Parramatta leads workplace excellence at national HR awards

City of Parramatta takes a major leap in workplace excellence after two major wins at the 2024 Australian HR Awards held in Sydney.

Council’s People Connect HR systems transformation won the Best Use of Technology category, alongside its 2023 Health and Wellbeing Action Plan picking up the Best Health and Wellbeing program category at the awards ceremony.

The prestigious awards recognise HR professionals and organisations across private and public sectors nationally with Parramatta’s people-first approach to employee experience a clear winner for its HR system transformation project and health and wellbeing initiative.

City of Parramatta chief executive Gail Connolly PSM said these achievements recognise the excellent efforts of the people and culture team.

“We want to be an employer of choice with people who are committed to delivering for their community and embracing our vision of becoming a global City,” Ms Connolly said.

“That means creating a positive and safe work environment for our staff and making it easy for them to access information and perform tasks related to hiring, developing and rewarding our people”.

“These initiatives encourage collaboration and involve prioritising social, physical and mental health programs to support staff throughout their careers.”

“We are committed to fostering a supportive workplace and see the favourable impacts that arise from staff that stay with the City of Parramatta and promote their positive experiences to others.  

“Since mid-2023, our staff turnover rate has significantly reduced from 18% down to 12% which is well below the local government average of 15%”.

Council’s People Connect HR systems transformation involved an overhaul of existing human resource applications and a move to a cloud-based solution to improve employee experience.

Almost two-thirds of staff have found the platform easy to use for a wide range of people related activities since the project launched.

The 2023 Health and Wellbeing action plan combined a traditional approach with new initiatives and ideas to put employee health and wellbeing first.

This year’s success follows two wins from the 2023 annual awards where City of Parramatta won the Best Diversity & Inclusion Program.

Council’s People Connect HR systems transformation also won an award at the NSW Local Government Professionals Excellence Awards earlier this year.