NSW Telco Authority wins first talent benchmark award

NSW Telco Authority has won the inaugural talent award in the 2022 iTnews Benchmark Awards, for its work upskilling and preparing staff to deliver critical technology programs of work.

(L-R) Kristie Clarke, Jacinta Hargan (KPMG), Andrew Birmingham (iTnews)

The NSW Telco Authority, which operates the state’s public safety radio communications network for emergency responders, has embarked on a $1.4 billion network expansion. 

It needs not only the best talent to support that growth, but also has to keep its existing team at the leading edge of technical expertise.

The upskilling program saw 540 NSWTA participants enrol in 91 courses made available by the organisation last year alone. Of these, 366 were technology training participants.

Staff were given the option to acquire both professional and specialist certifications.

Courses covered everything from Agile and Prince2 to machine learning and emerging technologies.

Leaders worked with individual team members to identify opportunities and areas of learning that aligned with NSWTA’s vision and with the individual’s professional goals, and mapped out an appropriate action plan from there.

Critically, staff were also provided with time away from their work and supported through flexible work arrangements to complete their training and courses.

“The biggest challenge was balancing the requirements for people to do their job and their requirements to get them upskilled for their future job," managing director Kylie De Courteney said.

"What I'm really proud of is the fact that we gave people our most valuable resource, which is time."

A range of nationally recognised service providers as well as vendors participated in the upskilling program.

In addition to aiding its own project delivery, the talent program - and the growth opportunities it provides - is seen to give NSWTA a greater ability to attract and retain staff, and also paves the way for their development as future leaders in the organisation.

You can read more about NSWTA’s work alongside the other winning projects and finalists here.

Winners were announced at the iTnews Benchmark Awards gala dinner held at KPMG’s Sydney Office in Barangaroo.