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Hi all,

   

Supporting our communities

Firstly, congratulations to all staff who participated in STEPtember again this year for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, either through their steps, donations, or both. A particular shout out to the Hunters and Collectors team and Matt Costelloe, who placed first in the team step count and individual step count, and to the One Circular Quay Misfits team and Angus Lines, who placed first in the team and individual donations.

As a thank you to our participants, Star Group will also provide a corporate donation. We look forward to an even bigger year of participation across the Group next year.

Northern branch new office opening

In September, we officially launched our new Northern Region branch office in Morisset. The new office is conveniently located near the old premises and doubles our current capacity in both office and warehouse space, providing ample room for growth.

This investment in a new premise for the Northern region recognises the growth our Northern team has achieved in recent years. Under the local leadership of Mark Andrews, Branch Manager, and Brett Dunning, Construction Manager, Northern E & I, the team have established a diverse workbook and client base across major construction, service works, and the water utilities sector.

A particular shout out to Mark who was the driving force behind the new office launch, overseeing both the office acquisition and fit out in addition to his day job.

Northern Branch Office Launch 2
Northern Branch Office Launch

Technology improvements

Back in June, I mentioned our priority focus for the remainder of 2024 is on selecting and implementing a modern system our project teams can use to track better and manage projects and address many of our older paper or Excel-based processes, including manual purchase orders.

Excitingly, we have now identified that system, and over September around 20 staff participated in workshops at head office with the supplier to further diligence the system, define Star Group’s requirements and design the system for our use.

A big thanks to everyone who was involved. I was particularly encouraged by the feedback from the team, with one of our PMs telling me he was “blown away" by its potential versus how we do things currently. We still have a bit of work ahead of us over the next 6 months to deliver on that ambition.

Separately, a shout to Rhyanan Cranfield in our Finance team, who has been piloting the roll out of a new digital expense reimbursement system for staff to replace the current paper-based process which has been another legacy pain point for some of our people.  

As I’ve said previously, I know technology improvement is a big theme for many of you and I’ll aim to provide another update on this topic by the end of the year.

National Safe Work Month

Moving into October, we are in the middle of National Safe Work Month, and this year’s theme is “Safety is Everyone’s Business.” Each week has a topic, and we’ll explore each with our teams across our sites. If you haven’t already, I’d encourage you to look at our Instagram profile, where HSE Manager and amateur TV personality Jimmy Newman is sharing a short video on each topic every week over the month.

2024 Annual Employee Engagement Survey

Later in October, we will launch our anonymous annual employee engagement survey for 2024. With 3 out 4 employees having their say in our first-ever survey last year, I was very pleased with the participation and the fact that 91% of respondents said they were proud to work for Star Group.

Importantly, with these surveys we use your candid feedback to inform our priorities to make Star Group the employer of choice in our industry in support of our #1 in Employee Experience strategic goal. Please look out for further information from Ryan Davey later in the month when we launch the survey and remember to have your say!

    

Regards,

John 

 

John Andrews
Group CEO

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