Are you looking to fast track your career? Especially one in the evergreen security sector where technology plays a big part in elevating both the job and the outcomes it brings? Why not pursue your aspirations with an organisation that is making a real difference to the communiites it works with.
We speak with Greg Shaw, National Manager for Human Resources at Certis Security Australia and one of the key men working to make Certis Australia an employer of choice. Greg recounts the highlights of his experiences while sharing insights into some of the opportunities within the company, and initiatives being rolled out to current and future employees.
What led you to pursue a career with Certis?
I started working for Certis in September 2021. I had seen the footprint the business had made in the Australian market as an international organisation, and I wanted to be a part of the growing team.
Joining Certis gave me the opportunity to bring my skills and experience to an evolving business here in Australia. I thrive on adding value and being part of a team that is constantly growing. I find this challenging and rewarding at the same time.
As the business continues to introduce and drive new technology, we will see technological system enhancements across divisions that includes new HR platforms, advanced rostering and payroll systems that integrate. By introducing new technology, we will ensure that we have a robust system integration that enables us to focus on our people and capture data that is used to drive service improvements in all areas of the business providing a seamless experience for the end user and our valued employees.
On the topic of progress, can you share how Certis is helping employees achieve the same?
All Certis employees undergo induction training at the time of joining. This includes online learning modules that focus on policies and procedures, along with job specific material. The onsite training provides our frontliners with the necessary skills to fulfil their role, such as customer service and stakeholder engagement, together with other site-specific training to ensure they can deliver the highest possible service to our clients, customers and stakeholders.
These skills are a great start in developing the career path for our frontline officers as they eventually move into other areas of the business in their careers with us. Further to this, our officers can look forward to opportunities to work in a supervisory capacity when available. This can give them practical experience in developing their leadership abilities, a highly transferable skill that will serve them well in their career.
Can you tell us more about career development pathways in Certis?
Many of our employees have a proven career pathway that started as a frontline officer, and as of today hold senior management positions within the company. Our Head of the National Operations Centre (NOC), Stephen Mizzi is an example of this. He began his career as a roving guard in 2010, and soon became a control room operator. From there he was given the chance to work in the corporate side of the business as a Client Service Manager, which led to the opportunity in 2016 to manage a large transport service provider in Sydney. His knowledge and skills he gained in that roll, led him to work in the Operations Technology team, helping to develop the BOSS app. From there he took the opportunity to go to Western Australia as the State Manager, which helped land him his current role as Head of NOC, leading a team of 20+ employees across Australia.
Employees are encouraged to take up learning opportunities and have open discussions with their managers to establish a pathway that enables them to grow and learn, for their own personal development.
To support this, we offer a wide range of learning modules in our interactive Learning Management System (LMS) that provides short courses across a wide range of areas such as cyber security to leading self and Leading others, allowing employees to expand their knowledge. Further to this, we also encourage employees to undergo any external study that can further their career path.
As part of the Certis performance management process, regular quarterly meetings are held with team members to discuss their performance and career development. This is where managers can draw on the skill sets to ensure that our diverse work culture is provided with real opportunities to progress.
We prioritise the talent within our ranks, and will share opportunities internally first, allowing those with the requisite skills and qualifications to apply. Developing and nurturing their interests always comes first.
What is your vision to help bolster Certis as a best place to work for employees? What strategies/initiatives have been implemented to achieve this vision?
Being focused on our people.
We know that our people are the drivers of our success. We create environments that empower our people to innovate, succeed and be supported through training opportunities and promotional opportunities to retain the talent we have. This is the biggest driver in our positive work culture, showing our employees that we care about them and their future.
Recognition and Benefits (RnB)
Our RnB program is available to all 3,000+ employees across the business in Australia. It is the platform we use to recognise each employee behind the successes of the business, be it big or small. In addition to this, it provides every one of our employees with discounts across 350 retailers. The fact that we have a platform dedicated to the success of our employees, says a lot. It’s important to Certis.
Our newly initiated Mentor-Mentee program is focused on providing guidance to our people through high level support in areas they may require further training or understanding. The program is designed for managers to offer their professional and personal expertise to support, coach or guide junior colleagues and help build consistency across the business.
We seek and encourage feedback from our employees. This is another way we show we care. For example, our new onboarding process includes our Talent Acquisition team reaching out to newly joined employees and offering them an opportunity to provide feedback about their onboarding experience and discuss any further requirements they may need to help them settle into their new role.
How do Certis’ values and culture build a positive work environment?
Our values and culture are the heart and soul of everything that we do. Our team of dedicated employees continue to focus on service improvements that ensures said values and culture continues to reflect who we are and what we are trying to achieve as one team.
Our employees are driven by the Certis Purpose - To make our world safer, smarter, better, for themselves, the environments we live in, our communities and for our customers. By having our entire workforce aligned with the Certis Purpose, we have built a positive culture and work environment, where all members are share the same goals and work as one team.
The culture of the business ensures positive change is embraced and cascaded down from our senior leadership team to senior managers, middle managers and all the way through to our frontline teams. This is imperative to drive employee engagement, ensure our people are well supported and feel part of a winning team.
How would you describe the Certis Difference?
We offer career pathways both in Australia and internationally for those who would like the opportunity to work abroad. We have a diverse work culture with more than 100 nationalities and languages, making our company unique. Certis is an international business with footprints in Singapore, Qatar, Hong Kong and Macau, which make our business a global provider and bringing with it, more opportunities for our people.
We have a can-do culture and recruit talents with the same can-do attitude. People are at the forefront of what we do, and we do an exceptional job in promoting who we are and our purpose, vision and mission. We are not just a security company but an integrated smart solutions company that provides the highest levels of service to both our internal and external stakeholders across the spectrum of industries, such as facilities management.
What other initiatives can employees look forward to?
The feeling of being part of a team, although you are working for a large national business. As part of our positive work culture, there are team building events within each respective department. These can vary from team dinners to team building days or group lunches. One example was our Human Resource department attending a team building day, where they took on a virtual reality challenge and had to come together and solve a puzzle. The event drove team collaboration and positive relationships outside of the workplace, making it a great success and something the team still speaks of today. We look forward to further employee engagements as we continue to focus on our people and their career development.
What is your favourite part about working at Certis?
I thrive on engaging with people and helping others. I have always been a people person and Certis offers that people connection that allows me to drive employee engagement, business support and suggest new ideas for improved performance that ultimately will add value.
Certis has one of the best working cultures that I have ever experienced where teams come together to strive for a common goal. The departmental collaboration provides a very positive working culture and allows teams to work on projects together for win-win outcomes. For me, working for Certis is very rewarding and I love that it provides learning opportunities for all – allowing everyone to grow within the business. The senior leadership team is also very supportive and empowers managers and team members to make positive changes, our success is very much a collaborative effort.
Keen to work for an organisation that invests in its people, offering training, flexibility, and countless career progression opportunities? Whether you are a fresh graduate, seeking a technology-related role, or looking to build a career in the security space, explore the range of career opportunities here: