LinkedIn has used a range of metrics to determine the 25 employers Australian users of the professional network most want to work for (see list below), with flexibility emerging as a key trend for popular employers.
KPMG took pole position on the list, followed by PwC, Commonwealth Bank, Coles and Deloitte.
So on that top five alone, we may all want to go and consider a career in an accounting firm. Across the full list, 12 out of the 25 were in the financial services sector. An interesting point, given financial services and insurance currently carries the largest gender pay gap according to industry sector, at around 30%.
LinkedIn created the list using a range of data including number of job applications, the tenure of new employees and level of interest from job seekers. Analysing organisations with 500 employees or more, it found that Australian employers are offering some of the most competitive perks in the world.
Flexibility was a key theme across the list, something that many of those featured have made a considered effort to address — especially via the ‘All Roles Flex’ trend that Telstra pioneered. LinkedIn notes that Australia had the only list that saw multiple companies offering domestic violence leave.
It’s a handy list for those who are looking for opportunities in the country’s biggest employers, but it doesn’t describe the really great places to work that are not as large as the banks, accounting firms and telcos of the world.
On Women’s Agenda, we’ve found these large employers are continually coming up with some unique and innovative ways to attract and retain female talent — it’s now a necessary part of their business plans, if they want to keep up or get a step ahead of their competitors. It’s great to see a willingness to make the pipeline of female talent as sustainable as possible.
But we still hear of plenty of women leaving such firms, and dropping out of the corporate race altogether, often due to personal circumstances conflicting with traditional modes of working and what constitutes success. Expensive and inaccessible childcare and outdated stereotypes regarding who does what at home also contribute to the dropout rate. Some of these larger organisations are doing better than others on preventing the brain drain, success that’s often indicated in the number of women they have at the top.
The women that do drop out don’t necessarily stop working altogether. Rather, they seek other opportunities, possibly with small businesses or by establishing their own businesses themselves — which we see in the fact women are now starting businesses at twice the rate of men.
Meanwhile, a LinkedIn survey of 6000 users, including 1000 in Australia and published at news.com.au, found that 70% of us would take a pay cut to work in a company that shares our personal values and has a mission we believe in. That kind of makes you wonder about the remaining 30%.
That study found the top things Australians value in an employer are: a competitive salary (63%); opportunity for growth (53%), health of the business (47%), the commute (39%) and whether we like the potential new boss (37%).
So, money still matters, a lot. A good reason why companies should be doing more to address their gender pay gaps. All those expensive perks will quickly lose their appeal when women find out they’re being ripped off.
Below’s the full list:
- KPMG
- PwC
- Commonwealth Bank of Australia
- Coles
- Deloitte
- Westpac
- Qantas
- Lion
- UGL
- CPB
- Origin
- Virgin Australia
- Downer
- Telstra
- Macquarie
- Bupa
- REA Group
- Bank of Queensland
- Vodafone Australia
- Medibank
- Lendlease
- AMP
- Suncorp
- Woolworth’s Limited
- Australia New Zealand Banking Group