AusLeisure

Aligned Leisure have partnered with employee feedback and analytics platform Culture Amp to research the attitudes of staff at the Shire of Cardinia aquatic and recreation facilities that it manages.

Having taken over the management of the Shire of Cardinia’s major facilities in July last year, the management transition saw Aligned Leisure employe almost 150 staff who had previously been employed by the outgoing management group.

Through the transition, Aligned Leisure made sure that these staff were a focus.

As Richmond Football Club General Manager of People, Culture & Performance, Dr. Amanda Green explains “the people who joined us were already intimately connected with the recreation centres and the local community.

“If we didn’t get the management transition right, we were potentially losing both an employee and a customer.”

One of Aligned Leisure’s first actions was to survey employees, gathering a baseline measure of engagement. An important tool in evaluating the effectiveness of the transition between the previous managers and Aligned Leisure, the engagement survey recorded a 74% overall engagement score (seven percentage points above industry benchmarks).

During the transition, Aligned Leisure Managing Director Cain Liddle communicated that focusing on the customer would be the contract manager’s number one priority.

As Liddle explains “when staff were asked, ‘do day-to-day decisions here demonstrate that the customer is top priority at Aligned Leisure?’ 87% of employees agreed.

“That result is 23 points above the Australian and New Zealand benchmark and is a well-recognised driver of high employee engagement.”

Less than eight weeks after taking over management, 76% of Aligned Leisure’s new staff team also agreed that the leaders of Aligned Leisure had communicated a clear and motivating vision, a score that is also impressively 15 points above the industry benchmark.

And beyond the quantitative data, employee comments added colour to what staff were thinking during the transition.

As one employee explained “all the changes and investments have been positive and focused on the customers.

“Everyone is made to feel part of a great team…promises are being kept which I think is important.” Another employee commented “all decisions are asked with the customer in mind of how we can improve their experience and ensure it is a positive one”

Using Culture Amp during the transition period highlighted changes that were positively received and provided suggestions as to where future acquisitions might be improved even further.

As Liddle adds “Culture Amp enables us to benchmark our employee engagement for any future acquisitions.

“We now have a good understanding of how staff should be feeling through a transition, which enables us to quickly identify areas that need to be improved.”

The Aligned Leisure team plans to continue surveying on a regular basis to analyze changes over time.

Aligned Leisure is a 100% owned subsidiary company of the Richmond Football Club (RFC), established as a vehicle to manage the operations of Richmond’s health, fitness and leisure business activities.

In early 2016, Aligned Leisure successfully tendered for the management rights to Cardinia Shire Council’s eight major recreation facilities. Supported by the people and business systems of the Richmond Football Club and the AFL, Aligned Leisure aims to deliver unprecedented additional value to community partners by aligning programs and services important to local government health and wellbeing plan objectives.

Culture Amp brings together experts in technology, data science and organisational psychology to provide insight into employee engagement and experience. This insight, throughout a transition period, helps our leadership team identify the levers to increase engagement, retention and productivity.

Click here to visit the Aligned Leisure website.

For more information on Culture Amp go to www.cultureamp.com

Images: Cardinia Life Aquatic and Recreation Centre (top) and Cain Liddle (below).

12th December 2016 - NEW CARDINIA LEISURE MANAGER APPOINTED

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25th October 2016 - ALIGNED LEISURE AND RICHMOND FC OFFER PHD SCHOLARSHIP INTO IMPROVING HEALTH OUTCOMES

15th August 2016 - ALIGNED LEISURE INTRODUCES UPGRADES TO SHIRE OF CARDINIA FACILITIES

23rd March 2016 - RICHMOND TIGERS DIVERSIFY WITH CONTRACT TO MANAGE CARDINIA SHIRE AQUATIC AND RECREATION FACILITIES 

27th February 2016 - RICHMOND FOOTBALL CLUB’S OFF FIELD SUCCESS BUILT ON THE INDUSTRY SKILLS OF KEY STAFF

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