2002

Flight Centre Limited crowned Australia's best employer

Friday, 1 February 2002

Travel retailer Flight Centre Limited has soared to first place in a study of Australia's best employers. The high-flying public company was last night (Thursday) crowned the country's Best Employer for 2001, after the nationwide study's findings were revealed at an awards ceremony in Sydney. Flight Centre Limited secured first place in the businesses with more than 1000 employees category, ahead of Macquarie Bank, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and brewing giant Lion Nathan. Flight Centre Limited global human resources manager Andrea Slingsby said the award was a great honour for the company, given that it was based on employees' feedback. She said the Australian award came just months after Flight Centre's emerging Canadian operation landed a similar honour and showed the value of the company's innovation and development programs. "As a company, we place strong emphasis on developing our people's abilities, fostering leadership skills and identifying future leaders," Ms Slingsby said. "Our philosophy of cultivating personal and career development means we give a strong degree of empowerment and trust to our people, providing them with a productive environment and an opportunity to develop and demonstrate their abilities. "We are also extremely innovative as a company and now offer a number of special extras for our people, including inhouse financial planning and health and fitness services." The study was conducted by Hewitt Associates, a global management consulting and outsourcing firm, in conjunction with the Australian Graduate School of Management, and measured companies' effectiveness at engaging their staff in the business and creating a motivated workforce. Some 165 companies from 11 industry groups took part in the study, and data was collected from more than 25,000 employees. Results were compiled from questionnaires completed by the CEOs, HR departments and employees of participating organisations. Flight Centre Limited has about 4000 employees and more than 800 stores and other business in six countries. The company now opens one new store every 48 hours, on average. In the six years since the company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, its share price has increased from 95 cents to more than $25.