Providing a workplace where people talk positively about AGL, choose to stay and build their careers, and give their very best every day is the means by which we will realise our business goals and deliver our strategy.

The degree to which employees feel connected and engaged with their employer is a core metric of organisational health and success, similar to revenue or cash flow or total shareholder return.  Engaged employees enjoy a more positive work experience and directly impact the productivity and effectiveness of a business.

The October 2007 appointment of Michael Fraser as new Managing Director and CEO signalled the beginning of an increased emphasis on engaging employees, with an approach focused on strengthening the foundations and fundamentals of our people practices.  Since this appointment, engagement of employees has significantly increased.

This year we’ve taken a largely back-to-basics approach, to give every employee clarity about what’s important and valued at AGL, tools and support to do their jobs well, and a work environment where contributions are valued and great performance is rewarded.

As we’ve done in previous years, our approach in all people strategies is to keep and build on those things that work, and to challenge, retire and recreate those things where we believe we can do it better.

Our strategies to reach our people goal are:

• Delivering a safe, fair and equitable working environment;

• Delivering remuneration systems and benefits that define business expectations, pay for performance and recognise contribution;

• Attracting and retaining skilled employees; and
• Achieving a high performance culture across AGL.

Workforce snapshot

At 30 June 2008 AGL had a total of 1,945 employees.  This compares to 1,678 employees at the end of 2006/07²⁴.