Australia
Coca-Cola Amatil support package after closure
In early 2017, Coca-Cola Amatil announced they would be shutting down their South Australian manufacturing operations (one of six bottling plants in Australia). The shutdown would be complete by 2019 and result in the loss of almost 180 jobs.
By providing two years’ notice, Coca-Cola Amatil demonstrated the company’s social responsibility to their workers.
Additionally Coca-Cola Amatil worked in partnership with the South Australian Government to provide a transition hub and access to an assistance package of up to $4,000 per worker to prepare for their transition.
The assistance package helped workers with financial counselling, career advice and training costs.
When a business needs to restructure in order to compete, the transition can be a stressful time for workers.
By providing support and time to prepare these workers, Coca-Cola Amatil were able to change a negative experience into a positive career transition.
Resource: Coca-Cola’s support package.
Australia Post people first workforce planning
When faced with the challenges of creating a workforce for the future, Australia Post prioritised the development of an internal labour market with its “Post People 1st” strategy.
Advancements to modes of transport, mechanisation of equipment and changing workforce pools have enabled the government-owned service provider to adapt and expand throughout its 207-year history. But the transition to the digital era presented a challenge to Australia Post core business of letter delivery and urgent reforms of the business were necessary.
Australia Post set about developing an internal labour market and Post People 1st was launched.
Post People 1st offers free online training courses to help people upgrade their skills and a free phone coaching service, so workers could call up for assistance on everything from writing a CV and interview role plays, information about where to get pre-retirement financial advice or what other Australia Post jobs they might be suited to.
Find out more about how Australia Post went about their future workforce planning.
International
Nokia’s Bridge inspires entrepreneurship
In 2011, Nokia switched its mobile phone operating system to Windows. This caused a significant restructuring of the company, resulting in many job losses.
At about the same time as the switch, Nokia launched the Bridge program, a scheme offering financial help and training to the workers who were about to leave. It was Nokia’s commitment to providing services beyond their legal requirements to 18,000 affected staff across 13 countries.
It offered employees with the following options:
- finding new positions within Nokia or with another company;
- help for entrepreneurs to start their own company; or
- training for a new profession.
The entrepreneur element proved to be popular. 400 new companies were created through Nokia’s Bridge program. Find out more about how Nokia’s Bridge inspired entrepreneurs.
AT&T reskilling workers to meet future need
American Telco AT&T saw that their business was moving from cables and hardware to the internet. New skills were needed in the company to keep them competitive.
Rather than restructuring their company and hiring new talent, AT&T made the decision to retrain its existing workforce and build a culture of continual learning. The decision also made an impact by significantly reducing the cost of hiring new staff and being able to retain their corporate knowledge.
The retraining program is a multiyear project, with workers being provided with a roadmap on what jobs will be in demand in the future, the skills needed and courses available to train for these roles. By 2020, AT&T are estimated to have re-trained 100,000 employees
Find out more on how AT&T is reskilling nearly half its workforce.