ILLAWARRA'S homegrown, national, not-for-profit, private health insurance provider Peoplecare is being recognised Australia-wide not just in its industry.
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Peoplecare is up against some of the biggest names in corporate Australia as a national finalist in two categories of the 2015 Australian HR Awards.
On August 7 at The Star in Sydney, the Illawarra-based business is a contender for the Best Workplace Flexibility Program Award and the Employer of Choice (Public Sector and Not-for-Profit) Award.
The Australian HR Awards are designed to bring together industry leaders from many industries and sectors to celebrate excellence and innovation in the HR profession.
On August 7 it will recognise individuals, teams and organisations for their outstanding achievements in people management.
Chief executive for more than three decades Michael Bassingthwaighte said it was the first time Peoplecare had entered the two categories in which it had been named a finalist but was not the first time it had been recognised at the Australian HR Awards.
"This is a significant honour," he said.
"Our head of people and culture (Maree Morgan-Monk) won the HR Manager of the Year award in 2013, however this is the first time we have reached the finals in more than one category. When you see the list of the other finalists we are in some pretty impressive company. We have a talented and dynamic team at Peoplecare, with a really special workplace culture. Our staff satisfaction rate of 95 per cent makes us a sought-after employer in the region."
Mr Bassingthwaighte said he was particularly proud of the organisation's workplace flexibility program, which provides staff members with a range of options to give them a healthier work/life balance.
"In developing the program, we challenged the way we worked, examined what was considered as core hours and capitalised on current technology to increase our ability to telecommute and work flexibly," he said.
"Currently, 41 per cent of our team are using some type of flexible working arrangements and in the last five years, 100 per cent of Peoplecarers on parental leave have returned to our workplace in some form of flexible work arrangement."
Around 35 per cent of Peoplecare staff work part time.
And many of those are the mothers of 65 babies born in the past two decades who have wanted to keep working at the health insurer but with a more flexible work arrangement.
"The happier our employees are the better they perform," Mr Bassingthwaighte said.
The 2013 HR Manager of the Year, Mrs Morgan-Monk said it was good to enter Peoplecare in two organisational awards at the national level this year.
Interestingly it didn't even have an HR department five years ago but it has grown so rapidly it started with one and has now grown to four people.
Most of the roles are in training the ever growing number of employees.
But there is also a focus on growth and development.
In that time staff numbers have also grown by close to 70 people as it continues to grow membership from across Australia. "Probably by the end of next month we will hit 120," Mrs Morgan-Monk said.
The latest recogntion comes just months after Peoplecare was named Australia's No 1 private health insurance fund by the Australian Financial Review's Smart Investor magazine.
It analysed comprehensive hospital and extras plans from the 23 private health insurers open to the public in its December edition, and ranked Peoplecare as the top open fund.
Smart Investor assessed the health funds on a number of criteria, including percentage of hospital expenses covered, number of hospitals the fund has agreements with, benefits paid out as a percentage of member contributions and the extent of the fund's management expenses. Peoplecare achieved outstanding results, with the report finding the fund offers good value for money for young singles, growing families and mature couples alike.
