The IT industry: who says there's no such thing as a free lunch? In Wk'Best Places to Work in Australia: 100 or more employees' list for 2015, nine of the top 25 spots were lled by an IT company. Atlassian headed up the list in first place. with Adobe Systems. NetApp Australia. Autodes-k Australia. Distribution Central, 5A5 institute. InfoTracIt. Odecee Pty Ltd and EMC Australia also making the cut: Information technology companies' saturation of the coveted employers list occurred despite less than 2 per cent of Australia's workforce being employed in IT-related roles as at February 2016.5 Atlassian can boast single-digit staff turnoverE and the company's H R Business Partner Kelly Kirby credits their high employee engagement with Atlassian's focus on employee job satisfaction and making sure people are doing meaningful work. Here is how she describes attracting and retainingthe very best people. and keeping them motivated during their time with company: We have a wonderful experience team who create events all the time for us as a company. so we have a big annual event; we have Thank God it's Friday events,just to celebrate and do something fun; and we also have random, in'egular 'sillybrations'. It might be National Beard Dayor National Dr Seuss Day . . .you might get a little gift on yourtablejust to say. 'Hey it's National Rubber Ducky Day. here's a rubber duck'. So there's lots of fun interspersed throughout the company at any given time which contributes to motivation and engagement... Whilst we're doing the celebratory parties and special events. we also have on a regular basis in each of our offices wellness programs. so we provide Pilats dasses. yoga classes, we have boot camp classes: so we' re trying to make sure we have something for everyone: Atlassian's ofce in Sydney also has a billiard room, a fully stocked kitchen with free meals and snacks for all employees, beers on tap after hours and a chocolate-lled skill-tester: Given the demand for 1T workers far exceeds the supply of qualied applicants. such perks communicate to employees that their companies value them and wish to retain them. Why do IT companies like Atlassian focus so heavily on looking after their people? According to some. it is essential for IT companies to recruit. select, develop and retain the very best employees who suit this kind of work, since having great people is the key to creating and maintaining a competitive advantage in the dynamic IT sector. Consider two employees of Google Australia. for instance. which won the prestigious Best Place to Work title in 2011 and won third place in 2012.5 Leticia Lentini joined Google when the company's Australian office had only 1'! employees After ten interviews. she moved from roles in recruitment and payroll until she became Google's \"events magician' tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that Google's many events, from sales presentations and seminars to product launches. go off without a hitch: James McGill, a programmer at Google Australia. says of his job: What we do every day at work is genuinely diificult. the problems we solve are really interesting and every conversation I have at work Is fascinating. That's what's so great about coming to work, everyone is so interesting to talk to: It is clear from this quote that McGill's social needs are being met (well, being more than met l}. and his self-esteem is being generated at a great rate as he reects on working at such a great company with wonderful, ever-iascinating colleagues. It is also clear that James is deep into self-actualisation because he's convinced that he works in the bestjob in the world. What about some of the other IT companies on the list? While IT sta often work ridiculously long hours with real intensity, tastvgrowing IT companies tend to be characterised by relatively informal workspaces and provide many perks forthe services of the employees for instance, healthcare su bsidies. free massages. additional time for leave. games rooms and free food. Adobe has a heavy focus on employee health and wellbeing as part oftheir incentive package, providing on-site health seminars, weilness competitions, u vaccinations and free healthy snacks. Autodesk does not limit the number of sick days an employee uses in a given year, instead trusting their workers to use their sick leave in a responsible manner: InfoTrack provides free breakfast, gym memberships, massages and arcade games for employees, with their chairman noting, 'take care of your staff, and your staff will take care of your customers: Atlassian designs and distributes t-shiits in honour of special events; some of these are displayed proudly in their Sydney office. Arguably, it is much easier for the Atlassians and the Googles of this world to offer such bounty to their staff. When a company is established from scratch, its leaders have a huge amount of freedom to design the workspaces that they want; create the reward systems and values that express their desired culture; and, where they achieve rapid profitability or have money to invest, pay their people attractively and provide all sorts of perks that most organisations could never afford to. Does this make the IT companies exemplars of best practice in motivating and rewarding people, or does it make them outliers and exceptions that are worth a quick look but little else - because, quite simply, the rest of the world just doesn't work like that?a) Identify the leadership styles most suited to Atlassian, and which is feast suited? Justify your reasons for your choices. (5 marks) b) Analyse the effectiveness of the recruitment and employee retention strategies implemented by the leadership team at Atlassion. {5 marks) (2) Assess why persona! rewards and job satisfaction are central features in the organisational culture at Atlassian. (5 marks) d) Critically reflect on whether the founders and owners of Atlassian (Mike Cannon-Brooks and Scott Farquar) have implemented a leadership style and influence tactics that suit your personality. Would you like to work at Atlassian or would you prefer to work under a different style of leadership and organisational culture? Justify your personal preference