CEO Survey: Companies from A to B

The survey’s A to B companies, alphabetically, respond.

The Australian’s CEO Survey. Artwork by Tom Jellett

The Australian’s CEO Survey: Companies from A to B

Anthony Eisen, Afterpay

Markets are strong, borders are opening. What are the three top risks to recovery and growth of your company and Australia?

 

Covid-19 has accelerated the shift from consumer credit to debit during the past almost 2 years. At the same time consumers around the world have embraced ecommerce like never before and our business has been a beneficiary of these tailwinds.

 

The proposed reopening of international borders will be an important next step economically and for the wellbeing of people employed by those industries, both here and around the world.

 

We’re also enjoying the return of more normalised social settings around the world and the reopening of Australia to travel and tourism will be an important next step from an economic perspective.

 

The last 12-18 months have taught us to be prepared for this fluctuation in consumer spending and retail behaviour. We are well diversified by geography and channel, particularly as we continue to ramp up both our in-store offering as well as building out our affiliate marketing expertise online.

 

How has disruption/innovation through Covid-19 affected your sector and how can you stay competitive?

 

There are three areas that provide critical opportunities as a result of the pandemic that we can look to in helping us manage and navigate the ongoing challenges that are sure to follow.

 

The first is how the pandemic has changed the way customers relate to their finances with transparency being key. It’s no surprise that one million credit cards were cancelled in Australia in the last year alone as more and more people use Afterpay to get rid of revolving debt and improve their financial wellbeing.

 

The second is in how customers expect to participate in future commerce, and demand for a true omnichannel experience. Through our data and insights we know that customers who only shop online do so on average six times per year, compared to customers who have shopped online and in-store have an average frequency of 24 times. Omnichannel customers are more engaged, more frequent, and are of higher value to a merchant.

 

And third, is the critical role that the Australian tech sector played in our Covid-19 response and the opportunity that it presents moving forward. During the pandemic, the tech sector generated 65,000 jobs, the economy’s second highest job creator behind retail.

 

This isn’t a movement about the tech sector on its own - it’s about what tech can do across the economy to support and help critical businesses thrive.

 

Continuing to support and foster the growth in the sector will continue to help us further support companies in all sectors and drive greater diversity. For example, there is a huge amount of diversity in companies including 35,200 sole traders, 26,100 businesses with fewer than 20 employees and just 100 large firms of 200+ employees.

 

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

 

As a company, we are close to achieving carbon neutral certification under the Climate Active framework for our global emissions. On top of achieving carbon neutrality for the company, as leaders we (Anthony and Nick) will also become carbon neutral in their personal capacities.

 

We have started the process to join Leaders For Climate Action, a global coalition of entrepreneurial leaders who are passionate about fighting climate change.

 

In November, we also announced a partnership with API-first carbon removal marketplace Patch to give U.S. consumers the tools to offset the carbon footprint of their Afterpay purchases. By embedding Patch’s API directly into its consumer application, Afterpay will empower more than 10 million customers to take climate action and neutralize the impact of their spending behaviors.

 

Afterpay’s app will feature a section where customers can view the estimated carbon impact of their spend history and the cost to offset the related emissions.

 

Customers can then choose from a wide selection of nature-based and frontier human-engineered projects to purchase carbon removal and/or offsets, all in one seamless experience. Patch’s portfolio of projects ranges from traditional forestry initiatives to newer carbon sequestration technologies including bichoar, mineralization and kelp, allowing customers to join the fight against climate change by supporting the causes they’re most passionate about.

 

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your plans around working from home for employees?

 

Working flexibly is a key component of our workforce strategy going forward and team members can speak with their team leaders about an ongoing remote working arrangement where possible.

 

Where the health advice permits, we are encouraging teams to take a hybrid approach and to come into the office 1-2 days per week while retaining the balance remotely. We engage actively and often with our teams on their experience and we will continue to monitor this approach with feedback from our teams.

 

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

 

We have an incredible opportunity to position Australia as a leading destination for technology businesses. By 2030, tech sector activity has the potential to contribute more to GDP in Australia than primary industries or manufacturing.

 

To achieve this government leaders should prioritise:

• Growth and investment: by addressing early-stage company funding gaps and creating more ‘shots on goal’ for high-growth companies
• Talent: Grow the pipeline of skilled workers and pathways into tech sector jobs
• Regulation: Be a digital economy regulation leader by encouraging the safe and early introduction of new products and services with fit-for-purpose regulation

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Graeme Hunt, AGL

Markets are strong, borders are opening. What are the three top risks to recovery and growth of your company and Australia?

 

At the end of last year, there was a sense of optimism for the year ahead with vaccinations on the way and restrictions easing across the country. Unfortunately, the pandemic has continued to dominate how we live and work in 2021, and of course when we could be face-to-face with colleagues over the borders.

 

Australians have been agile in responding to the challenges of the pandemic and I suspect with a largely vaccinated population that approaches to the pandemic will become more pragmatic. For our business, the uncertainty of Covid-19 will present an ongoing risk to our employees, as well as impacting market conditions.

 

With a number of elections slated for next year, changes in reforms or government present both risk and opportunity. We want to continue to encourage reforms that are focused on an orderly transition that supports existing generation assets, along with reforms that continue to drive decarbonisation through the development of new generation and the uptake and integration of new technologies such as storage, DER and EVs.

 

We will continue to work with the government and other key stakeholders to ensure an equitable, reliable and affordable energy transition for the sector, as well as households and businesses.

 

The biggest challenge and opportunity for AGL in the new year will be executing our proposed demerger at the end of the financial year. The decision to create two separate energy companies will allow each entity the clarity of purpose to respond to the evolving needs of the energy transition.

 

Accel Energy will be Australia’s largest baseload electricity supplier, focused on the transition of its generation assets. AGL Australia, Australia’s largest energy-led multi-product retailer of essential services, investing in flexible energy trading, storage and supply, and decentralised energy services.

 

How do you view inflation and how do you rate the nation’s macro-policy settings?

 

It’s crucial that we continue to learn to live with uncertainty, as the pandemic continues to present challenges and the RBA takes a rightly cautious approach to monetary policy. We are emerging from a suppressed economic environment in 2020, where we saw business and consumer confidence and spend fall sharply, and a 2021 recovery that was halted by the Delta variant of Covid-19.

 

I believe Australia has navigated the pandemic well so far and our economy is at a point of inflexion. The pace and extent of our recovery will depend on how government and business address the ongoing and long-term challenges. As borders reopen, I hope there is opportunity for the economy to reset with an improvement in labour supply, supply chains and entire industries like tourism revitalised.

 

The most vulnerable parts of our economy have been protected by the fiscal policies over the last 18 months. Small businesses, workers and consumers have been sheltered and will soon have the chance to begin their own recovery, through a shift in government spending which will drive the economy and future growth opportunities for Australia. We have an opportunity now to drive Australia’s future prosperity by rethinking the way we live and work and supporting the industries that will drive our success moving forward.

 

How has disruption/innovation through Covid-19 affected your sector and how can you stay competitive?

 

While we have certainly felt the impact of the pandemic as an essential service provider it hasn’t been as challenging as it has for sectors like tourism and hospitality. Our priority has been to keep the lights on and the gas flowing to ensure our customers had reliable and affordable energy throughout these difficult times.

 

For some of our people at AGL, there wasn’t an option to work from home as they were needed on-site to undertake essential work. With this in mind, our main priority was ensuring their safety while at work. We implemented COVIDsafe protocols including social distancing, hygiene rules and mandated mask wearing to ensure our people could keep coming to work in order to keep the lights on at home.

 

While Covid-19 presented countless difficulties for Australians, we’ve responded to the disruption by choosing to innovate, through technology, new products and services and accelerating our part in the energy transition. This year, our team has successfully launched the telecommunications arm of AGL, established the AGL electric vehicle subscriptions program and expanded our multi-product offering by investing in Honey insurance.

 

We’ve also worked hard to finalise the acquisitions of solar providers Solgen and Epho, participated in PowAR’s acquisition of Tilt Renewables and entered a joint venture with OVO to bring digital energy services to Australia - all while working from home.

 

With so many Australians losing work or managing extra responsibilities during this period, one of our main priorities has been supporting our customers. We wanted to ensure that paying bills wasn’t an added struggle and have offered a variety of financial support and assistance for over 40,000 residential and small business customers who have been impacted by lockdowns.

 

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

 

As the pace of the energy transition gains momentum, we are well on our way to achieving our goal of net zero emissions by 2050 but we know more work is needed. We are challenging our own thinking and actions to forge a new path for AGL’s sustainability and further embrace Australia’s energy transition.

 

For us, we are driving change through our customers, accelerating our investment in firming technologies and by transforming our thermal generation sites into low carbon energy hubs.

 

We want our customers to be part of our journey to a lower emissions future and are providing them with more options to make changes from their own home. This year we announced that every AGL product is now available with a carbon neutral option. We have a well-established Virtual Power Plant that connects our customers’ solar batteries together into a large bank of energy and have successfully rolled-out our Electric Vehicles subscription program, allowing our customers to get behind the wheel of an EV without committing to ownership.

 

Our customers are not just individuals, but businesses too. This year we became the largest provider of commercial solar enabling our team to offer businesses greater energy solutions.

 

I am proud to say that we have been investing in renewable and flexible generation for more than decade, operating the largest portfolio of renewable assets of any ASX-listed company. As Australia makes the switch to renewables, we know that there will be an increased need for firming technologies, like grid-scale batteries. We plan to roll-out 850 megawatts of grid-scale batteries nationally and this year have broken ground for a 250 MW battery at Torrens Island, as well as receiving development approval for batteries at Broken Hill and Loy Yang.

 

The transition of our thermal sites into integrated, low carbon industrial energy hubs is integral to AGL’s decarbonisation strategy. The commercial reuse of our resources will support economic diversification of the region, build off our site infrastructure while also growing the local economy and new job and skill development opportunities.

 

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your plans around working from home for employees?

 

I believe Australians are better informed and well-equipped to manage the challenges that the pandemic brings into the new year. We’ve been quick to adapt to changing restrictions and I hope a vaccinated population will see a level of normality return to how we live and work.

 

At AGL, we understand there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to work and many of our employees appreciate the flexibility of being able to work from home. I anticipate many of our people will be pleased to have the opportunity to return to the workplace, but we will continue to support an adaptive hybrid style of working.

 

I’m hopeful that in 2022 many of the Australians that have been impacted by the pandemic can return to work. We’ve all heard about the “great resignation”. It is important to consider the potential upside in this movement. As people choose to make changes in their careers, they are presented with opportunities to develop new skills, expand knowledge and explore new professional pathways. For AGL, 2022 will bring plenty of opportunity as we undertake our proposed demerger.

 

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

 

Whether you’re in government or business, there is no doubt 2021 presented some tough hurdles. It was a year filled with uncertainty and a need to be flexible in a challenging environment. I believe businesses and governments have learnt more this year in how we learn to live with covid today and into the future.

 

I don’t think anyone can be faulted too harshly through this period. There has been no perfect way to responding to this complex issue and for the most part I believe the response from business and government has been equal to the demands of the evolving situation.

 

Most of the world is envious of the position we find ourselves in and while it must be acknowledged that many businesses have done it tough, broadly we are in a good position in comparison to what other countries and economies have faced. Largely that has been down to good management not good luck.

 

When we look back over the past two years, we should never lose sight of the fact that many families lost loved ones and many business dreams were lost. A big task for all Australians into next year is ensuring we support one another to rebuild and recover.

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Alexis George, AMP

Markets are strong, borders are opening. What are the three top risks to recovery and growth of your company and Australia?

 

We are emerging from Covid-19 and the economy is strong, but we are seeing new challenges and risks. It would be great to have more uniformity about border closures and restrictions – not an easy task, but businesses and people will want certainty, particularly to do business across states.

 

As the recovery from the pandemic continues, availability of skilled labour will also be critical in supporting growth. And thirdly, maintaining consumer confidence will be vital to the economy. We’ve seen people come out of lockdown enthusiastically, and we need that to be maintained.

 

How do you view inflation and how do you rate the nation’s macro-policy settings?

 

Our economics team advises that the uptick in inflation we are currently seeing globally is mainly due to the pandemic and should settle down globally once workers return, production catches up to demand and demand rotates back to services. While there have been some increases in wage growth, across some industries, it does not appear to be broad based and it’s unclear whether it will be sustained.

 

Policy settings in Australia have been appropriate and inflation is less of an issue than in the US, NZ, Canada and the UK, although if recovery continues to gather pace, our house view is the conditions for a rate increase will likely fall into place later next year.

 

How has disruption/innovation through Covid-19 affected your sector and how can you stay competitive?

 

The pandemic forced us all to take a leap forward on interacting digitally and accelerated change to the way we serve customers, and the services customers demand from us. Digital and data innovation has always been important for businesses, but it is now table stakes.

 

AMP has been investing in digital, including in the recent renovation of our core banking platform. This has enabled us to digitise and automate key processes, leading to a significant uplift in client experience and speed of service, and we will continue to build on this capability.

 

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

 

We have been carbon neutral across our global operations since 2013 and have set the target of net zero emissions across both our business and investments by 2050. In our real estate funds, we are moving even more quickly with a target of net zero by 2030. In fact, AMP Capital Wholesale Office Fund’s internally managed assets, achieved this target in 2021, well ahead of the 2030 target. Emissions reduction was also a driving force in the Quay Quarter real estate development in Sydney, whereby retaining two-thirds of the building’s core through the construction process, we were able to save close to 8000 tonnes in carbon emissions.

 

For AMP Group, our Climate Change Position and Action Plan lays out a strategy covering a number of areas including providing clients with low carbon and green investment opportunities, managing and disclosing risks in accordance with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures and engaging as a global investor for the orderly transition to net zero.

 

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your plans around working from home for employees?

 

Economic reopening and recovery are likely to see the jobs market tighten significantly in the next year and our house view is that this could push unemployment down to 4 per cent by the end of 2022.

 

The way we work has, in my opinion, changed forever. People have embraced flexible working and want it to continue, but it’s also important to acknowledge the connection and collaboration that comes with being together in a physical workspace. AMP will continue to provide our people with the flexibility to work from home or the office, with specific arrangements agreed with leaders based on individual, role, customer and team requirements, and in most cases. I expect this will include some time in the office.

 

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

 

Despite Covid-19 impacts, many Australian businesses have performed strongly, in part influenced by our health systems managing to cope with the pandemic, lower levels of serious illness than many other countries have experienced and with the economy performing reasonably well.

 

When placing Australia in an international context, it’s clear we have fared well under the leadership of the federal and state governments. Further, in financial services specifically, the pandemic did not slow the federal government’s reform agenda, with it still able to implement some of the biggest changes in decades.

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Neil Salmon, Ansell

Markets are strong, borders are opening. What are the three top risks to recovery and growth of your company and Australia?

 

Ansell serves global markets for both industrial and healthcare gloves. We experienced strong growth owing to the pandemic’s impact on demand for our healthcare protective gloves. But our industrial business suffered as lockdowns and movement restrictions impacted our customers.

 

Although these market factors are beginning to re-balance, we are dealing with great uncertainties. We said from the beginning that the world wasn’t going to see an end to Covid 19 and instead needs to learn to live with it as it becomes endemic and that’s what we’re seeing.

 

Our greatest short-term risk is the current disruption to global supply chains, our own and our customers. In healthcare, although pandemic demand has attracted new entrants they are mostly focused on the least differentiated, medical exam glove market which is not Ansell’s focus.

 

Longer term as the industrial and healthcare workplaces switch to renewable sources of energy and become more automated and as sustainability factors rise in prominence in decision-making, we have to make sure Ansell is leading the development of protection products to respond to changing customer needs and we think we have a good strategy to do this.

 

How do you view inflation and how do you rate the nation’s macropolicy settings?

 

We are seeing inflationary impacts in many of our markets, especially labour and freight costs. We can offset these through price increases, cost control and efficiency improvements.

 

How has disruption/innovation through Covid-19 affected your sector and how can you stay competitive?

 

Since its onset Covid-19 has provided the global PPE sector with some dramatic and unprecedented tailwinds. In response, Ansell has committed its strong cash flows to growth, and we will soon begin to see the impact of some very significant capacity expansions emerge.

 

In some cases these investments respond to national requirements for local production now highly valued by customers after the recent experience of the pandemic emergency on PPE supplies.

 

More generally, these investments are targeted to increase capacity and improve competitiveness of Ansell’s more differentiated, higher utility product lines. Demand for the best protection – especially in healthcare - has grown considerably during the pandemic. These new investments also collectively advance the strength of Ansell’s overall supply chain network. Owing to the experience of Covid, customers now value reliability of supply enormously and of course this is a function of the robustness of our supply chain. So, we are setting about maximising the benefits of Ansell’s vertically integrated model of innovation, production, and distribution – all of which have underpinned our performance during the pandemic.

 

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

 

• We are undertaking strategic investments to help reduce our impact on the environment and establish a strategy by which Ansell will be able to commit to significant longer-term reduction in our carbon footprint, in line with the Paris Agreement. We significantly accelerated our strategy to achieve our environmental targets in FY21, conducting fundamental analysis and mapping out and identifying a $23m portfolio of water, energy, and water projects. We’ve set internal site-level absolute greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and measuring these enables us to make real-time decisions on investment and innovation to reduce our environmental impact, including through solar energy projects launched this year.
• Our external goal established several years ago is a 25 per cent intensity reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions, in tonnes of CO2 – equivalent/$M production value, below FY16 baseline by the end of FY25. In FY21 we also engaged a consultancy to complete a Scope 3 inventory and refine an approach to reduce or eliminate sources of emissions within our operations. This work includes reviewing our current intensity and absolute targets and screening opportunities for impact across our value chain. The outcomes of these studies allow us to commence work on developing a roadmap to net zero.
• We continue to take a more active product stewardship approach to assess and manage the impact of our products and supply chains – from raw materials to product design, development, and packaging, through to disposal. We are applying the principles of product stewardship and lifecycle analysis to our product range and innovation, and using our manufacturing and engineering excellence to reduce our environmental footprint. Product stewardship is a key focus area for Ansell and is strongly correlated to Goal 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production – as one of a number of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals that Ansell is committed to.

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your plans around working from home for employees?

 

While we’re hearing a lot about “the great resignation”, thankfully we’re not seeing this play out at Ansell at this stage. That said, we are seeing a tightening of labour markets due to an overall lack of mobility and restrictions on free labour movement due to the pandemic. This has created pressures for our own operations in terms of availability of labour and in terms of availability of skilled labour in the right locations in production.

 

In our professional ranks we do see a slight movement in certain markets, partly due to downturn in movement during the last two years coupled with individuals re-assessing their personal situations and life choices.

 

As a company we are looking to respond with a clear purpose – i.e. why do employees choose Ansell - and once they have made this choice, how do we ensure they continue to work, develop, and grow. We are really looking to develop our “learning” culture and ensure we have a workforce of learners who can develop new skills.

 

We see a change in the needs of the workforce with increased automation and with high demand for some skill sets e.g. digital, data and analytics etc, as well as a reframing of some traditional roles eg. sales skills to ensure that they can adapt to evolving customer needs and expectations.

 

We strongly believe in bringing our people together to connect, collaborate, co-create, and continue to grow out the glue of our company and its values and purpose. We have opted for a “hybrid” model to ensure employees can balance their work and wider lives effectively, with workers splitting their time (around 50%) between working from the office and working remotely.

 

We recognise the pandemic has had a profound impact on well-being so this is a key feature of our future policy.

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Rob Wheals, APA Group

Markets are strong, borders are opening. What are the three top risks to recovery and growth of your company and Australia?

 

There’s no doubt that the accelerating pace of energy transition presents enormous opportunity for Australia, but I think there’s also some risk. APA is committed to the energy transition and a low carbon future, but as a nation we do need to ensure we achieve a balance between continuing to invest in the ‘old’ to ensure we can continue to keep the lights on, while transitioning to the ‘new’.

 

We have to ensure that we achieve a responsible transition and not a train wreck.

 

We have seen instances in Europe where expectations and ambitions have gotten ahead of the reality and an over-reliance on renewable generation, without sufficient baseload or intermittent generation backup, has created serious energy market and economic challenges.

 

It is why we believe gas will remain an important part of our energy mix over the coming decades as part of the energy transition, because it can be turned on quickly and it can stay on for days, providing the perfect complement to variable renewable energy for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, which will help achieve the orderly transition that we all need.

 

The management of our internal borders will also be vital to the Australian economy as we face ongoing challenges with the seasonal impact of the virus and potential new strains like Omicron. While we have seen the effectiveness of our governments in suppressing the virus and keeping people safe, we risk stifling supply-chain and labour shortage disruptions further if we don’t build confidence in our border and quarantine measures.

 

Finally, as we head towards an election, there is no better time to address Australia’s waning skills and vocational education pathways. The election is an opportunity to reset our pipeline of local talent and create a roadmap for local workers to continue to skill and upskill, particularly in the context of the energy transition.

 

How do you view inflation and how do you rate the nation’s macro-policy settings?

 

There is no doubt that the global restrictions came at a cost through the pandemic, but Australia’s response struck the right balance of keeping people safe, while supporting businesses to dial-down and dial back-up.

This is why we must stay the course as we head into the federal election and get the settings right for businesses to invest and continue delivering job creating projects. We can’t afford to be complacent – we need to maintain our economic momentum and keep confidence ticking up.

 

And at the same time, we have to begin the task of budget repair. Despite the obvious temptation I sincerely hope that the major parties don’t overpromise and overspend in the lead up to the 2022 election.

 

Our long-term infrastructure contracts generally contain clauses that prospectively increase revenue based on either Australian or US inflation rates, and therefore the recent increase in inflation rates will support APA’s future revenue growth.

 

How has disruption/innovation through Covid-19 affected your sector and how can you stay competitive?

 

It is clear that movement restrictions during Covid-19 caused disruptions to many business, however, the adaptability and resilience of our people, enabled us to continue to deliver for our customers throughout the pandemic.

 

The challenges of not being able to move our people from state to state when we need to has only further underscored the opportunity for us to invest in new tools and innovations that will transform the way our technicians and field staff do their jobs across regional Australia.

 

At the same time, the great national experiment in working from home has confirmed once and for all that flexibility is here to stay and can deliver real benefits in terms of employee engagement, productivity and work-life balance.

 

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

 

Earlier this year, we announced APA’s ambition to achieve net zero operations emissions by 2050 and in the year ahead we will publish interim targets that will help guide APA’s pathway.

 

Businesses globally are approaching the energy transition pragmatically, instilling urgency while importantly ensuring we keep the lights on and maintain affordability for consumers.

 

While we all need to play our role, we know that not every business can make the same contribution to decarbonisation – with contributions dependent on the sector and role that each business plays in the economy.

It will also become harder going forward for companies to access cost effective capital, both debt and equity, without a demonstrated Net Zero commitment and targets and programs of work.

 

A key plank in our approach to Net Zero and to support the energy transition is our Pathfinder program. It will help pave a pathway for APA to play a leading role in delivering energy solutions of tomorrow.

 

We already have a number of initiatives underway including our first hydrogen project which is targeted at enabling the conversion of a section of the Parmelia Gas Pipeline in Western Australia into Australia’s first 100 per cent hydrogen‐ready transmission pipeline.

 

It is showing promising results and, if successful, would create a significant opportunity for the development of a hydrogen hub in the Kwinana Industrial precinct near Perth.

 

We will leverage this work in Western Australia as we investigate how other assets could potentially accommodate hydrogen blends in the future, such as the Victorian Transmission System, which we have already proposed to test as part our access arrangement submission to the Australian Energy Regulator.

 

As the energy transition gathers pace we will invest in electricity transmission and renewable energy assets, while continuing to invest in gas infrastructure to ensure we can continue to provide energy reliability and grid stability.

 

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your plans around working from home for employees?

 

I remain optimistic about a stronger jobs market in 2022 as competition to attract talent and workers is already competitive.

 

We will support hundreds of new construction jobs from projects within our $1.3bn growth pipeline including a new solar farm in Mount Isa, upgrades to our east coast gas grid and a new pipeline in Western Australia, creating our west coast grid.

 

While I am certainly hopeful of the economy growing in 2022, there are some obvious risks including the potential for rolling restrictions which could impact business confidence and economic momentum.

 

In situations where jobs allow it, I am confident flexible working is here to stay, but we should not forget the huge benefits of collaborating in-person.

 

And there are of course many jobs that can’t as easily accommodate flexible working because they are critical to making Australia function.

 

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

 

Hindsight is 2020 and it’s easy to look back on decisions we’ve taken, as a business, as a nation or as individual governments in the face of a once in a generation health challenge and to criticise.

 

I think overall governments across the country have done a fantastic job of keeping people safe. And the community has been equally extraordinary. You only have to look at the vaccination rates we’re now achieving to see how well Australians have risen to the challenge.

 

Together, we have navigated through a challenging time in our history and the strength and position of our economy today is a reflection of this joint effort.

 

It is critical we continue to stay the course and stick to the plan to safely reopen without political scoring among the states. Australia is not immune from further risks and challenges ahead, as we emerge from the pandemic.

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Paul Jenkins, Ashurst

Markets are strong, borders are opening. What are the three top risks to recovery and growth of your company and Australia?

 

We see the three top risks to recovery and growth as (1) labour shortages; (2) uncertainty with border openings; and (3) higher interest rates impacting business confidence. Of these, labour shortages is of most concern to us.

 

We expect the “war for talent” within our sector to only intensify next year.

 

We are fortunate to be experiencing a boom in workflows in most areas we service – for example, M&A, infrastructure investment, financing and disputes.

 

But, like other firms, we are currently unable to tap into the global talent pool in the same way as we have in the past.

 

Border opening delays and booms in offshore markets are creating skills shortages that pose a challenge to the entire industry. And, as in other sectors, we are seeing people in professional services reconsider their career path after a period of reflection during the pandemic.

 

The most successful firms for “knowledge workers” in 2022 will be those which can retain their current talent – through genuine flexible working, a purpose-led culture and leading conditions.

 

How do you view inflation and how do you rate the nation’s macro-policy settings?

 

There is a risk that inflation could lead to business confidence stalling in mid to late 2022, particularly if rates need to be raised quickly. But for now, the approach is the right one, with Australia not yet seeing a wages or inflation outbreak.

 

Our sector – professional services - was in fact the only one of 18 different industry sectors seeing wage growth above inflation of 3 per cent, with 3.4 per cent annual growth (for the September quarter 2021).

 

How has disruption/innovation through Covid-19 affected your sector and how can you stay competitive?

 

The “new ways of working” arising from Covid-19 will lead to a wider pool of talent being available in our sector – regionally and internationally – which is not limited to office locations. This will give a competitive advantage to those firms which embrace a flexible working model, coupled with continued technological innovation to improve efficiency.

 

Ashurst is a single global partnership. That structure allows us to share our resources and technology across the world, including through lower cost legal resourcing centres in Brisbane and Glasgow. We have also invested in technological solutions to improve the speed, accuracy and consistency of outcomes – such as contract automation and document review with machine learning.

 

Our global structure allows us to “follow the sun” when working on large transactions, with lawyers in Australia and Asia able to cross overnight to those in Europe and the US (and vice versa), to meet our client’s timeframes – this has been increasingly the case through Covid-19.

 

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

 

Earlier this year we released sustainability goals across our 29 offices around the world, after being certified as carbon neutral since January 2020.

 

These goals include (as against 2019 levels): a 20 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions from travel; a 30 per cent reduction in paper usage; and a 20 per cent improvement in water, utility and energy usage efficiencies.

 

On the third goal, we have already reduced our office footprint globally by 11 per cent since 2019, while having grown our headcount by over 10 per cent to nearly 4000 people. We are making good progress, but the real test will be to ensure this continues as we come out of the pandemic.

 

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your plans around working from home for employees?

 

The “war for talent” will continue through 2022 and beyond. In this environment, flexible working will be crucial in attracting and retaining staff. We have implemented a hybrid working policy to allow our people to split their time between the office and home.

 

Our focus is on the “purpose” of our offices – as centres of connection, collaboration and learning for our people and clients – and we are redesigning our premises accordingly, including most recently in Melbourne and Canberra.

 

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

 

While there have been some inevitable missteps, we should be proud of how we have fared in this country from a health and economic perspective. This is sometimes forgotten.

 

Importantly, corporate Australia has stepped up in partnership with governments and played a significant role in our recovery to date – that constructive working relationship has continued to strengthen this year. Initiatives such as Investment NSW are also encouraging business and government to be more closely aligned for broader economic benefit.

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Dominic Stevens, ASX

Markets are strong, borders are opening. What are the three top risks to recovery and growth of your company and Australia?

1. A new Covid-19 mutation rendering current vaccines ineffective, leading to renewed lockdowns, socio-economic disruption, and increased pressure on the health system.
2. An unwinding of the bullish stance in asset markets due to the fear of (or actual) increases in inflation leading to a faster-than-expected tightening of monetary policy.
3. Geopolitical tensions, Covid-19 concerns and the retreat from globalisation forcing a further decoupling of the global economy/supply chain. Relations between Australia and China continue to be strained.

How do you view inflation and how do you rate the nation’s macro-policy settings?

 

I am concerned that even if this inflationary surge is transitory, it may well take some time to work its way through the system, and of course if it is not transitory there are significant implication for rates and asset prices.

It will be interesting to see over the next 6 months how governments and central banks react to inflation concerns given the highly stimulatory monetary and fiscal policies currently in place.

 

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

 

ASX has a number of sustainability goals in place. They include the use of 100 per cent renewable electricity in FY23 and net zero carbon emissions in FY25. We also think we can help the transition to a low carbon economy overall through the products we develop, and the disclosure and reporting standards we encourage as market operator.

 

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your plans around working from home for employees?

 

Much has been said about ‘the great resignation’. While largely a US phenomenon, it’s clear that there are pockets of significant shortages in the Australian labour market. The local hospitality industry, and the IT space in particular, has been highlighted. This will need careful attention. The job market is very competitive and there is war for talent.

 

ASX supports a range of flexible work arrangements to meet the needs of our staff, customers and the business. This includes hybrid work practices, where staff work some of the week from home and some onsite to harness the benefits of flexibility, co-location and onsite collaboration.

 

As an operator of critical financial market infrastructure, ASX premises remain the primary place of work for many employees. For others, working remotely for a number of days each week, or on an ad-hoc basis, will continue to offer benefits for individuals while delivering the right outcomes for our customers and business.

 

As flexible work models mature, we expect the mix of onsite and remote work to differ across the business based on individual and business needs, the type of work someone does, or the activity they will be involved in on any given day. This is something the team and I are working through now.

 

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

 

Like all of us, business and governments have done their best in challenging and uncharted circumstances to act in the interests of their stakeholders. There will always be things that we disagree with or have cause to complain about.

 

However, by most measures, Australia has managed the pandemic well overall. We have seen fewer deaths and hospitalisations than most other similar countries, and after a slow start the community came together to give us an above average vaccination outcome. Which is as much a credit to the Australian people as to our institutions.

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Andrew Harding, Aurizon

Markets are strong, borders are opening. What are the three top risks to recovery and growth of your company and Australia?

 

Australia, its economy and community, is well-positioned for recovery as borders open and restrictions are lifted. This is contingent on the continued effective management of:

• Supply chain continuity & operational risk: Continued access for Australians to food and essential goods, together with operation of major export industries, relies on maintaining discipline in health and hygiene protocols so as not to cause major interruptions in supply chains. Aurizon is focussed on managing this risk to ensure continued delivery of safe and reliable services for our customers.
• Changing markets: Covid-19 has coincided with significant, rapid change in global markets including the need to effectively manage climate-related risks. Aurizon continues to grow its exposure to customers serving new-economy markets, while recognising the important role of high-quality Australian coal in the global energy transition.
• Economic and policy reform: At a macro level we mustn’t let policy reform – paused as Covid-19 priorities took precedence – slip off the agenda. This is critical to supporting the continued competitiveness of Australian companies and the products and services they sell into global markets.

How do you view inflation and how do you rate the nation’s macro-policy settings?

 

Risk of a break out in inflation is necessary. The nation’s macro-policy settings heavily favour continuing to support a recovery from the pandemic above the fear of inflation.

 

How has disruption/innovation through Covid-19 affected your sector and how can you stay competitive?

 

The rail haulage and infrastructure services that Aurizon provide to customers have generally operated with minimal operational impact during Covid-19. We have continued to deliver safely and reliably for supermarkets, farmers, industry and exporters. Much credit goes to our employees for their dedication and discipline in staying healthy by observing health and hygiene protocols.

 

As we return to some semblance of normality, my hope is that we can leverage some learnings from Covid-19. We’ve learned to adapt quickly and respond in a rapidly-changing environment. The swift uptake in remote and flexible working is a standout example, but there’s much more. In Aurizon we’ve pushed ahead with our technology roadmap, especially the use of operational technology in trains, on track and in our operations centres. These are investments in further improving the safety, efficiency and reliability of our business and in turn supporting our customers remaining globally competitive.

 

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

Aurizon has set a target of net-zero operational emissions (scope 1 and 2) by 2050. This includes a 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions intensity target between 2020 and 2030, in addition to the 20% reduction that has been achieved between 2010 and 2020.

 

Key initiatives include:

• A $50m investment in a Future Fleet Fund to target low-carbon technologies for our train fleet,
• Increasing the proportion of renewable energy used for the operation of the electrified coal network and electric locomotives in Queensland, and
• Investigating offsets where emissions reduction is not possible.

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your plans around working from home for employees?

 

The economic rebound we’re seeing as we emerge from pandemic-related restrictions augurs well for strong jobs growth through CY2022. Our company has been fortunate to have operated with minimal impact and a stable workforce during Covid-19. It is important however as a nation that we recruit, train and secure suitably skilled employees to meet the needs of the rapidly recovering Australian economy.

 

In Aurizon, flexible working arrangements are now largely embedded into our Company, especially among office based employees. A 50/50 split is routine for many teams, with the supporting technology working very effectively and teams finding the right balance.

 

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

 

Generally, Australia has done a terrific job responding to Covid-19 – both from an economic and community health perspective. Our economy has proven resilient, and communities and employees have worked with discipline and care for the collective good of the country. At a macro-level, the national cabinet delivered a good framework for respective governments to deal with the pandemic, while acknowledging there have been differences from time to time.

 

Australian corporates have really stepped up and demonstrated the strength of the private sector in delivering economic activity and valuable revenue for the country. This is especially true with extra government funding committed to stimulus and increased health spending. The big export earners during Covid-19 of mining, energy and agriculture – often serviced by Aurizon trains and infrastructure - have delivered strong economic activity and revenue for the nation and government while the hardest hit sectors like tourism, education and the arts have worked hard to sustain through the challenging downturn.

 

My biggest tribute is reserved for those employees who have kept Australian supply chains running throughout the pandemic, through hard work and due care for health protocols. Train and truck drivers, employees in distribution centres and supermarkets, miners, farmers and factory workers – all doing their bit every day to keep the country going and in many ways helping protect the quality of life Australians enjoy.

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Paul Schroder, AustralianSuper

Markets are strong, borders are opening. What are the three top risks to recovery and growth of your company and Australia?

 

AustralianSuper is well positioned for the year ahead, but our most immediate concern is the combination of winter in the northern hemisphere and a potential upswing in Covid-19 cases linked to the new Omicrom strain that forces lockdowns, albeit more moderate, in Europe or the US.

 

Uncertainty means that the possibilities cover the spectrum from minimal impact on economies to a severe impact. Central bankers and finance ministers will also be uncertain and so judging the likely monetary or fiscal policy response in the key economies is very difficult.

 

Depending on the severity of the latest Omicrom outbreak, the unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus of 2020 and 2021 is nearing an end. Exactly what impact this will have on the key global economies is uncertain and a significant risk. Interest rates in many emerging markets have already been increased significantly and so there is little chance that these economies will produce strong economic growth in 2022.

 

China’s attempt to slow property development and deleverage its economy is also a downside risk to global growth as well as a downside risk for Australian exports in particular. For large developed markets such as the US the fiscal stimulus is about to turn into a fiscal drag.

 

Together with the possibility of higher US interest rates the US tailwinds that have been behind the global economy will likely turn into headwinds.

 

How do you view inflation and how do you rate the nation’s macro-policy settings?

 

Inflation has risen from its low point and it is now being watched very carefully especially in the recent light of the comments from US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell that inflation is consistently exceeding central bank targets. This has seen heightened speculation that central banks globally may need to tighten monetary policy earlier than expected.

 

In Australia at least to date there is little current evidence of an inflationary breakout. While headline inflation may have jumped, underlying inflation within a 2-3% band is not yet a cause for concern.

 

More important will be wages growth. Sustainable economic recovery in Australia will require faster wages growth which is now an explicit policy objective of the RBA. AustralianSuper supports this objective, because without faster and sustainable wages growth there is a risk that economic growth in Australia will remain hostage to national debt rising at a rate which could lead to problems in the future.

 

How has disruption/innovation through Covid-19 affected your sector and how can you stay competitive?

 

AustralianSuper has successfully navigated the impact of Covid-19 to date and worked to support members and colleagues throughout.

 

The main drivers of disruption and innovation in the superannuation sector have not been Covid but rather through broader industry changes.

 

Consolidation is occurring at an unprecedented rate, with funds with more than $290bn in assets under management either merging or in due diligence to do so over the past 12 months.

The consolidation of the superannuation sector is a positive shift – with fewer, larger and better performing funds, we should be able to deliver improved member outcomes.

 

At AustralianSuper we see innovation through the lens of continual improvement, and by embracing and investing in technology we are able to deliver better member services and products at lower cost.

 

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

 

AustralianSuper has, for more than a decade, recognised that climate change is a significant investment risk, requiring clear action in response.

 

One action the fund has taken is to commit that the investment portfolio will achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. This is a prudent approach and in members’ best financial interests given the risk climate change presents to the fund’s long-term investment performance.

 

The fund is implementing a comprehensive net zero transition program across its investment, stewardship, measurement and reporting, and collaboration and advocacy activities to reduce emissions in the portfolio. This includes undertaking extensive analysis to understand the emissions profile in both the economy and our portfolios and their expected trajectory to net zero 2050.

 

We have been measuring the carbon footprint of our listed equities portfolio since 2013, and of our fixed interest portfolio since 2018. Work is currently being undertaken to measure and report the carbon intensity for our property and infrastructure portfolios and establish a total portfolio view.

 

AustralianSuper is also leading broader industry action via direct company engagement and the work we are doing with CA100+ and the Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative.

 

Finding technological solutions for hard to abate sectors is a critical part of transitioning our portfolio to net zero emissions by 2050. As a founding partner of the Australian Industry ETI, we’ve been working with industry and business partners on accelerating actions towards this goal across five industrial supply chains – steel, aluminium, liquified natural gas, other metals and chemicals.

 

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your plans around working from home for employees?

 

With NSW and Victoria emerging from lockdowns, the Australian labour market should be strong in 2022. This was the experience after the lockdowns of 2020 and we expect the same outcome this time. An unemployment rate nearing 4 per cent by the end of next year is a realistic expectation.

 

The great unknown is the extent of the mismatch between the jobs on offer and the jobs that people are seeking. It is unlikely that the mismatch will be as acute as it is currently in the US.

 

However, there could still be a gap that leaves a high level of vacancies in some industries and this may be difficult to resolve and potentially be a modest drag on employment growth.

 

At AustralianSuper, we will continue to support a hybrid approach where people are able to work in the office or from home.

 

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

 

Australian business has shown great resilience and delivered strong performance over a very challenging year. AustralianSuper will continue to support Australian companies and the Australian economy both as an investor in ASX-listed companies, a partner in the ownership of key strategic national assets and as a lender to public and private companies.

 

We have invested over $6bn in Australia in past six months in infrastructure and property alone.

 

State and federal governments have provided significant stimulus that has avoided significant economic scarring from the pandemic and sees Australia well positioned for growth in 2022.

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Deanne Stewart, Aware Super

Markets are strong, borders are opening. What are the three top risks to recovery and growth of your company and Australia?

 

The Reserve Bank of Australia getting behind the curve on inflation and having to eventually become more aggressive on lifting rates. The pricing of long bonds suggests that economic growth is not overly robust or enduring with the recent strength driven by a rebound from the pandemic. This suggests that if the RBA needs to lift rates materially, the economic recovery will be reversed.

 

Taking our eye off the economic security of women. Throughout the year we’ve welcomed progress in this area, but it’s been disappointing to see great initiatives such as the removal of the $450 threshold for super guarantee contributions falter at the delivery stage.

 

The economic impacts of Covid-19 have been disproportionately felt by women and unless we correct these inequities proactively and deliberately, any organic rebound in the economy will ultimately entrench this structural disadvantage – giving up gains that took decades to achieve in the first instance. As a fund, more than two-thirds of our members are women, so this is critically important for our members, and for us. Keeping our focus on removing inequalities, and improving conditions for workers in the gig economy are key drivers to ensure recovery happens right across the economy by allowing women to participate as fully as possible in the bounce back.

 

Becoming complacent about climate change. This is undoubtedly one of the most significant issues of our lifetime and one that requires constant proactive management and action – any sense of “she’ll be right” or “let’s wait and see” threatens both the urgent need for action, and the confidence with which investors will seek to participate in the solution.

 

We welcome the more ambitious targets announced this year, but caution against business, government or community sentiment mistakenly thinking that the problem has now been fixed or that we have until 2050 to solve it.

 

We must continue the constructive and optimistic conversations about the investment opportunities that arise from tackling climate change, and in particular the unique opportunities this presents Australia, with our abundance of sun, wind, capital and human expertise, as part of our post-pandemic recovery.

 

How do you view inflation and how do you rate the nation’s macro-policy settings?

 

Markets are generally starting to question whether the emergency policy settings in place through the pandemic remain appropriate given signs of higher price pressures. The RBA has maintained that rate rises are at least 2 years away but investors are suggesting they may have to increase more quickly and sooner.

 

How has disruption/innovation through Covid-19 affected your sector and how can you stay competitive?

 

The disruptions wrought by Covid-19 have really accelerated a number of changes that our sector was otherwise inching towards anyway – for example the move from face-to-face member servicing and advice provision to a now greater expectation from members that they can self-serve to a greater extent, and can take advantage of digital solutions to either access simple advice or to take advice appointments via video meetings instead. Truth be told we’ve probably seen more disruption as a sector due to legislation than due to Covid-19, such as the introduction of the Performance Test and stapling. These are significant changes that are already having a big impact with more to come.

 

Strong risk-adjusted returns, and competitive fees, are really tickets to play in super in 2022, and we’ll continue to see a lot of merger activity being informed by these two factors.

 

Ultimately though, the future for the sector is going to be won by funds that adapt to the bigger changes facing the sector overall: changes in the way members choose their fund – whether that’s changes pushed by legislation or changes sought by more engaged and values-conscious members; changes in the way funds operate to support their members – such as through smarter use of data and digital technologies; and changes in the ways funds invest – whether that’s reducing the costs associated with external managers through internalisation, or getting more serious about ESG factors when considering long-term performance for the portfolio.

 

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

 

The most significant changes we can make happen at a portfolio level, because that’s where we’ve got the greatest overall influence. Three changes we’re addressing in this area are:

• Benchmarking total portfolio for carbon footprint
• Set targets across listed equities and investment in renewables
• Set targets across real asset portfolio (post the benchmarking)

To date we’ve invested more than $1b in renewables and climate change technologies, and we’re already beating our 2023 targets by reducing emissions in our listed equities portfolio by over 45%. As the first of the major funds to divest from thermal coal we’ve already had the ‘quick wins’, so there’s work to be done right across the portfolio to keep achieving the targets we’re setting.

 

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your plans around working from home for employees?

 

It will be a market where organisations that have a strong employee value proposition will benefit, and those that don’t will suffer significant turnover. Organisations that can demonstrate a strong alignment to their purpose and values – as well as provide flexibility and a truly inclusive workplace, will be able to attract great talent who are looking to move. While there’s been a lot said already about ‘The Great Resignation’, some of our own market research has identified an enormous uplift in the healthcare and education sectors as destinations for career switchers, which really does highlight the importance of purpose in the way Australians now think about their work. As we start to ease into the ‘new normal’, the new year will see a number of people considering what they want from their job, their employer and the way they work – and are more confident to move.

 

Certain skills will be in hot demand too, particularly in areas such as digital, tech and projects as so many more companies rush to embrace and enhance their newfound digital capabilities or attempt to transform their organisation, and so pressure on salaries will heighten.

 

On working from home – flexibility has long been a core part of our employee proposition and if the last two years have taught us anything, it’s that people that feel engaged in an organisation and aligned to it are capable of working productively from anywhere (provided their roles are capable of this and not customer facing) – and they are more productive being empowered and trusted to work out what works for them rather than being dictated to from head office. Where a role in our team can be performed from home, we will be encouraging our people to consider how they want to incorporate working from home in their usual working rhythm. One of the things we’ve found from our people is that post-COVID, more than 95 per cent of our people expect to work at least part of the week in an office – so equally we need to be clear about what the role of the office will be – and creating strong attractors for our people to come into the workplace to ensure we don’t lose the power of social connection and can protect our member-centric culture.

 

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

 

State governments (both Coalition and Labor) take a very constructive and non-ideological approach to engaging with the superannuation industry.

 

Their focus is delivering better outcomes for their citizens and we welcome this approach.

 

At a federal level, while some positive change has occurred, the volume of government red tape imposed on the superannuation industry increases business costs and acts as a handbrake on innovation. We were really pleased to welcome the appointment of Jane Hume as the Minister for Women’s Economic Security, and there were some great gains made in this space such as improving visibility of spouse superannuation accounts during divorce proceedings. We were similarly enthusiastic about the removal of the “kill switch” in the Your Future Your Super Bill, the passage of revised portfolio holdings disclosure regulations and the introduction of legislation to give effect to the removal of $450/month threshold for the SG and the Retirement Income Covenant, although it was disappointing to see the year end without these important initiatives being passed.

 

We’d also welcome the opportunity to work more closely together on some of the really big societal challenges that will require multiple parties to collaborate on solutions – such as, the next wave of superannuation tax reform, climate change and housing affordability.

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George Frazis, Bank of Queensland

Markets are strong, borders are opening. What are the three top risks to recovery and growth of your company and Australia?

 

It’s clearly early days with regard to concerns around the new Omicron variant, but that is an obvious risk for the country’s economy and Bank of Queensland. However, it has been good to see early statements from government, particularly federal and NSW, emphasise the need to keep borders open and assess the situation carefully before making any calls on restrictions.

 

Our high vaccination rate nationally and the booster shot program are two key factors in helping us reduce any new risk.

 

The other two key risks for the Australian economy will be the labour shortage that we’re already hearing quite a lot about and issues around supply chain inflation. The labour supply risk affects BOQ in that it will play a role in how we recruit and retain talent in what is clearly an employee’s market. Companies like ours are already seeing a significant rise in competition for tech and engineering skills.

 

How do you view inflation and how do you rate the nation’s macropolicy settings?

 

Australia’s current inflation rate is not unusually high by either historical or international standards and we’re likely to see price rises moderate as we move through 2022.

 

The key here will be what happens to wages.

 

Overall, I am supportive of the current stance of macro-policy, but we need to ensure that the economic recovery is well on its way and sustainable.

 

On a slightly longer term view, as long as the economy continues to show strength, interest rates will need to rise and budget deficits be reduced, however that would likely be a scenario for 2023 onwards.

 

How has disruption/innovation through Covid-19 affected your sector and how can you stay competitive?

 

Bank of Queensland has laid out a clear path of transformation to being a cloudbased, digital bank, and this strategy will ensure we remain competitive and continue to build on our 147 year heritage. We pride ourselves on being an alternative to the major banks and that is built on providing service with a personal touch as well as innovating towards a digital future to meet our customers’ needs.

 

We are mid-way through a transformation, starting with our Virgin Money brand that will provide a cloud-based common core banking platform for all our brands. This will mean customers get great digital products and services that are efficient to run and a delight to use. It also allows us to bring the ongoing innovation of our global partners to our customers.

 

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

 

BOQ is very focused on addressing climate change and it forms a significant part of our approach to sustainability. Our approach is focused on changing the way we manage our operational footprint, assess and manage risks of our lending activities, and support customers and suppliers through the transition to a low carbon economy.

 

In 2021 BOQ became a carbon neutral organisation and much of this was achieved by reassessing our supply chain. We introduced a Supplier Code of Conduct and have also committed to moving to 100% renewable electricity by 2025 across our branch network.

 

Another key initiative we have includes helping our business customers by providing more favourable lending terms for equipment finance linked to climate positive outcomes. Our objective is for BOQ to be an innovator in sustainability that supports positive environmental and social outcomes.

 

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your plans around working from home for employees?

 

Like many employers we expect it to be a tight job market for 2022 and there is definitely significant competition for good talent. This will likely persist even as borders ease so it is important we are clear about why Bank of Queensland is a great place to work.

 

We’re very clear that people’s expectations around coming to the office and working from home has changed and we’ve adopted a national approach to flexible working that would likely see an equal split between home and office for those not in front-line roles. As part of our return to the office, particularly for those based in Melbourne and Sydney, we are working hard to ensure our people feel supported, excited and engaged about returning to the office.

 

The office plays a valuable role in how people feel about work. Given we now have one of the highest levels of vaccinations globally, connecting in person at our physical sites will continue to be an important part of the way we grow our culture.

 

Our approach is to run the bank to achieve our higher purpose and develop a culture that is diverse, inclusive and one that has impact and makes a difference.

 

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

 

I think it has been a real challenge for both state and federal government to balance the health challenges from Covid-19 as well as the economic outcomes, but if we step back and look at where we are today, I think we can confidently say we’re in a better place than many other countries.

 

Business also stepped up during this pandemic period and I think you can see there was a real commitment between business and government to shore up the economic wellbeing of Australians. The banking sector overall, with the support of regulators, did a good job in ensuring relief packages made it to people and businesses when lives and livelihoods were disrupted.

 

I’m broadly positive at how the year has ended - our vaccination rate is world leading, the economy has remained solid and it’s looking very much like Australians will be able to cross borders to spend time with loved ones this holiday season.

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Marnie Baker, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank

Markets are strong, borders are opening. What are the three top risks to recovery and growth of your company and Australia?

 

Pleasingly, the depth of the economic contraction through the pandemic has not been as severe as initially expected, which has improved the forward outlook.

 

Generally, the years after a recession are a period of rebuilding and growth, and I’m encouraged by the recent rise in consumer and business confidence, the reopening of domestic and international borders, and the resilience demonstrated by the Australian economy in the last financial year.

 

While I expect the housing and employment markets to continue to grow nationally in 2022 - as well as economic outperformance for regional Australia - I also think the economic recovery will be uneven and inconsistent as businesses reopen to different requirements, and we continue to adapt to living with Covid-19 as well as the potential impacts of new strains.

 

It is important we learn to live with Covid-19. Individuals and businesses are wanting to look forward with more certainty.

 

I anticipate economic and market conditions will continue to provide ongoing challenges, but I look forward with optimism and firmly believe our distinctive strength of purpose, digital innovation and customer and community connection will continue to provide sustainable shareholder value, and opportunities for Bendigo and Adelaide Bank in financial year 2022 and beyond.

 

How do you view inflation and how do you rate the nation’s macro-policy settings?

 

There is no doubt supply chain bottlenecks and rising energy prices are feeding into inflationary risks for 2022. The other main sources of potential uncertainty for the year ahead will be labour shortages - due to closed borders and business interruptions - as well as caution regarding what ‘living with the virus’ will practically mean for the entire economy.

 

Despite this, we remain cautiously optimistic on the economic recovery for 2022, based on the experience of the recovery from last year’s recession.

 

After the recent setbacks caused by the Delta strain of COVID-19 - where 60 percent of the population was locked down – we expect GDP growth to be at least five percent through next year.

 

Despite how challenging the last 20 months have been for all of us, I think it’s worth remembering the high level of RBA, government and industry support that has been rolled out - including loan deferrals and support packages - primarily thanks to a combination of Australia’s AAA credit rating and low interest rates.

 

The level of cooperation and coordination between all financial institutions, the Australian government, Treasury and Australia’s financial regulators has been unprecedented.

 

How has disruption/innovation through Covid-19 affected your sector and how can you stay competitive?

 

At Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, innovation is at the core of everything we do, so as to ensure we remain relevant in the eyes of our customers and continue to meet their needs.

 

In 2020, we unveiled our new cloud strategy with the intention to reduce complexity, build digital capability, and deliver new services for our customers. This strategy is helping us simplify and optimise our business by allowing us to use automation and digitisation to drive value from our technology investments.

 

To do this, we are creating a catalogue of banking services using the cloud. This includes the migration of our digital applications, customer-facing websites, and open banking services to the cloud.

Despite the challenges we’ve all faced this year, our business has continued to deliver on our unique and compelling customer value proposition, delivering continued strong business performance and lasting social and economic benefits for our many stakeholders.

 

The operating environment for the banking industry has had its challenges and remains highly competitive, especially in lending. With that said, The Bank was well placed coming into the year and has remained so, with a well-capitalised, robust and resilient balance sheet. We continue to deliver on our growth and transformation strategy, which in turn, is making us a bigger, better and stronger organisation, providing a true alternative to others in the financial services market.

 

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

 

The discussion on climate change is moving quickly, as highlighted through recent IPCC reports and the commentary surrounding the COP 26 conference, and swift action is required from all sectors to address climate change.

 

We support the required transition to net zero emissions by 2050 with aligned interim targets, and we are firmly committed to playing our part in this transition.

 

We are actioning this commitment through our Climate Change Action Plan, which outlines four areas where we are working to:

• Reduce our footprint
• Support our customers to transition to a low carbon economy
• Understand and manage climate risks and
• Transparently report on our actions and performance.

We have made strong progress in the first year of our CCAP, and we are already well into our second-year actions. As outlined in our inaugural TCFD report, we’ve been on this journey for two decades and believe we’ve made significant progress including:

• Achieving carbon neutral status
• Reducing our absolute emissions by 20% in FY21
• Incorporating climate change risk into the Bank’s risk management framework
• No lending to fossil fuel or native forest logging projects and a commitment that we will not do so

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your plans around working from home for employees?

 

We understand that for our bank to continue to thrive post pandemic, we will need to retain and attract the very best people.

 

Alignment in values is vitally important in attracting the right people to your organisation. Our Bank is known for its deep connection to the communities in which we operate and we attract people who share our values, and want to make a positive difference in their community.

 

We’re firmly committed to putting our people first by continuing to strive to build a workplace where people want to work, where they feel valued and ultimately, where they feel they belong.

 

The jobs market will be extremely competitive in 2022, but ultimately, I believe our commitment to our people and our purpose driven culture will be a key differentiator for us.

 

With regards to remote working, like many organisations, our people have adapted extremely well to working from home over the last 21 months. As a national and geographically dispersed organisation, our people are used to working collaboratively regardless of location. Working from home has been a natural extension of this experience.

 

It’s clear that working styles have now permanently changed due to the pandemic, and we have seen equal, if not improved productivity overall, so we have an opportunity to capitalise on this.

 

Our people are telling us they enjoy the flexibility of choosing to either work from home, from the office, or a combination of both where it makes sense to them, their teams and our customers. We will continue to offer choice and flexibility when it comes to where our employees work while balancing the needs of the business, role requirements, and personal circumstances. Building relationships and human connection remains core to our culture and we look forward to welcoming our people back to the office for the moments that matter in 2022.

 

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

 

The Covid-19 pandemic once again dominated almost every aspect of our lives this year and continued to test the resilience of all Australians like never before.

 

The challenges and disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic weighed even heavier this year for many Australians, and the Australian economy.

 

All things considered, I believe Australia’s response to this unique health and economic crisis has been swift, robust and measured.

 

While vaccine take-up was initially slower than anticipated mid-year, the recent take-up in vaccination rates has improved markedly and is cause for cautious optimism.

 

We are also encouraged by the recent rise in consumer and business confidence, the relaxation of restrictions in NSW and Victoria amid high vaccination rates, and the resilience of the Australian economy as demonstrated last financial year.

 

Everyone has been affected by the pandemic - some much more than others - and while for a multitude of reasons many did it tougher in 2021 than in 2020, there is, I believe, a renewed sense of optimism in the air, as we quickly approach the beginning of a new year.

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Zlatko Todorcevski, Boral

Markets are strong, borders are opening. What are the three top risks to recovery and growth of your company and Australia?

 

The past 18 months have been challenging for all businesses and Boral was no exception. There is still plenty of uncertainty, especially over new variants of Covid-19, and some sections of the economy are continuing to do it hard. However, overall, there are some positive signs of a rebound.

 

In terms of risks to economic recovery:

1. The disruption to global supply chains remains a key issue for many Australian businesses. Fortunately for Boral, we are very proud of the fact that much of our manufacturing is done right here so we haven’t been too affected by that.
2. Like many businesses, staff shortages in a limited number of categories are a challenge, so, we are looking forward to when Australia reopens its borders to skilled workers.
3. Rising energy prices, which have had a significant impact on Australian manufacturers.

How do you view inflation and how do you rate the nation’s macro-policy settings?

 

We’re pleased to see both federal and state governments commit to significant infrastructure funding in the years ahead. While the pipeline of work looks promising, the projects themselves are often complex, which creates uncertainty in the timing for industry.

 

Continued focus on infrastructure, construction activity and immigration will ensure productivity growth and the creation of jobs across the industry.

 

How has disruption/innovation through Covid-19 affected your sector and how can you stay competitive?

 

The Australian construction materials market has been dealing with the double whammy of softer market conditions that began in 2019 and were exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic in the past 18 months.

 

The surprise shutdowns that were imposed on the building sector in NSW, Victoria and South Australia imposed significant costs on our business and forced us to stand down hundreds of employees.

 

Fortunately, in the past quarter there’s been a rebound in activity as lockdowns have eased. A return to construction activity in all states may see a pickup in infrastructure activity in 2022, particularly in road construction.

 

Like many other organisations, Boral has had to adapt to a post-pandemic world, including greater use of technology for instance, to make interaction with our customers Covid-safe. And of course, we have had to innovate with our working arrangements, introducing a hybrid model where we can.

 

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

 

Boral has set sector-leading 2030 emissions reduction targets and committed to net zero emissions by 2050, and we’ve established a robust decarbonisation pathway to progress towards our targets.

 

Our decarbonisation plans are also fundamental to how we want to run our business going forward a key part of our strategy to reshape our businesses and operations.

 

To help us get there we are:

1. prioritising our transition to 100 per cent renewable electricity and increasing our use of alternative fuels at our cement kiln
2. exploring and testing new technologies such as carbon capture, use and storage, and
3. growing the proportion of our concrete sales that come from our lower carbon concrete mixes. We recently extended our lower carbon concrete product range to cover all building and infrastructure applications. Our premium lower carbon products also deliver better engineering outcomes for our customers – so it’s a win-win.

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your pans around working from home for employees?

 

Australia’s jobs market is very competitive at the moment, but we are expecting this to ease once we reopen our international borders. We are also looking at how we can deploy technology to fill in some of the gaps.

 

I am a great believer in and supporter of more flexible work.

 

At Boral, we are introducing measures to allow hybrid working arrangements for many of our Sydney employees who will be able to work remotely two days a week. If that works well, we intend to roll that program out across the country where we can.

 

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

 

Canberra and the states struck the right note during the first wave of the pandemic, when premiers and the Prime Minister worked closely and collaboratively.

 

We were fully supportive of the government’s introduction and extension of Jobkeeper, which helped many business – small and large – survive the worst of the pandemic lockdowns, as did HomeBuilder, which helped the home building industry remain generally viable.

 

Overall, I think the public sector deserves credit for managing to keep Australians relatively safe over the past year, especially when compared to other nations in the region.

 

Most sectors of the economy (but not all) managed to survive Covid-19 and take advantage of the rebound. The biggest movement has been on climate change, with business taking a lead nationally, including Boral in our own sector.

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Graham Chipcase, Brambles

How has disruption/innovation through Covid-19 affected your sector and how can you stay competitive?

Global supply chains have experienced continued uncertainty and volatility since the Covid-19 pandemic began and our teams have been working closely with our customers to support them through this challenging period.

We have seen significant lumber, labour and transport inflation, along with pallet availability challenges in key markets, as customers hold higher inventory levels on pallets to mitigate increased supply chain uncertainty and unpredictable consumer demand patterns.

We are responding to these changes in customer behaviour and inflationary cost pressures with improved commercial terms and operational efficiencies to better recover cost to serve increases globally.

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

Brambles’ core operating model is already a low-carbon, circular system which sees our customers sharing and reusing our pallets and containers to deliver life’s essentials every day. Therefore, Brambles is one of the world’s most sustainable logistics businesses.

Given our global scale and collaborative ways of working, moving more supply chains to our circular model is a practical way to cut out waste and help logistics networks decarbonise. For example, in FY21 Brambles’ customers avoided over 2.4 million tonnes of carbon and 1.4 million tonnes of waste simply by using our platforms instead of single-use alternatives.

We are, however, determined to do more, and that is why we have the ambition to pioneer regenerative supply chains. Regeneration combines two primary climate solutions, circularity, and nature-based climate solutions, with reuse, resilience, and regeneration at its core.

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your plans around working from home for employees?

We expect the jobs market will remain buoyant with ongoing competition for talented employees around the world.

Brambles operates in more than 60 countries, and our work from home guidelines vary depending on local laws and norms and employee preferences. Throughout the last year we have developed and evolved our work from home guidelines in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the regions where we operate.

In Australia, we expect that most office-based employees will return to working from our offices for an agreed number of days each week, with our guidelines promoting flexibility in working patterns.

A large number of our Australian team are based in our service centres, and they have worked onsite throughout the pandemic. We’re really proud of the role they have played in keeping supply chains operating efficiently for our customers and all consumers. We developed and introduced comprehensive hygiene and safety procedures across our service centres in Australia and around the world to prioritise the health and wellbeing of our people.

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Mike Schneider, Bunnings

Markets are strong, borders are opening. What are the three top risks to recovery and growth of your company and Australia?

 

As Omicron has reminded us, the pandemic isn’t over, and it remains the biggest risk to the nation’s recovery. How governments manage the next phase will have a huge impact on business and consumer confidence. We have tried and tested measures to minimise the risk of Covid-19 transmission and businesses have been incredibly diligent in implementing Covid-safe protocols. A return to domestic border closures and lockdowns would be devastating for businesses trying to rebuild and for community wellbeing.

 

Widespread price inflation would act as a brake on the recovery.

 

We are seeing ongoing disruption to supply chains coupled with elevated levels of demand in certain market segments resulting in some price pressures.

 

We think it’s partly transitory but broad and sustained price increases would impact cost of living and leave consumers with less disposable income, dampening economic activity.

 

Our recovery is put at risk if we leave Australians behind.

 

The macro indicators don’t show it, but some Australians are struggling to maintain a standard of living that many of us take for granted. Housing is a good example, and something that’s become even more critical during the pandemic.

 

For many first-home buyers the expectation that if they work hard, they can plant their feet on the property ladder, is increasingly out of reach. What’s more, we’ve got 150,000 households on public housing waitlists according to ACCOS. Any reform that would make housing more affordable and accessible, such as rethinking stamp duty, would be welcome.

 

How do you view inflation and how do you rate the nation’s macro-policy settings?

 

We’re seeing varying levels of inflation across sectors, with some product categories such as timber being impacted more than others due to demand-driven pressures.

 

We expect at least some of the inflationary pressure to be transitory, as it’s driven by Covid-19 impacts such as border closures, supply chain congestion and elevated global demand for building materials and inputs. At this stage it’s unclear whether there will be a more structural shift in inflation.

 

With the arrival of Omnicron, monetary stimulus is unlikely to wound back any time soon.

 

How has disruption/innovation through Covid-19 affected your sector and how can you stay competitive?

 

During Covid-19 we fast tracked our online offering to deliver a full omnichannel click & collect, click & deliver and drive & collect experience in both Australia and New Zealand. Drive & Collect, where customers order online and pick up items from our car parks, went from an idea to national rollout in less than three weeks. It became our primary way to serve consumer customers in Melbourne, Sydney and NZ under the strictest lockdowns with over 3.6 million orders collected using this option since June last year.

 

Like many retailers, at every phase of the pandemic, we had to find new ways to make it easy for customers to access the products they needed.

 

For us that meant doing things like scaling up our ecommerce and putting 110,000 products online, setting up a DIY hotline to help customers spending extended periods at home and coming up with a whole raft of new solutions.

 

We even introduced contactless payments at our community sausage sizzles. It set new benchmarks for how quickly we can move as a business.

 

What three changes are you making to address climate change?

 

Last year we pledged to reach net zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and achieve 100 per cent renewable energy across our business by 2025.

 

We’re tackling this a few ways. First, we already have solar installations at 85 of our stores, generating 22 megawatts. This will expand to more than 100 sites by the end of this financial year. Second, we’re rolling out more sustainable store designs with improved thermodynamics, including making energy-efficient LED lighting standard.

 

Last year we reduced our scope 1 and 2 emissions by 11 per cent.

 

How do you see the jobs market for 2022 and what are your plans around working from home for employees?

 

The job market is tight, and we’re working hard to keep all the amazing talent we have by maintaining an inclusive environment that offers lots of opportunities to learn and develop, while having fun.

 

We have 500 people working in our digital, analytics and IT team, but we have even more roles to fill, and the competition for talent is fierce. Boosting female participation in technology is part of the solution and something we’re actively supporting.

 

At the same time, builders are telling us they’re facing delays getting through their order books due to a scarcity of skilled tradies. In particular shortages in bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers and tilers are acute in some states.

 

Apprentices will be important to filling this gap, but this is a multi-year training process and importantly they require mentorship of experienced trades to be able to standalone and operate.

 

Developing more support for “older” skilled Australians to return to the workforce as mentors could be a smart solution here. Ensuring the incoming licensing and regulations, including CPD in Victoria, are not a barrier to older workers to continuing in the industry is crucial too.

 

We’d also love to see the government support fast-tracked skilled migration for targeted skill gaps to keep the construction industry moving. Free quarantine and travel subsidies would help us secure talent.

 

While Bunnings has always provided flexible working arrangements for team, the past two years has highlighted the many positives about this way of working. Last year we developed a Flexible Working Framework which enables our team to balance their time between office and home, while ensuring the operational requirements of the business are met.

 

We’re currently moving our Melbourne-based support office to a new building in Burnley, Melbourne. It’s designed around getting people collaborating with lots of different spaces for teams to work together. It’s great to have the freedom to work from home but also being together is incredibly energising and is so important for culture. I’m looking forward to the chance hallway conversations and trading an idea, a story, or a laugh.

 

How would you rate business, state and federal government performance this year?

 

On the whole businesses have done a decent job looking after their people and adapting to ever-changing restrictions. The level of innovation to find new ways to serve customers has been extraordinary.

 

However, after two years of Covid-19, we’re challenging ourselves to find more ways to support our team’s mental health and wellbeing, and as we enter a third year this will remain top of mind.

 

While the Covid-19 pandemic has been extremely challenging, the government stimulus measures during lockdowns helped provide stability and while we are not through it yet, it seems the overall economy and consumer confidence held up much better than expected.

 

Governments of all stripes worked overtime to achieve this and should be congratulated for protecting the economy and jobs.

 

But the lack of coordination on Covid-19 restrictions and domestic border closures continues to create unnecessary uncertainty and disruption and make it hard for businesses of all sizes to plan. We hope governments can agree on a more consistent approach in the year ahead.

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