NewsCorp is one of Australia’s largest and most iconic media companies. In addition to helping their customers create meaningful engagement with the audiences they reach, their primary purpose is to build relationships and connections with the community.

“It’s about trust,” said Mark Simpson, Business Performance Director, Queensland for NewsCorp. “We’re there for the community and we’re part of peoples’ lives every day. When you’re connecting with eighteen million Australians across platforms every month, we take our connection with the community seriously.”

Cultivating a high-performance culture

As Simpson explains, the ability to achieve their purpose is a direct result of their people and high-performance culture. With respect to NewsCorp’s Brisbane office, Simpson notes that the people are invested and have a strong connection with the business. The editorial team is passionate to get stories right to accurately represent and bring about positive change for the community. This fosters a culture of collaboration internally and externally.

From a commercial perspective, the sales team is responsible for generating revenue and great outcomes for customers. Simpsons states it’s important to ensure there is a fun environment for them with reward, recognition and engagement to drive a high-performance culture.

Creating engagement through Tour de Office

So how does Tour de Office come into the picture? For more than five years, NewsCorp’s Brisbane office has participated in Tour de Office, an interoffice cycling event on stationary bikes that takes place over one week during the year.

Initially, Managing Director for NewsCorp QLD & NT Jason Scott was introduced to the idea through his peer network connections with Tudor Marsden-Huggins and Skroo Turner. Marsden-Huggins’ organisation Employment Office Group launched Tour de Office and 2011, and Turner’s people at Flight Centre had experienced success with the event.

“The competitive spirit is what inspired us to get involved. We gave it a go, and have been running it ever since.”

During the week-long event in the office, employees take turns riding in half-hour slots on the stationary bike, engaging in friendly competition, encouraging one another, and raising funds for worthy causes. Organisations who partake in Tour de Office can nominate an Australian charity of choice to raise funds for.

Corporate philanthropy

NewsCorp’s charity of choice is The Courier Mail Children’s Fund, of which Simpson is a committee member. Over 100 years old, it is Queensland’s longest-standing children’s charity. He is passionate about this charity as it is the only one in the state where 100% of funds contribute directly to specific causes. All funds raised contribute to specific resources for children in need, for example, artificial limbs and smart puppies for autistic children. These tangible outcomes deliver real benefits to the community.

“NewsCorp values corporate philanthropy and helping Queensland children in need, so this charity really resonates with our people. Everyone’s lives, whether directly or indirectly, is impacted by children. This engagement, in turn, helps us increase retention.”

The charity’s board assesses submissions and approves grants to different initiatives on a quarterly basis. They encourage their people, if they have a child or a family member or friend’s child in need, to apply to The Courier Mail Children’s Fund, which adds an extra level to their engagement.

Leading from the front

Tour de Office works so well for NewsCorp because it is easy for people to take part and engages people across all levels.

“You need to make it easy for them to get involved. We have a gym, but it can be challenging to bring this to the fore. With Tour de office, it’s easy to set up and it’s visible. We set up the bike in the main thoroughfare of the building so people can see who’s riding. I’ve always done it over the past few years!

“As a leader, showing that vulnerability is a good thing. It shows you’re human, and this encourages others to do it as well. Lots of people don’t let their guard down enough in the workplace. As leaders, we need to lead from the front, and be prepared to do what everyone else is doing.”

“I’m always trying to beat my time from the year before!” he added.

Increased engagement

NewsCorp sets up the Tour de Office live stream so their riders are visible, then shares this link with their other offices. The Tour de Office website features a leaderboard, which they display to foster friendly competition.

“There are often a few wagers, for example, the fastest in advertising, race-offs on Friday, and charity fundraising winners. The teams make an effort to be supportive. It’s such a popular event, all the half-hour slots fill up!”

While funds raised each year can go up or down, NewsCorp’s Brisbane office always has participation.

“Our measure of success is that there is always someone is riding on the bikes, and all the slots are booked up. That way, it’s always visible throughout the week.”

“The event involves some coordination and planning, but when you see it taking place, the results and participation, it’s worth it. It breaks up the year.”

In terms of employer branding, NewsCorp is looking forward to continuing participating in the yearly event and increasing their social sharing to grow their impact.

Interested in running a Tour de Office in your workplace? Complete the contact form on the Tour de Office website.

Do you have a story about corporate philanthropy or a health initiative in the workplace? Comment below or get in touch with the editorial team to discuss sharing your story on Recruitment Marketing Magazine.

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Motorama is one of Queensland’s most iconic privately-owned car dealerships with a vision to create customers for life. They have a number of initiatives in place to make that happen, one of which is positively engaging with every customer. From salespeople, car washers, mechanics, and administrators, every member of staff is responsible for smiling, making eye contact, asking customers open questions, and having a “can do” attitude.

“We’re big on customer service and making sure our customers are happy,” said Damian.

Damian describes Motorama work culture as staff living company values. Every second month is themed with a value, and dealerships try to make it visual and inclusive for their customers.

“For example, in June, the value we wanted to focus on was ‘team work’,” said Damian. “So we created initiatives and team goals, celebrating with barbeques. Different dealerships hosted different events and embraced the culture.”

In August, Motorama promoted “be green month”, where they cleaned up around their worksites and reinvigorated their recycling efforts.

Damian explained the importance of how Motorama’s people help them achieve their shared vision of creating customers for life. They invest in their people. Their Future Leaders program enables anyone with aspirations in improving their career to learn and progress. They also offer training, certificates, and diplomas.

“We just try to create a culture of teamwork and having fun. That creates a great environment where people love coming to work, and this rubs off on our customers. Everyone’s having a good time!”

A colleague of Damian’s presented the idea of participating in Tour de Office a few years ago. The charitable initiative provides stationary bikes to organisations as part of an annual week-long event, making it easy for staff to participate and raise money for their chosen charity. Motorama will conduct their Tour de Office event in October, which fits perfectly with their value theme for the month, “have fun”.

“For us it was a real winner because we love to support charity and Tour de Office has become the best vehicles – or bikes – to make that happen!”

Each member of staff takes a turn to ride and compete. Damian prefers Tour de Office’s interoffice relay event in comparison to other forms of fundraising, such as doing the Brisbane-to-Gold Coast ride or selling raffle tickets, which only seem to suit certain people. Since starting the annual event a few years ago, Motorama hasn’t looked back.

Tour de Office enables companies to choose their own charities, and Motorama has selected the Starlight Foundation.

“The Starlight Foundation has been a great, easy charity for everyone to connect with. The work they do to brighten the lives of sick kids and their families, who have such a tough time, is so impressive. It’s very inclusive. They invite us into their rooms and show us their work. They do such an excellent job.”

Damian explains how Tour de Office allows Motorama to fulfil its corporate philanthropic goals, and also engage their people.

“Tour de Office has been a winner from day one! Having the bike there creates this party atmosphere. We make it part of breakfast, lunch, or afternoon tea, with music and food. There’s someone on the bike and people encouraging them. It’s a team event and competition. All these elements make it such a fun time. Because one of our values is having fun, it’s just been perfect for us.”

Sitting down all day is not conducive to health, so the more Motorama can get people moving, the better. That message is always growing within the organisation. They have primarily been focused on charitable and philanthropic work, so the health benefits of Tour de Office are simply an added benefit.

“Being able to do something during work hours is a privilege. For our senior managers, it’s kudos to them to say we’re allowed to do something like this. It’s great they allow us to do that and feel good about ourselves.”

Motorama staff are focused on having fun at the event, taking pictures of staff dressed up and having a good time. The content has been excellent in terms of their employer branding, as they’ve used it on their Facebook page, and in blogs and forums, and received a lot of great engagement with both customers and potential candidates.

Tour de Office appeals to a wide audience, so for potential candidates to see pictures on the Motorama blog and website of staff having fun and raising money is highly beneficial in their talent attraction efforts.

Damian is particularly proud of their place on the Tour de Office website.

“There are a lot of big company names, so it is great to see Motorama among them as an organisation who cares about the community and having fun.”

Does your organisation conduct activities to engage customers, staff, and potential candidates? Tell us in the comments or get in touch with us to feature your story.

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