The data Moddex could get from the Trust IndexTM survey gave valuable insights into the business for Kate, who had just stepped into her role as Chief People Officer then.
“Not only do we get insights on our team, we get the benchmarking from the Best WorkplacesTM lists as well. We’re not just getting our own results and patting ourselves on the back – that industry benchmarking is keeping us accountable and constantly improving because other businesses are. If we want to maintain relevance, we have to continuously improve too,” shared Kate, emphasizing how their team takes the survey seriously because it will influence their day-to-day lives.
“I love that Valentina showed us how to use the results dashboard during our culture coaching sessions. We learnt how to filter focus groups, demographics, and individual statements, and take that knowledge and create our own culture coaching sessions, which we’re about to roll out based on location/department. Managers and teams will get to see the feedback in detail to drive it into the roots,” Kate added.
Beyond insights, the survey also provided Kate with the ability to know where to make change and to target her efforts. “The Trust Index survey aligns so perfectly because we don’t take the feedback as a way of finding fault with what we’re doing now. It’s about how do we find a better way? How do we do even better next time, how do we make this a better place for people to come day in, day out? How do we make our managers better leaders?” Kate reflected. “Valentina also gave suggestions about what we could do about specific areas. We may have a pocket of the business that scores quite poorly in comparison to another, and the results suggest there’s a disconnect in what we’re saying and what they’re hearing. So we can look at the missing link, how they prefer to receive information.”
Kate was keen to get feedback about the new Thrive program she’d introduced for Moddex employees. She was able to do that easily through the survey platform that employees were already familiar with.
“Being able to incorporate customised themes into the Great Place To Work survey tool that people already trusted allowed us to pinpoint data we needed,” Kate said. “The results have led us now to go back to the team to ask, ‘What’s working for you in each of the Thrive categories? What would you like to see more of or less of? Would you prefer us to get rid of this benefit and investigate new ones?’ It just keeps that conversation really open with the team.”
Great Place To Work inspired Moddex to incorporate more regular feedback mechanisms across the business. The survey showed leaders how important trust and transparency is with the team, so Moddex wanted to make sure that employees are informed, valued, and empowered to make change.
One way this was done was at its annual all-staff event, the Muster, where employees actively participate in strategy development by sharing ideas, offering feedback, and discussing the company’s long-term goals, market positioning, and growth strategies.
“Partnering with Great Place To Work compelled the decision to do an anonymous vote of confidence from the team at the end of the Muster. We do a live poll in the room. Completely anonymous, but we ask questions about: Do you feel that the plan is realistic and achievable? Do you feel that the plan will set you up to succeed through your stake in the outcome, which is profit share? Do you believe management has a good strategy in place to hit the plan?” Kate explained.
The vote of confidence reinforces a collaborative spirit and fosters a sense of ownership in Moddex’s strategic direction. Collaboration continues through regular Huddles, where teams set specific goals, track progress, communicate and celebrate achievements across the company. “We are now proactively altering our behaviour to constantly seek feedback from the team, show what that feedback is, and what we’re going to do with it. That’s very much ingrained now in how we do things,” Kate said.
Kate pointed to cases where people that have resigned for different reasons (personal or financial) have then asked to re-engage with Moddex because they’ve missed it.
“When employees resign for other opportunities, we wish them well and offer to be referees,” Kate says. “But what’s really interesting is the amount of ‘boomerangs’ that we have had. They call back a month or so later and say they want to come back. We’ve had that across blue- and white-collar employees. We provide people career paths and development, but if their career path takes them outside of Moddex that’s completely fine. We wish them well, but it’s nice to know that people want to come back and we can weave in through their professional journeys in their lives.”
The turnover reversal attests to the power of Moddex’s transparent and feedback culture – something perhaps much more valuable than compensation.
We want our employee well-being to actually create impact for the team, instead of appeasing leadership or making the leadership team feel great that they’ve done this for the team but not pulling on the levers that are going to enhance well-being.
– Kate McKenzie, Chief People Officer
Moddex’s growth from a small organisation in 2021 to a medium one in 2024 did not stop it from maintaining Great Place To Work CertificationTM. It even made the Best Workplaces List for Australia for 2024.
In 2022, the company adopted the Great Game of Business framework, emphasising transparency, open-book management, and employee engagement to align everyone within the organisation with its goals and objectives.
Besides the annual Muster, the entire team participates in the Taking Care of Business forum on weekly basis, where key financials, such as revenue, expenses, and profit margins, are shared openly with employees. These help employees understand Moddex’s financial health and how their individual contributions impact the bottom line.
Over the last three years, Moddex’s intentional focus on collaboration and transparency, supported by a robust framework, has cultivated a culture of trust that surpasses the average Australian workplace. Its high Trust Index™ scores have continued to rise even as the company expands, not only exceeding the 2024 benchmark for Australia’s medium-sized companies, but also demonstrating employees’ confidence in the company and its leadership.
Thrive, the employee value proposition at Moddex, consists of four areas – Professional, Personal, Social, and Financial – that aims to provide a trusted development pathway. 95% of employees say that Moddex empowers them to thrive both in work and life.
For example, employees take charge of their own growth and are free to explore and develop in different directions. Moddex’s team has a project manager who used to be a welder, and a people and culture advisor who used to be a receptionist. Employees are also free to return to their previous roles if they so choose, with no penalties.
The consistency of employee experience and communication is crucial for cultural alignment, according to Kate. Besides financial transparency, it’s developing a People Leader Program to enable a consistent leadership experience across all its teams. It also redesigned its structure to position People and Culture as a shared service across its Australian and New Zealand offices.
Discover what employees value about working at your company, and how you can boost retention rates and increase productivity and performance with Great Place To Work CertificationTM.
