With all employees expressing a strong desire for more flexible working arrangements, General Mills Australia has made it a priority to find the most effective framework to provide this, while driving optimal business outcomes.
Prior to the pandemic, General Mills Australia already had a flexible work culture in place with hot-desking, home-working and flexible hours. In the last six months, the company focused on taking this to the next level and integrating this culture into its roadmap for the future.
In partnership with Beam, one of Australia’s leaders in flexible and future-ready work practices, General Mills designed TeamFlex, a new and innovative team-based approach supporting high performance and wellbeing in a flexible work environment.
“We are really proud of how we have taken our culture of flexibility to the next level by empowering teams to determine the best way to work, uniquely driving performance and work life balance for our people,” General Mills human resources director, Shontel Turner said.
The program includes various workshops to facilitate open discussion with employees on ways of working, prioritisation and meeting effectiveness with a session focused specifically on transitioning back to the office.
Beam co-founder, Stephanie Reuss said the core element of the framework is adaptability.
“The TeamFlex framework has been designed to enable teams to set themselves up for success in any work environment – whether people are working remote, in the office or hybrid – it has adaptability baked into it.”
General Mills Australia was certified as a 2020 Great Place to Work and since February has experienced a 14% increase in management showing an interest in employee wellbeing compared to at the beginning of the year.