Ensuring the robustness
of Australia’s nuclear science capabilities
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How many job-seeking nuclear specialists do you know? Amid a war for talent, ANSTO discusses the challenges for highly specialised sectors
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IT'S AN employee’s market, and attracting and retaining talent has been a key challenge for HR departments across the globe. For highly skilled and specialised roles, the difficulties of retaining the right talent increase substantially.
Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) is the home of Australia’s most significant landmark and national infrastructure for research. Thousands of scientists from industry and academia benefit from gaining access to state-of-the-art instruments every year.
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“We needed the right structures, workplace agreements and policies in place to support the skills and development of our people and the long-term deliverables of the organisation”
Venessa Barrins, General Manager People, Performance and Capability, ANSTO
If you’re searching for job-seeking nuclear specialists, ‘difficult’ probably won’t even begin to cover it. Strong succession planning therefore becomes vital – but many organisations don’t know where to start, or how to develop the talent they already have.
With help from SAP SuccessFactors, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) has made developing and retaining skilled talent one of its highest priorities. Due to the specialist nature of the organisation, staff tenure tends to be longer than at your average company, but when staff do retire or switch employers, the loss of accrued knowledge can be a huge challenge to replace.
According to ANSTO, the process it once used for employee succession was “outdated and ineffective”, relying primarily on manually maintained data and static spreadsheets. It offered no visibility over an employee’s prior experience, meaning vital skills were often invisible to line managers and other key decision-makers.
“Succession was viewed as an HR process rather than a business activity with the potential to add value and prevent gaps in expertise. Consequently, learning and performance management functions were undertaken as separate tasks. This led to incongruent decisions, such as high performers not being identified as potential successors, and the suboptimal allocation of career development resources,” says Venessa Barrins, general manager people, performance and capability at ANSTO.
ANSTO then implemented SAP SuccessFactors solutions – a cloud HR software designed to help it understand people, provide talent intelligence and align existing talent with new opportunities.
Using SAP SuccessFactors’ performance, goals, learning, succession and development tools, ANSTO has started to proactively plan succession for all of its critical roles. The tools collate insights and propose succession candidates, while also identifying employees who could benefit from further skill development.
SAP SuccessFactors’ business dashboard also shows the current bench strength of all successors for critical roles within the organisation, which helps ensure that decision-makers retain full visibility of all relevant employee data and identified successors. Managers then benefit from a greater understanding of the skills at their disposal, while employees are fully recognised for their skills and achievements.
“Overall, decisions regarding succession are more intuitive and informed, remedial actions are easier to trigger, and senior managers are better able to align ANSTO’s people-related strategies with the organisational needs. This system module will provide us with the visibility and data that we need to undertake future actions and plans. In particular, ANSTO has a responsibility to maintain and expand our nuclear capabilities to support the Australian government,” Barrins says.
“SAP SuccessFactors solutions provide an integrated one-stop shop for all people-related activities, and the system is user-friendly and intuitive”
Venessa Barrins, General Manager
People, Performance and Capability,
ANSTO
Although ANSTO’s focus on succession planning is relatively recent, its partnership with SAP SuccessFactors solutions has already seen some impressive results.
Prior to the implementation, management engagement with the succession process was below 50%. This has now improved significantly to 94%, with managers developing action plans for successors, including identifying development needs and providing relevant training. To identify a successor for a given role, the time taken has gone from days to mere seconds.
When it comes to developing talent, ANSTO already has its eyes on the next stage. It is currently preparing to implement a career worksheet designed to help employees understand their current capabilities and identify any skills they need to develop for specific career pathways.
“ANSTO hopes to empower employees to be more proactive and to exert more control over their career trajectories, resulting in an increasingly engaged and skilled workforce,” Barrins says.
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Published 15 May 2023
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News
Specialisation
EVents
Best in HR
Resources
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NZ
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About us
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Contact us
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Copyright © 2023 KM Business Information Australia Pty Ltd.
ANSTO profile
Industry
Federal, national and central government
Sydney and Melbourne, Australia
LOCATIONS
1,300 employees
SIZE
94%
manager engagement – increased from under 50%
Using SAP SuccessFactors: ANSTO’s results
managing all aspects of talent
1 platform
For ANSTO's partnership with SAP SuccessFactors, this is just the beginning. The organisation is looking at further digitalisation initiatives and recognises networking with SAP as a “key enabler of knowledge and innovation”, which will continue to play a vital role in its ongoing improvement journey.
To find out more about SAP SuccessFactors solutions and how it can help your organisation’s succession planning and talent development, click here.
IN Partnership with
“We needed the right structures, workplace agreements and policies in place to support the skills and development of our people and the long-term deliverables of the organisation”
Venessa Barrins, General Manager
People, Performance and Capability, ANSTO
SAP SuccessFactors’ business dashboard also shows the current bench strength of all successors for critical roles within the organisation, which helps ensure that decision-makers retain full visibility of all relevant employee data and identified successors. Managers then benefit from a greater understanding of the skills at their disposal, while employees are fully recognised for their skills and achievements.
“Overall, decisions regarding succession are more intuitive and informed, remedial actions are easier to trigger, and senior managers are better able to align ANSTO’s people-related strategies with the organisational needs. This system module will provide us with the visibility and data that we need to undertake future actions and plans. In particular, ANSTO has a responsibility to maintain and expand our nuclear capabilities to support the Australian government,” Barrins says.