Canberra-based administration consultancy Empact Group has been named as Australia’s greatest place to work on the newest annual AFR BOSS record, persevering with a run {of professional} companies winners.
With a crew of round 70 professionals, Empact took out the ‘small organisation’ and ‘consulting’ classes, however was additionally named the general winner of the AFR Boss Finest Place to Work record for 2025, following on from tech consultancy SixPivot final 12 months.
The highest spot within the medium bracket final 12 months was additionally occupied by Slalom, whereas one constant high ten performer, management & organisation consultancy Bendelta, didn’t function this 12 months because it has now taken over evaluation duties from founding accomplice Inventium.
As analysis & methodology accomplice, Bendelta overhauled the judging standards for this 12 months’s record to raised mirror the fashionable office, establishing a human-centered framework to evaluate probably the most helpful components of office tradition, insurance policies, and worker expertise which give the platform for professionals to excel.
Empact Group
Based by former Initiatives Assured normal supervisor Claire Thomas in 2023, Empact was famous for having established a set of pointers from the outset to make sure company-wide buy-in across the consultancy’s 5 core values of ‘belief, influence, braveness, curiosity, and care’ – which, the agency says, have collectively helped create a extra various office, in flip benefiting purchasers.
“The extra the corporate can mirror the group, the larger, at the least conceptually, the influence we will have,” Thomas instructed the AFR. “If we will allow our folks to convey that range of thought and lived expertise confidently, and they’re empowered to do their greatest work, that allows our purchasers to additionally do their greatest work.”
The for-purpose consultancy predominantly serves authorities and public sector purchasers on technique & planning, enterprise enchancment, organisational change, undertaking advisory & administration, and training & facilitation, underpinned by co-design rules and a people-centred method.
“I began Empact to show {that a} various, inclusive, and human-centred office drives innovation,” Thomas stated on receiving the AFR BOSS accolade. “Our values in motion problem burnout, inflexible hierarchies, and aggressive silos, and exchange them with company, selection and care. Our mannequin is proving that we might be each an amazing place to work and commercially profitable.”
Consulting finalists
Different firms to function within the high ten of the consulting class – which was final 12 months topped by Grosvenor – included cybersecurity agency Phronesis and Hamilton Locke mum or dad HPX Group in second and third spot, returning entries Slalom and Kearney, and large-size bracket representatives RSM and Marsh McLennan, the mum or dad of Mercer and Oliver Wyman.
“The definition of an amazing office has dramatically developed,” Bendelta states, noting the focal shift from ‘doing’ (duties, obligations) to ‘being’ (function, success). “It’s now not nearly perks and pay. At this time, organisations are anticipated to be social hubs, security nets, and alter brokers navigating the complexities of workforce transformation and shifting societal expectations.”
