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Affinity Education Group named as Employer of Choice in Australian Business Awards
Freya Lucas
Sep 04, 2023
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Affinity Education Group has been named as an Employer of Choice in the Australian Business Awards 2023.
To be named as an Employer of Choice, a business or organisation must show that it:- Develops a leading workplace;
- Maximises the full potential of its workforce; and,
- Has established policies and practices in place for effective employee recruitment, engagement and retention.
Specifically, the awards panel requires organisations to demonstrate their achievements across seven key areas:
- Organisational culture and leadership
- Employee education
- Training and development
- Employee health, safety and satisfaction
- Performance management
- Recognition and remuneration.
For Affinity CEO Tim Hickey, the awards serve as recognition of the Group’s concerted efforts to build a strong team culture, which is known as the ‘Affinity Way’, built around Affinity's six core values:
- Delivering outstanding professionalism
- Going above and beyond
- Living the team spirit
- Creating shining stars
- Being completely connected
- Having serious fun.
“Our promise – potential, realised – is at the heart of our employee experience, and the experience we offer to the children we educate and care for," Mr Hickey said.
“Our leadership team are 100 per cent committed to ensuring Affinity provides competitive and rewarding employment opportunities and training and development designed to optimise and recognise passion and potential in every employee.
“This award acknowledges every trainee, educator, teacher, centre management team, area manager, national leadership team, quality and education team, and Affinity’s incredible centre support office who back our centres every day to deliver high-quality early education and care,” he said.
For Linda Carroll, Chief People Officer, the award is one which recognises the work that Affinity does to prioritise identifying and creating opportunities to promote its employees from within.
The Affinity Learning Academy (ALA) offers employees fully-funded and supported accredited training, supported by coaches who visit each enrolled student every fortnight to support them, build their confidence and create opportunities for promotion, Ms Carroll explained.
“A unique element of Affinity’s leadership and operational model is the percentage of employees working in leadership positions who previously held roles as early childhood educators – up to 90 per cent of area managers, 100 per cent of the quality, education and compliance teams, and up to 30 per cent of Affinity’s remaining centre support office team have had personal experience working with children in early education settings,” she said.
“This creates an empathetic and supportive culture that connects business operations to the reality of our employees’ daily working lives. Our sector has experienced many unexpected challenges over the past few years, and yet within our business, The Affinity Way remains alive and evident.”
Affinity’s Lifelong Learning Curriculum is the creation of Lesley Jones, Head of Education and Pedagogy. Ms Jones believes that the award reflects the strategic approach taken by the provider to connect Affinity’s dispersed network, and the importance of this to those in the broader team.
“This national curriculum model for delivery of Australia’s Early Years Learning Framework was co-created between Affinity’s Education team and ‘communities of practice’ consisting of educators and teachers,” Ms Jones explained.
“It is exclusively available to employees of Affinity Education Group, which creates a sense of pride among educators. Our people know they will be empowered to become the best version of educators or teachers they can be with Affinity’s support.”
Learn more about the awards here. Information about Affinity is available here.
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