will be phased in across the legislation, we felt that it addition, our people can now
Connect@Westpac, a new entire Westpac Group by would be more appropriate lodge reports on incidents,
online tool to manage the end of 2006. It is based to finalise workplace injuries and hazards using
personal, team and on our values of Teamwork, arrangements under the our online report.
pay information across Achievement and Integrity, new system.
the Westpac Group. not just what you achieve As part of our focus on
Connect@Westpac was but how you achieve it. WorkChoices took effect in Critical Event Management,
designed to replace existing March 2006. For Westpac an enterprise wide pandemic
online and paper based We use a Balanced Scorecard at this time, it is ‘business preparation plan has been
applications around leave approach to setting as usual’, with WorkChoices developed and implemented
management, payroll data, performance objectives, having only a minor impact in conjunction with Business
the existing Westpac and BT incorporating four key areas for a small number of Continuity Services and
people directories, and to – Customers, Employees, employees. Our existing our external partner,
link with the e-Academy. Shareholders and Corporate EDAs will continue to apply International SOS.
Responsibility. and will not be changed
In rolling out the system we without the agreement of @ More detail on our
experienced a number of In 2006 we launched a new employees. employment policies and
technical difficulties. These e-learning module to raise practices is available on
have included payment awareness of corporate our website at
discrepancies, timesheet responsibility internally. www.westpac.com.au/
errors, leave management corporateresponsibility l
 2006 STAKEHOLDER IMPACT REPORT 17

NOW FOR THE

NUMBER CRUNCHING…

Employee ȢȠ

commitment
(% favourable)
Ȣț
Key areas of focus to emerge
for 2007 include focusing on
development aspirations, improving
change management and
communication, and matching pay ȡȠ
with performance.

ȡț

ȠȠ
ȝțțȝ ȝțțȞ ȝțțȟ ȝțțȠ ȝțțȡ

Westpac workforce ȝțțȡ ȝțțȠ ȝțțȟ ȝțțȞ ȝțțȝǻ

”™†‘ȝȝƽțȣȞ ”™†‘ȝȜƽȣȝȤ ”™†‘ȝȜƽȣȤȠ ”™†‘ȝȜƽȡȢȢ ”™†‘ȝțƽȞȠȤ
Ȝʏ Ȝʏ Ȝʏ Ȝʏ Ȝʏ
g Full time
g Part time ȝȣʏ ȝȤʏ ȝȤʏ ȞȜʏ ȞȜʏ
g Temporary
ȢȜʏ Ȣțʏ Ȣțʏ ȡȣʏ ȡȣʏ
* Incorrectly published in
2002 Stakeholder Impact
Report as 30,359.

Age profile of
workforce as ʛȝȠ ȜȞʏ
Ȝȣʏ
compared to Ȟȟʏ
Australian ȝȡǂȞȠ ȝȞʏ
labour force (%) ȞȡǂȟȠ ȝȠʏ
Ȟțʏ

ȜȤʏ
ȟȡǂȠȠ ȝȝʏ
g Westpac Ƞʏ
ʜȠȡ Ȝȝʏ
g Australian labour force*
* Source: ABS 6105 ț Ƞ Ȝț ȜȠ ȝț ȝȠ Ȟț ȞȠ
18 EMPLOYEES

Gender and
age profiles (%) 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002
Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male
% % % % % % % % % %
≤25 13 13 13 13 14 15 11 11 15 14
26-35 33 35 35 36 35 36 37 37 35 35
36-45 29 30 29 30 28 30 29 31 28 30
46-55 19 17 19 17 19 16 19 17 19 17
≥56 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 4

Male/Female
salary ratio Fixed pay Total cash
Management level (male:female) (male:female)
Non-management 51:49 52:48
Junior management 52:48 53:47
Middle management 50:50 51:49
Senior management 52:48 55:45
Top management 53:47 52:48

Employee
turnover* ȝțțȝ ȜȤʏ

ȝțțȞ Ȝȡʏ

ȝțțȟ ȜȢʏ

ȝțțȠ Ȝȡʏ
* Employee turnover includes
both resignations and ȝțțȡ ȜȢʏ
involuntarily separations
such as retrenchments. ț Ƞ Ȝț ȜȠ ȝț

Employee
satisfaction* 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002
(% favourable) Community/Social 86 87 87^ 86 93
Work/life balance 68 64 61 60 65
* Westpac Communication culture 72 72 67^ 60 55
Group-wide figures
^ Survey questions modified Training & development 60 68 69 64 68
slightly since 2003.
Job security 71 72 72 66 64
Employee Morale has been
replaced with monthly Remuneration 36 36 37 37 40
pulse figures. We will
report on this next year. Employee commitment 68 69 68 65 65

Women in
management (%) ȝȝʏ
Šˆš™Ž›Š
Ȣȣʏ

Š“Ž”— Ȟȝʏ
g Female
†“†ŒŠ— ȡȣʏ
g Male
ȠȝǀȠʏ
Group-wide †“†ŒŠ—
workforce ȟȢǀȠʏ
as at September
quarter 2006 ț ȝț ȟț ȡț ȣț
 2006 STAKEHOLDER IMPACT REPORT 19

Employees
doing overtime Overtime as % of standard hours
Non-packaged employees 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002
recording overtime during
the year % working overtime 42* 32 33 28 36.8
* Increase due to improved
data capture and Saturday Average overtime worked
trading.
as % of standard hours 26 20 23* 8.6 8.5

Accumulated
annual leave 2006 2005 2004^ 2003 2002
No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
≤4 weeks 14,098 64 15,668 70 14,843 67 13,167 63 12,885 64
>4 & <8 weeks 6,303 29 5,533 25 6,702 30 5,863 28 5,476 27
* Incorrectly stated as
22,281 in 2004. ≥8 weeks 1,539 7 1,132 5 736 3 1,764 8 1,721 9
^ Figures include BT Financial Total 21,940 100 22,333 100 21,545* 100 20,794 100 20,082 100
Group for the first time.

Number of Employees
employees accessing
ȝțțȝ ȜƽțȠț No. of
accessing external employees $ value
paid parental ȝțțȞ ȜƽțȢȢ tertiary
leave training 2002 697 $1.7m
ȝțțȟ ȜƽțȤȢ
2003 654 $1.7m
ȝțțȠ ȜƽțȟȤ 2004 538 $1.4m
ȝțțȡ ȜƽțȝȠ 2005 765 $1.1m

ț Ȟțț ȡțț Ȥțț Ȝƽȝțț

2006 646 $1.0m

Utilisation of
Westpac No. of families No. of children
child care centres Kids on Bond (Sydney CBD) 72 87
Kids @ Kent (Sydney CBD)* 0 0
Little Gantry (Concord West) 76 88
South Melbourne 30 35
Science Park (Bedford Park, SA) 67 78
Kings Meadow (Tasmania) 37 48

* Opened on
Sussex Street (Sydney CBD)^^ 62 73
30 September 2006. Brisbane Central (Brisbane CBD)** 3 3
** Opened July 2006.
^^ Opened in mid-2006.
Total 347 412

Lost time injury

frequency rate ȝțțȝ ȜȜǀȠț

ȝțțȞ ȡǀȠȟ

ȝțțȟ ȢǀțȢ
Injuries per one million
hours worked
ȝțțȠ ȠǀȢȢ
All OHS figures calculated
using different total headcount ȝțțȡ Ƞǀȝț
Rate calculated using
Australian Standard 1885.1 ț Ȟ ȡ Ȥ Ȝȝ