What If Your Workplace Matched Your Community with Laura Jones, GM of People at Service Stream

Welcome to the HR Community Podcast. My name is Shane O'Neill, founder of Psylla Task Talent, the HR and HSC recruitment community. Each episode we will host HR leaders and discuss their journey and discover best practice HR solutions across the HR industry. Whether you're a CEO, HR executive, or operating across the wider HR space, this podcast is for you.

Please like and subscribe and don't forget to comment and share your views. Enjoy the episode. Hi everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the HR Community Podcast.

This morning I'm joined here with Laura Jones. Laura is the GM for people experience at Service Stream. Good morning, Laura. Good morning.

Thanks so much for having me, Shane. Great to be here. Not proud of it all. Great to have you on.

I know we're talking over the last couple of months about this episode. And for those that are listening, we're both in extreme agreement how crazy things are, how busy things are at the moment. How crazy this year has has kind of come and gone. But you know, it's it's a good sign, I guess, to take out of the HR books.

There's a lot happening, a lot of change. And then so as a proof point, this is totally unrehearsed today. So let's see how it comes out as well. It'll totally be fine.

It'll totally be fine. We uh we did joke last time we caught up. We should have just clicked record because that was the podcast. So I think if it can repeat even 20% of what we talked about before, we should be okay today.

Brilliant. Whatever that was, can't remember, but that's okay. I'm gonna hand the mic over to you again, Laura. Tell us a little bit about you, who you are, uh, tell us a little bit about your role and obviously ServiceStream as well, for those that don't know.

Oh, that's amazing. Thank you so much, Shane. So, yes, I'm Laura. I am the general manager or one of the general managers of people and experience at ServiceStream.

Me personally, I think I've been in HR for about 22 years and yet am 23 years old. So that's a that's a wonder in itself. Um there's a little bit of hair dye in there. But yes, so a career HR person, I've worked across banking and finance, higher education, advertising and media, and also infrastructure.

I've worked at a couple of different infrastructure companies, so I've got a pretty good handle on it. It's a fantastic workforce, really good, grounded work in the community, and that is what ServiceStream does. So ServiceStream are a critical infrastructure company. We do such things as utilities, telecommunications, transport infrastructure.

So we maintain quite a lot of roads. We maintain a lot of the Victorian roads, particularly in the east, all of the South Australian Outback Roads, Sydney Roads. It's a pretty exciting place to work. And as I was saying, it is very grounded work in the community, which I like and it does serve the community.

We've also just picked up a contract for property and asset services within defense for South Australia and Northern Territory. So we're busy mobilizing that at the moment. But again, it's a way that we can be a part of where we live every day. So ServiceStream is a company I'm very proud of.

It's also an incredible culture in working at ServiceStream, and it's something that I would absolutely guarantee if people came here, they would feel the same way that I do. Very low ego culture and a business that prides itself on being able to get stuff done. Yeah, that's awesome. I love the infrastructure space.

And again, this is probably another reason why we initially connected and like we partner with quite a few businesses in that space and construction and and the like. But uh, it's always cool to see the evolution of the project, and then when it gets to the completion, and obviously any anyone in Australia, unless you're living under a rock, you would know how how much of the infrastructure and and and property space is is developing, well, across the East Coast, but also parts of the West as well.

I know you have a hard stop, so I will get into it. Talk to us a little bit about diversity, inclusion, empowerment. I know these are stuff, these are topics that we talked about before. I know you're super passionate about it.

I mean, diversity is a funny one. There's a reason why I say funny one. Diversity is a funny one because we sat down in a number of HR events recently, and some are workshops, more intimate groups, and some were big summits. And DENIB is obviously a very important part of organizational strategy.

And this is I'm just repeating stuff that was said at these events, but not sure if it's the case of there's been a change in governments across the world, or you know, there's a lot happening in different economies, but it's sort of taken a bit of a back seat. But you know, when when we talk diversity and the real meaning of diversity, Laura, you know, talk to us a little bit about, I guess, from your perspective, where you've seen it done really well, what what good diversity looks like and what it can actually look like in practice.

There's a big political landscape at the moment where there are differing views on diversity. So in taking an ethical stance on diversity is it just comes down to being a good human, doesn't it? Is that on the inside, we are all humans, we're trying to work together. I guarantee you that 99.

9% of people get up in the morning and they want to have a good day and they want to work for their life and their family and what they care about as well. So if we draw it right back to the start, diversity can be anything. It can be diversity of thought. So it can be diversity of political opinion, of religious belief.

It can be obviously racial diversity, gender diversity, sexual preference diversity. It's a gamut of how people are different, but also how we're the same. So that's that's my stance on what diversity is. And to make a workplace work, a workplace in my belief, needs to reflect what the community is.

And we're really lucky in Australia. We're multicultural. We celebrate a lot of different days, a lot of different beliefs. I love that people around me have different thoughts, opinions, views.

And so diversity to me is being able to allow that into a business and into a place where you can share thoughts and ideas and you can grow together. If you've got the a person who is a replica of you, uh, has your views, your thoughts, everything that you have about you cannot grow. You can't grow by based on what it is that you know, is you need different points of information to be able to consider, be able to grow, and that's the same for business as well. So, in talking about diversity of for business, is we have different reference points where we can learn from one another and then we grow a business from those reference points.

There's actually a lot of studies done, and obviously, my my PhD is about diversity, equity, inclusion. I look at women in the workforce and change management and the effect on that. But there's a lot of studies that show that even the market price of a business can grow with good DENI practices, and it is about inclusion at the end of the day. So if you have a place where people feel comfortable to be themselves, then they're going to be more productive in the workplace, they're going to have different ideas and they're going to grow in both how we continuously improve a business and how we allow for people to stay and develop themselves as well.

I don't know if that's directly answered your question, but it's something that I absolutely believe in. And I believe that everyone benefits from it. Whatever your sense on diversity is, it does come back to just being human. We're humans who work in human workplaces.

100%. And it's I I I love your response. And you touched on something there. You've sort of semi-answered my my next question, but I will I will ask you anyway, because I think, and I think this is where things get really interesting.

Because, you know, in your experience, what impact does a truly inclusive workplace, you know, have in terms of you know people showing up in terms of their performance, their accountability, their engagement? You know, what are your thoughts on that? The market price of a business can increase as a direct result of DENI practices. And that can come back to people being more productive because they're engaged to diversity of thought and continuous improvement on the business, not just from a top-down what management thinks is is the right thing to do.

So your question was, what do I think is the impact? I I think it's the ability to bring your whole self to work. And it's something, it's one of those HR cliches that every time I say it, I cringe a little bit, but there's truth behind it, is something that I've definitely seen in Server Stream and how I feel as well, is I bring myself to work. And if I am authentically myself, and again, this is getting into very much HR talk, but if I'm authentically myself, then I feel that I can voice my opinions, I can voice how I think things can be approved improved, I can have more upfront conversations with people because I've got the confidence to do that, and ultimately the business are to benefit from that.

So providing things are done in a very respectful way, I do think that it's everything. Again, if we had a mirror of everyone, then we can't learn anything. Yeah. I used to work in banking and finance, and I think one of one of the best sayings I've ever heard was we had a, and this was years ago.

So I'm not outing any particular senior manager, but we did have a chief information officer it was probably 20 years ago at NAB. And their saying was, if I have to do your job for you and be you, then I don't need you. Yeah, wow. And that stuck with me, right?

Is he's basically saying, I need you to be different, I need you to think for yourself, to bring your ideas to the table, to grow the business, and I trust you to do that. That's what I took out of that. And so that's something that I still use to this day, and that story to this day is that to me goes back to diversity. I need you to be different, I need you to be yourself, I need you to be comfortable, and I need you to bring your ideas and bring your thoughts and bring your opinions and help us grow.

Yeah, that's great. And leaning on from that, because we you you've talked a little bit about your breadth of experience and tenure in the industry and the different brands and industries. I mean, specifically in your current sector where, you know, it's you've worked for fast-paced environments, we've talked a little bit about contracts and stuff earlier. You know, it's it's deadlines, it's it's big projects, you know, there's a lot of money on the line.

Yeah. Having worked in those kind of environments, what would you say could be some of the more cultural shifts when it comes to diversity and you know, who gets the opportunities and and who feels they belong in in that whole sort of workforce team? Well, let's take critical infrastructure. So infrastructure is very similar to construction.

It's a heavily male-dominated environment, and it traditionally has been from the past. That's that's where we've been. In terms of where we're going, we've got we need to diversify our talent pipelines. That's just a must.

And it's in the Infrastructure Australia reports as well. Is there's billions of dollars of work in the pipeline, but there's not enough people to do that work. Whilst we were a traditionally male workforce, we're also an aging workforce. And so to be able to attract a more diverse range of candidates to help improve the business and to stock the work pipeline, is we need to be a workplace where people want to come and work.

And to be a workplace where people want to come and work, that that takes a lot of thought on behalf of senior management to make sure that people authentically can be themselves coming to work, that people can bring authentic ideas to the table to continue to be engaged. So one of the things that I've seen in critical infrastructure, and particularly at ServiceStream, is just that um that new breed of senior manager, which which is why I actually enjoy being at ServiceStream so much, is the thought of we need to be a workplace where people want to come.

We need to, we need to do podcasts and get our name out there and advertise the fact that it's a very low ego organization where you can come and you can build it and we can cut out bureaucracy and have your diverse thoughts and ideas brought to the table. If we don't do that in critical infrastructure and construction as an industry, then we simply won't have the people to stock the talent pipeline. I've seen a lot of changes in 22 years in HR. I actually love critical infrastructure because of the fast-paced environment, but the the calibre of executive is incredible, I think, and and has continued to evolve.

And what that means is it breeds a great culture throughout the organization and a culture that's willing to change and willing to open its pipelines more and be accepting of a big workforce. One of the differences, if I look at critical infrastructures to say banking and finance, and I've worked very, very, very big bank is that there are a lot of considerations around margins and money. And obviously, big banks are renowned for having lots and lots of money, so they can put lots and lots of money towards programs and resources to be able to, you know, stock DENI activity pipelines.

But what I've noticed in working in critical infrastructure is you don't necessarily need those really great programs, is you need people who are just willing to lean into what the issues are and and how we become a more inclusive pipeline. Uh sorry, a more inclusive workplace that goes back to, as I was saying at the start, just the human being in people. And that's why I love being around this industry is it goes back to just being a raw human being and how we want to show up to work every day and getting up and wanting to do a good job and accepting that other people want to do that as well.

Yeah, that's awesome. And you know, it's interesting. You talk, we talk about skills shortage and and the infrastructure report. We also had a number of other industries at one of our recent events like manufacturing, healthcare, construction, etc.

And same issues like you know, skill shortages, aging workforce, early careers programs just not attracting the volumes that they need. Immigration has helped in some regards, but you know, it's not the only solution, and there's just not enough volume there either. So the yeah, it seems like a lot of industries and sectors are really feeling the challenge. And you know, like you were saying, it sort of comes back to some of the amazing stuff that you've witnessed, not just in your current organization, but in the industry itself where they've embraced diversity and it has helped and supported, but obviously, you know, there's still a long way to go.

Absolutely. So I'll take women in the workforce, which is obviously my passion, is there's there's a societal issue that women do the lion's share of family caregiving in the community than men. And that's not a criticism, that's just something that studies have shown that that is just what's happening. And whilst it is evolving, it's not evolving to the pace that sometimes work can keep up with.

So being cognizant of what is happening in the community and trying to match that as an organization is helpful. And by matching that, I just mean can we provide further flexibility to both men and women so that the caregiving can be at least thought at thought about? And with that flexibility, it doesn't necessarily have to be a shift in hours. It can be anything, it can be a longer lunch break, it can be working, it certainly can be a shift in hours around school, you know, school hours.

It can be I spoke before about programs and how they they're not as important as the ideas of people, but programs do help. One of the really positive things about ServiceStream is ServiceStream do offer in certain locations caregiving over the holidays. So we've got a holiday program. And what that means is that parents can bring their kids to work during the holidays and the kids can be occupied for a few days, which means it doesn't cut into annual leave.

School holidays, there are like a thousand school holiday weeks of the year. I've got an 11-year-old at the moment, and she's currently on two months Christmas leave. So any help is is really helpful and it creates a really good community amongst parents as well, because then people start to share their stories, and then you start to realize that people have got a similar story to you of trying to struggle over the holidays. And then collectively people share ideas because everyone, again, is very different.

And those ideas is where you can get other ideas of how to occupy your children, to maintain your work while things are still going on. I I think that those sort of programs are invaluable in trying to meet where society is at the moment. Yeah, 100%. And like again, like going back to picking up some of the stuff you were saying there.

If I look at women in construction, women in safety is even a thing that you know we've been part of. And it's great to see how far it's come and and the how the industry has started to attract more more women. It has, yeah, absolutely. Uh and as I said, the holiday programs, they help men and women, but they do help with the societal issue of women having the lion's share of work in the community for home life.

I actually, while I'm talking about the program that Service Stream holds, I do want to give a shout out to our head of diversity, equity, inclusion, James Smith, who started up the program with our chief people officer, Sarah Bottomley. So I really want to give them a shout out. Yeah, it's helpful to me, but it's really good as a researcher seeing that the industry is really leaning into that with companies like ServiceStream as well. So kudos to those incredible people for changing the industry from what it used to be.

That's awesome. Yeah, great. Well, shout out. And the question I was going to ask off the back of that, you know, clearly a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of investment has got into this, Laura.

And, you know, you have sowed the seeds and reaped the benefits for organizations that are maybe not there yet or they want to get there, they just don't know where to start. You know, I mean, looking ahead, leadership and workforce of the future. We talked about skills shortages, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, early careers, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You know, what how do you think leaders should start to think differently about how diverse their organization can be, and openness to diversity there can be outside of just what's on paper?

And that's, you know, looking holistically, how they set up their organization, little things like flexibility, what does that look like? Long question, I know. But do you know what? But that's the best question, and certainly probably the good closing question as well, because that is the one question that organizations just need to ask.

And the answer to it is ask your people. Is management, again, if you're just relying on management for those solutions, you don't get the diversity of thought. And so ask your people what would help. Yeah, great one.

And you'll find that collectively, people will come up with ways in which can help. Some are practical, some may not be practical, but those individual people will have ideas that will drive a company's individual personality forward, particularly into the future, where we can open up to, you know, more women, more people feeling comfortable being themselves at work. And if we shift as organizations, then we'll shift as a society and as a community. And therein lies the true equity and inclusion is something that our children will then pick up and move forward further.

So it's about really helping ourselves to move each other forward and um be better into the future. That's great. I love it. And I and I love hearing the stories, and I know you need to um shoot off again, and I really do appreciate your time, but I love hearing the stories of not just the successful part, but you know, the challenges and you know how you get there, and it is a journey because I think you know, even at the start of the conversation, I'd sort of mentioned where at some of the events some organizations felt like although it's a you know a fairly important part of their strategy as a business, it's sort of taken a little bit of back seat.

And I think what what I've taken out of this, if if I can say so, is you know, we've we've come so far, let's not take our foot off the gas now. Let's you know continue to to go and ask people, 100% ask your people. And that is probably the the the core of today's podcast is get to know your people, yes, ask them and and and then you can start to build your your strategy around that. That is great.

Thank you so much, Laura. I hope it's helpful, Shane. It's so delightful speaking to you. Glad that we're connected, yeah.

And yeah, hopefully this might help people if anything, they get to Hear the dulcet tones of our voice for 20 minutes, and that's cool in itself. Exactly. Some easily listed on the way to work. Uh or wherever you might think about.

3OW. Yeah, 100%. 100%. But um appreciate your time.

Like I said, thank you for all our listeners who've tuned in. Hope you've enjoyed the episode. I certainly enjoyed the chat, and I feel like we might be back on again in the new year for a part two. Definitely.

Thank you, Shane. Thanks, Laura. Thank you for tuning in to the HR Community Podcast. Remember to like and subscribe and share your views and comments below.

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