Employer of the Year winners announced

MAX Solutions has recognised three outstanding Australian businesses as its small, medium, and large Employers of the Year for 2021-2022.

Each year, MAX runs the awards to recognise businesses that encourage inclusive and diverse workplaces in their respective industries. Previous winners of the award include Woolworths and Compass Group. 

MAX Managing Director Deborah Homewood said “thank you to all the finalists in each category, and a special congratulations to the winners.”

“The way you all have been able to positively affect the lives of these employees so much is incredible to see, simply by taking a chance on them,” said Ms. Homewood.

“I really commend you on the way your businesses are changing lives.”

The 2021-2022 winners for each category are profiled below:

Ecoshelta has established itself as part of the sustainable building revolution in Australia.The Tasmanian business makes high-quality, architect-designed, prefabricated modular buildings – created to have minimal impact on the environment.

Their state-of-the-art building system has been used for cabins, houses, studios, eco-tourism accommodation and villages. Ecoshelta is continuing to focus on the future, as sustainable construction jobs with eco-friendly companies attract staff in the post-COVID jobs bounce-back.

The relationship MAX has shared with Ecoshelta has resulted in a number of our customers securing stable and ongoing employment. Our customers enjoy working at Ecoshelta, they feel supported and very comfortable working in a flexible and compassionate team.

Ecoshelta Operations Manager Tim Forgarty said that he was thrilled with what the two organisations had achieved together.

 “Thank you very much for awarding us small business employer of the year – I’m really chuffed with it,” said Mr. Forgarty.

“MAX has been an amazing partner for us in such a small space of time; we’ve taken a number of employees on through MAX and it’s been a major success.

“I wouldn’t be where I am, and had the success I’ve had here that I’ve had, without the support from MAX. It hasn’t always been easy – there have been some challenges, and some people management involved, but that’s business!”

Since 2013, MAX have supported Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia’s commitment of increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment and training opportunities across Australia. In 2011, there were just two Indigenous employees working for Voyages. Since that time, MAX has placed 700 Indigenous employees into the organisation.

During 2021, MAX placed 45 candidates into employment at the Voyages Ayers Rock Resort, of which 69% identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander; 78% identified as long term unemployed and 42% identified as youth. Amazingly, employee retention at Voyages is 36% higher than the national average.

Voyages Chief People & Culture Officer Gemma Hillis said the collaboration between her organisation and MAX was helping make profound changes to the lives of Indigenous job seekers.

“Thank you for this wonderful award, I’m very grateful – and thank you to MAX for everything, said Ms. Hillis.

“MAX supports us through our National Indigenous Training Academy, and we couldn’t be prouder to work alongside you. I’m really proud to represent Voyages – and our mission to employ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”

The Accommodation Association with Minor Hotels employ candidates of all backgrounds from MAX, with a focus on those who can meet the inherent requirements of the roles available regardless of background, including youth, disability, Indigenous, mature age candidates. 

Minor Hotels is committed to working with its partners to offer meaningful and ongoing employment opportunities for our customers to provide a great employee experience in a safe, engaging and values-driven workplace that encourages our people’s skills, pride and career opportunities.

In 2021, the organisation employed 47 Youth, 37 from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds, 24 candidates identifying with a disability and 18 Indigenous candidates with 82% identifying as long term unemployed.

On winning the Large Employer of the Year award, Cassandra Champion from the Accommodation Association said, “it’s a huge honour, and we definitely don’t take it lightly – I just want to thank MAX very much!”

“I’d like to give a huge thank you to the MAX team to help us achieve what we have achieved, and we’re lucky to have Minor as one of our members to have that inclusive environment to welcome people and support them and get them jobs and make them feel special – so they understand how amazing our sector is, said Ms. Champion.

Minor Hotels Head of Commercial John Thompson echoed those sentiments, saying the outcomes for employees had been amazing. 

“Thank you for this recognition – but thank you to MAX for supplying us with some great talent and some great personalities who have added real value to our business,” said Mr. Thompson.

“The last two years have been exceedingly challenging across the accommodation industry, but working alongside the team at MAX has really made an impact on our business.

For us, we’re really humbled and honoured to give a chance to those people who have had really difficult backgrounds and have found it difficult to find employment – bringing them into the Minor family is really important to us.”