The Employer of the Year Award recognises a medium to large enterprise which has achieved excellence in the provision of nationally recognised training to its employees.
Crown Perth is one of Western Australia’s largest singlesite employers. With more than 5,800 employees, the company provides training to its employees in areas including food and beverage, leadership, management, table games and security. Over 2,000 Crown Perth employees have gained VET qualifications over the past 12 years and, in 2015, the company invested $2 million in its Crown College training facility.
Shane Thomas, Group Manager of Learning and Development at Crown, says that winning the Employer of the Year Award at the 2015 Australian Training Awards is great recognition of the investment Crown makes in its people.
“People like to get qualifications. Some employees have worked here since Crown Perth opened 30 years ago. After achieving qualifications, they’ve gained the confidence to apply for new roles within Crown. VET changes lives.”
Always evolving, Crown Perth designed and delivers a qualification that assists Indigenous employees to mentor new colleagues, as well as a course in conversational Vietnamese. In 2016 Crown Perth will begin delivering leadership qualifications.
The 2015 win is a first for Crown Perth but the third time in five years that Crown has won the award, which Shane sees as, not only, confirmation that the company is heading in the right training direction but also as recognition of a service industry that must increasingly become more skilled to meet travellers expectations.
“We compete globally not only for our tourists, but also for our employees. We need the best staff and this award is great for confirming us as an employer of choice. But if people move on, perhaps to open their own business, they take with them the skills we gave them and, in that way, we help Australia more broadly.”
Shane considers the Australian Training Awards crucial in promoting the many career paths that VET offers.
“You can build on a VET qualification and go anywhere. It’s critical to Australia’s economic growth that we increase the overall skills of our workforce and VET is a big part of that.”