CHEP is the leader in Pallet and Container pooling solutions in Australia with over 50 years of pooling experience. From the results of an annual engagement survey in 2011, it was identified that the perceived lack of career development opportunities was an area of concern for the staff and this had a major impact on their engagement. CHEP Australia’s Human Resources team then embarked on a journey in 2012 to improve and enhance the career and development opportunities for the organisation’s employees.

The Human Resource team created The Inspiring Careers Program. This framework was designed to re-educate employees around the meaning of career development within CHEP, the career pathways available and how best to explore these. The focus was to ensure that employees had greater career freedom to work with their talents and interests, and highlight that career development could mean not only moving up the corporate ladder, but also develop skills by moving across the business. The Inspiring Careers Program is now embedded in the annual people calendar of activities globally.

The strongest measurement of the framework was a significant increase in the career opportunities question score in CHEP’s annual engagement survey. Additionally, there has been an increasing number of internal employee movements due to promotion or career development. In order to sustain the Inspiring Careers benefits, CHEP have also broadened their general people offerings to include a highly successful Mentoring Program to provide even greater development opportunities.

The Inspiring Careers Program has been an incredibly successful initiative that has positively and measurably benefited CHEP Australia’s employees over the last three years and is positioned to continue to drive value in the years to come. By helping their employees to think differently about their careers they have been able to build a more engaged and adaptable workforce.