Best workplaces in Australia

Big tech firms have dominated a new LinkedIn list of the best workplaces for an individual to grow their career in Australia, along with banks and consultancy firms.

The LinkedIn list, based on how the workplace helps its employees to advance and grow their skills, features the likes of IBM, Amazon, Google parent company Alphabet, and homegrown hero Atlassian.

Based on unique LinkedIn data, the list is made up of the top 25 workplaces that help employees to “build a professional foundation that sets them up for success both at the company and beyond”.

The study is based on seven key pillars: the ability to advance, skills growth, company stability, external opportunity, company affinity, gender diversity and educational background.

Accounting giant EY took out top spot on the list, thanks in part to the fact it was the only one of the big four consultancy firms to not announce any large-scale job cuts during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Singaporean telco Singtel, a subsidiary of Optus in Australia, is the second-best workplace to grow your career in Australia, according to LinkedIn.

New company CEO Kelly Bayer Rasmarin has listed her top achievement so far as increasing staff engagement by 16 per cent, and Optus recently launched a new program giving its employees the chance to study at some of the top universities in the country to upskill in emerging fields such as data and analytics, and automation.

The top tech company on the list is medtech firm ResMed, which has nearly 1,400 employees in Australia. Known for its cloud-connected medical devices, ResMed pivoted to manufacturing ventilators during the ongoing pandemic.

ResMed is dedicated to supporting STEM education for young people with a focus on gender diversity, the LinkedIn study found, and to providing assistance to high-potential, low-income young people who are looking to attend university.

Global tech giant IBM is at number eight on the list, with the company having recently expanded its industry and education sector partnerships with an aim of teaching students the most-needed skills for “new collar jobs”.

Amazon is next on the list, with the company now employing 3,500 people in Australia. These positions include entry-level roles in high-tech areas, such as data scientists, robotics and product development.

Amazon country manager Matt Furlong said the employees are empowered to take initiative in the workplace.

“Amazonians come here – and stay – because they get to do meaningful and impactful work,” Furlong said. “They have high ownership and are encouraged to invent things that have never been done before.”

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, came in at 10th place on the list, with an emphasis on the flexible working that is on offer to its 2,000 employees in Australia.

Last July, Google announced that all of its employees could work remotely for a year, and this has since been extended until September.

The company will also be trialling making this a full-time option.

“We are testing a hypothesis that a flexible work model will lead to greater productivity, collaboration and wellbeing,” Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said.

Salesforce was the next big tech company on the list at 12th, with the firm having invested in its in-house management and leadership training platform Trailhead.

At Salesforce, employees are able to claim up to $7,400 per calendar year for the cost of fees, tuition and books for job-related education courses at accredited institutions.

Australian tech giant Atlassian was listed as the 17th best place to grow your career in Australia, while medtech company Medtronic rounded out the list at 25th.

Others who made the cut on the list include all of the big four banks, along with Macquarie Group and Woolworths Group.

Large consultancies including McKinsey and Deloitte also featured on the list.