FEELING RIGHT AT HOME
TELSTRA boss Andy Penn has urged Geelong business leaders to embrace the chance to capitalise on the new way of working that has unfolded during COVID-19
“After Christmas there has been this desire to go back to normal, or to find what the new normal is,” he said. “It’s almost like people are waiting for things to stabilise and then we can get back to our old lives. I think the bottom line is that is not going to happen.”
From June, Telstra will introduce a location agnostic approach to recruitment.
“Our view is that in the future, the companies that will be successful will be those that give their people the opportunity to work from where they want, when they want and how they want,” Mr Penn said.
During a day in Geelong on Thursday, the Telstra chief executive talked with Deakin University heads, visited Geelong Tech School, addressed the Committee for Geelong and spent time with customers and staff.
Telstra last year saw the region’s uplink traffic, which is driven by video conferencing and remote working, increase 50 per cent on the previous year.
Mr Penn said if the pandemic had struck 10 years ago, the world would not have had the telecommunications capacity or meeting platforms to cope.
His visit to Geelong Tech, where he inspected its “Bees with Backpacks” program, underlined the importance he puts in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) to help drive future innovation.
“Bees with Backpacks” involves bees being fitted with hi-tech micro-sensors that work like vehicle e-tags to monitor their movements to and from the hive.