Hachette Australia recognised as a best place to work by Australian Financial Review Boss Magazine

Hachette Australia is delighted to announce inclusion in this year’s AFR BOSS Best Places to Work Awards. Published annually by The Australian Financial Review and Boss Magazine, these Awards recognise pioneering workplaces in Australia and New Zealand that foster adaptability and agility.

In the 2023 Awards, Hachette has placed 7th in the Retail, Hospitality, Tourism & Entertainment category, from a total of more than 700 nominated organisations.

Assessment for the Awards is made up of a staff survey and a written submission, with questions relating to policies, practices and programs that exist within organisations that support and get the best out of employees. The methodology is underpinned by a Workplace of the Future framework developed by Inventium, Australia’s leading behavioural science and innovation consultancy, which identifies ten key factors critical to employees feeling motivated and engaged at work.

Hachette was recognised for various people-first initiatives and policies including:

• introduction of salary banding within the business allowing greater transparency around pay and benefits;
• access to a Learning Library portal offering training on topics to support employee professional development;
• implementation of a talent, performance and development tool that maps individual strength and development needs;
• a robust and meaningful mentoring program;
• implementation of a Safe Leave policy and allowance for extra volunteer leave days;
• introduction of no meeting zones and core business hours;
• a work-from-anywhere January policy.

Hachette’s Changing the Story strategic pillar, a unique program of policies, partnerships, and initiatives designed to foster greater diversity and inclusion, was key in demonstrating a commitment to making valuable contributions to people and society. Under this endeavour, Hachette’s people-led employee networks drive positive change within the company, fostering communities of belonging through the creation of safe spaces for employees to share their realities, raise awareness and explore topics that matter to them.

Louise Stark, CEO Hachette Australia, says: ‘Publishing books is a creative enterprise. Our people support authors and illustrators to create the best possible versions of their work and then connect the resulting books to readers. Throughout our business we have experts in editorial, design, production, marketing, publicity, retail, finance, technology, and distribution. To retain our experts, we need to invest in strong learning and development and to create a fun and safe place to work. It’s worth the time and effort. Our strong commercial results in recent years are thanks to a high-performance culture, fantastically engaged and seriously lovely people. Everyone at Hachette has contributed to the culture we have created, so on behalf of the whole team, we thank AFR for this recognition.

ABOUT HACHETTE AUSTRALIA

Hachette Australia is part of Hachette Livre Group, home to a constellation of prestige publishers for the consumer and education markets around the world. Hachette Australia represents an array of A-list authors on the international list including Stephen King, Nora Roberts, John Grisham, Alice Oseman and Delia Owens.

Over the past decade, Hachette Australia has focused on growing the Australian list with around 100 new titles now published each year. The stellar line-up of locals includes bestselling authors such as Golden Dagger winner and ABIA Fiction winner Michael Robotham; ABIA Book of the Year winner Jessica Townsend; Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks; Australia’s bestselling non-fiction writer and favourite storyteller Peter FitzSimons; New York Times bestselling novelist Natasha Lester; Miles Franklin shortlisted Michael Mohammed Ahmad; and the Lothian Children’s Books author and illustrator and Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner, Shaun Tan.

Hachette Australia proudly supports emerging writers through the Richell Prize, in association with the Emerging Writers’ Festival; the State Library of Queensland’s black&write! program; and in partnership with Express Media, the Hachette Australia Prize for Young Writers.

www.hachette.com.au

ABOUT THE AFR BOSS BEST PLACES TO WORK LIST

The AFR BOSS Best Places to Work list recognises and ranks the best places to work in Australia and New Zealand, by industry, and is the premier list of its kind. The list is judged and compiled by Inventium – Australia’s leading behavioural science consultancy, using a unique research-based methodology. In 2023, the list comprised of ten industry lists, compiled from over 700 nominations.

www.afrbestplacestowork.com