The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has been named the best place to work in the Government, Education, Not For Profit and Utilities sector in a prestigious national ranking.
AFCA, the national financial ombudsman service, was among a select group of winners across nine sectors, and from over 1,000 nominations, in the 2024 AFR BOSS Best Places to Work rankings announced last night.
“I’m really proud of our exceptional people and the special culture we continue to build at AFCA.” Chief Ombudsman and Chief Executive Officer David Locke said, acknowledging the award.
“We want to ensure that every person who works at AFCA feels able to bring their whole selves – their best selves – to the important and impactful work they do helping consumers and financial firms resolve disputes,” Mr Locke said.
“We want a culture where everyone feels valued and supported and we continued to invest in that last year with initiatives like our new diversity, inclusion and belonging strategy and significant enhancements to leave entitlements.”
AFCA provides fair and independent help with financial disputes for consumers and small businesses and their financial firms, in areas such as banking, credit, insurance, advice, investments and superannuation. It employs about 1,200 people. AFCA received a record 102,790 complaints from consumers and small businesses in dispute with financial firms in 2023.
Recent initiatives at AFCA include the introduction of a three-year Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Strategy and enhancements to leave entitlements such as flexible public holiday leave and Women’s+ Health Leave, which is available for fertility care, as just one example.
AFCA has also standardised access to long service leave across its NSW and Victoria sites at seven years. It offers five days of leave for Sorry Business and 15 days of personal leave, among many other entitlements.
These enhancements came on top of AFCA’s decision in 2023 to remove the traditional reference to primary and secondary caregivers and allow parents to spread their parental leave over two years.
In addition, five Employee Resource Groups have been established to help foster the sense of belonging among AFCA’s people, particularly those with disabilities, individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds, members of the LGBTQ+ community, women, and those with family and carer responsibilities.
The results of these sorts of initiatives were evident in AFCA’s October 2023 staff survey, where 91% of people said it was a “truly a great place to work”, 93% said AFCA was committed to employee wellbeing, and 86% agreed “I can be myself at work”.
The AFR Best Places to Work list recognises and ranks the best places to work in Australia and New Zealand, by industry.
The list is based on an assessment process managed by a leading behavioural science consultancy, Inventium. Its Workplaces of the Future framework identifies 10 key factors that are critical to employees feeling motivated and engaged at work.
The assessment included a staff survey and a written submission addressing questions relating to policies and programs aimed at supporting employees and making AFCA an employer that is leading the way in innovative practices
Published: 1 May 2024
Media enquiries: media@afca.org.au
About AFCA
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) is a non-government ombudsman service providing free, fair and independent dispute resolution to individual consumers and small businesses when they are not able to resolve complaints directly with financial firms in banking and finance, insurance, investments and advice, and superannuation. AFCA aims to help the parties reach agreement, but it can issue decisions that are binding on financial firms.
