INTHEBLACK November 2021 - Magazine - Page 54
F E AT U R E
// S E C O N D M E N T S
“SECONDMENTS
HAVE BEEN REALLY
SUCCESSFUL IN
GIVING OUR PEOPLE
AN INTEGRATED ENDTO-END VIEW ACROSS
THE ORGANISATION.”
SUSIE MOGG, SUNCORP
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54 ITB November 2021
Cristina Carter, a project manager who has been
with Westpac for more than five years, was the first
candidate to do the secondment virtually.
“Over nine weeks, I worked from home in Sydney
two days a week for Central Coast Aboriginal
organisation Barang Regional Alliance, switching
back to my day job in the bank’s regulatory team
on the other days,” says Carter.
Barang has been central to the New South Wales
Government’s Local Decision Making reform
program, and it was Carter’s job to support the
organisation by providing project management
skills, so that the Barang team could finalise its
negotiation activities.
Even though Carter had to develop a working
relationship with her Barang supervisor over video,
she says the bond between them became deep. “It’s
remarkable how much I’ve learned from him from
my lounge room,” she says.
“Among the key professional development skills I’ve
been able to bring back to my day job at Westpac, the
power and benefit of authentic acceleration to enhance
project delivery is vital – especially in a screen-toscreen working world,” says Carter.
Siobhan Toohill, Westpac’s group head of
sustainability, says the secondment program, cofounded by Boston Consulting Group, is seen both
as an exchange program and as an Indigenous-led
experience.
“Jawun puts forward a brief for the kind of skills
they are looking for, and Westpac seeks to match our
employees who have expressed an interest in taking
part,” says Toohill. Employees must have the right sort
of skills, as well as the support of their manager – and
this must form part of their development plan.”
For Westpac staff, the secondment experiences to
date have been strongly positive. Secondees report a
better awareness of Aboriginal culture and a deeper
understanding of the challenges faced by Indigenous
communities. From a personal and professional
development perspective, employees also say the
experience gives them more confidence, a greater
ability to adapt and improved resilience when facing
a range of stresses.
FROM NARROW TO BROAD
A secondment program need not be formal
and organisation-wide to be successful. Smaller
organisations can still reap the benefits of
secondments done on a smaller scale, such as the one
at financial services firm Suncorp.
Susie Mogg, Suncorp’s people and culture manager,
says that, although Suncorp does not have a formal
secondment program, the company’s secondment
policy is a core part of its DNA – “just something
that we do every day”.
“If someone has gone on maternity leave or
is having a career break, we use that temporary