Super fund increases benefits as staff told to come back to the office

UniSuper is keen to increase flexibility but wants employees back 60 per cent of the time.

Workers across the sector are being asked to go back to the office. Picture: Bloomberg

Major superfund UniSuper has directed employers to spend 60 per cent of their time in the office as more companies formalise hybrid working arrangements post-Covid measures. But in an acknowledgment that flexible work is now a huge recruitment tool in a tight labour market, the fund has also launched more time off and more development opportunities for staff.

UniSuper’s chief people officer, Julie Watkins, says the fund is keen to “walk the talk” in improving workplace culture as it sets its sights on being recognised as an employer of choice.

“It’s an ambitious goal because we will be compared against all the big organisations across Australia,” she says. “We can’t just say people are the most important assets without putting that investment and action behind it.”

The financial services sector is widely seen as one of the worst for chronic stress and pressure, and this is reflected in high staff churn. According to a 2022 report by NAB, the sector has a 25 per cent annual turnover of employees.

To combat this “great resignation”, UniSuper, which services more than 620,000 members in the higher education and research sector and has about $115bn in assets, has launched staff benefits including scholarships targeted at women, extra leave days (such as community and cultural leave), a new integrated administrative system in partnership with Oracle, and flexible superannuation.

Ms Watkins says the directive to work the equivalent of three days a week in the office will be backed up by better technology as well as specific activities to improve social connections. She recognises that staff have “mixed feelings” about trekking to the office but says that by next year, she’s hopeful that people will see the advantages of mixing the office and remote work. And Ms Watkins argues that the fund is already reaping value from its new employee strategies, saying there has been a 35 per cent drop in staff turnover since measures were introduced six months ago.

The fund has promoted more of its existing staff with a 49 per cent increase in internal promotions, leading to a 30 per cent cut in external recruitment costs.

It has also shifted its training and development investment from a heavy focus on its executives to its middle managers. Says Ms Watkins: “I know that it will improve the people who are reporting to them and their level of engagement and productivity.”

University of Sydney Business School’s Anya Johnson says focusing on developing existing talent ensures people can work more effectively.

“You don’t go to work to feel like a failure, employees want to succeed and do well,” says the head of work and organisational studies. “Working to develop your own employees to build up the capacity so that the company can grow with them, rather than to spite them, I think is a very positive strategy.”

Ms Johnson says job demands are unavoidable but that managers should ensure they are tolerable.

“Organisations should pay attention to the structures and systems that may create those demands,” she says. “It could be the way in which performance is assessed that might be overly competitive or set people up to feel they can’t achieve it effectively. Being sensitive to the way performance is rewarded and how that may derive particular behaviours could help. Whether it’s EAP or workplace wellbeing programs, it’s really just trying to mop up after you’ve caused some stress.”