Our People

Learning and development

In order to attract the best talent and retain our key talent, we recognise the importance of investing in the development of our people.

Following feedback received from the annual Employee Opinion Survey, 360 degree management reviews, employee exit interviews, and bi-annual talent management and performance reviews, we concentrated our development focus in 2008/09 on core management skills.

Accordingly, our training expenditure increased by 35% compared with 2007/08 as we increased our investment in high quality, tailored learning and development programs focusing on core management skills.

In 2008/09, we concentrated our learning initiatives in four key areas:

• Partnering with industry education leaders to deliver the highest quality programs tailored to our business and our people’s development needs Two of these leading enterprises, Australian School of Business (AGSM) and the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), were commissioned to tailor specific programs for DEXUS; managing people for performance and effective communication skills.
• Creating opportunities for individuals to work in other business units or to participate in cross-divisional projects to further develop their skills and create value for DEXUS through proactive teamwork and collaboration
• Enhancing the education of our people through informal lunchtime learning presentations and regular internal communications about our business and how the different divisions operate
• Providing ongoing learning opportunities on a range of topics covering areas such as corporate governance, risk management, property industry issues and self-development skills

Note: The above graph shows an overall reduction in training hours reflecting this year’s focus on more
customised and intensive programs for our managers delivered through leading educational institutions.

Talent management and leadership planning

We undertake six-monthly reviews of the performance and potential of our people to ensure a continuous review of talent, promotion potential and succession plans for key roles. During the year, we continued to conduct succession planning analysis internally and externally for our executive team.

Developing our managers to effectively lead our business

In November 2008 we commenced a 360 Degree Performance Review program for all employees who hold management positions. The aim was to assist our managers in developing a holistic approach to their management responsibilities and to provide them with an insight into their management style. By 30 June 2009 over 90 employees had completed a 360 Degree Review, which included feedback from managers, peers, direct reports and where appropriate, external parties.

The survey results analysis and individual communication back to our employees was facilitated by an external service provider. The overall results benchmarked our managers as “Excellent” and highlighted common strengths such as integrity, work ethic, knowledge and ability. The areas identified for further development were creativity, the communication of long-term plans and the ability to challenge poor performance.

In addition to carrying out the 360 Degree Review for our managers, last year we partnered with the Australian School of Business to develop a leadership training program, designed to be practical and help managers identify their individual strengths and areas for development. The program also demonstrated how to put into practice techniques to build and sustain a positive and performance oriented culture. Feedback from the 23 participants in our first program has been overwhelmingly positive and the second program commences in September 2009.

Reward and recognition

DEXUS’s remuneration objective is to reward employees who contribute to the success and growth of the organisation. We look to align reward with performance in order to reinforce our performanceoriented culture and offer competitive remuneration to attract, motivate and retain the highest quality talent.

Incentives, or annual bonuses, are awarded for performance reflecting the employee’s role, responsibility and achievements in line with the financial and non-financial performance of the business. For our senior managers, we also offer a long-term incentive plan, which aims to align their interests with the long-term interests of security holders and serves as a retention tool for our key talent.

In addition, our employees have access to a suite of benefits, including:

• An Employee Assistance Program
• A comprehensive study assistance program
• DEXUS sponsored industry networking and social events
• Paid membership fees to professional organisations
• Paid parental leave
• Option to purchase additional annual leave
• Salary packaging options
• Values awards
• Years of service awards

Case Study: Talent management at DEXUS

At DEXUS, we believe that a key component of improving employee retention is providing a workplace where individuals feel there is opportunity for them to grow and develop.

One way of doing this is to provide our people with opportunities to transfer across business sectors within DEXUS, enabling them to develop new skills and increase inter-departmental collaboration and teamwork.

Several inter-departmental transfers were completed across our business in 2008/09. A good example is the transfer of one of our senior lawyers, Ben Keen – who last year moved to our Industrial team as Head of Operations, from our Legal department. This has allowed Ben to learn more about the business, build a specialisation in a specific field and also broaden his internal business network.

Ben commented on the outcome of the transfer,“Having worked as an in-house lawyer at DEXUS for a number of years, I developed an understanding and passion for how the business worked from a transactional and operational perspective. DEXUS has a progressive and creative approach to career development, which afforded me the opportunity to pursue that passion further and employ my core skills and competencies in a different area of the business, within the context of a familiar working environment. The challenge of a career change was also exciting as I had a desire to seize the opportunity to work with a new team in our Industrial sector and stretch my skills and capabilities. I was able to draw upon the support of the wider DEXUS team to help me meet that challenge. At the same time, developing the depth and breadth of your skills opens up a diverse range of personal and career development opportunities, which can be adapted to meet the rapid environmental, organisational and technological changes our industry faces.”

In addition, to the personal development achieved by this move, the wider group also benefits, as Ben’s legal background has assisted the industrial team to better understand the legal aspects of their business, enabling them to improve their business processes.