eKourier Oct 2018

FEATURE

War on Waste

W e had the pleasure recenlty of receiving a Sustainability Award on behalf of KSS. We have been measuring culture at KSS now for over 20 years. And despite some ups and downs as we have navigated various changes, the culture has remained constructive. Many of you have shared the journey, some of you have not long joined us. To some degree there is a little irony in us receiving this award. To be honest I can’t think of how we would develop and maintain our Constructive Culture without sustainability. It takes perseverance, openness and much review. Behaving this way dominates our conversations. We recently shared the 2018 results of the OCI where we talked about the detail and ways in which we approach some of these conversations. In 2016 we set the goal to achieve 80% Blue in the four constructive styles across the business. With the training, the new faces and continued efforts we are really seeing positive progress toward this goal. The effort has been sustained and no one I think would say it’s been easy. The payoffs we see in Team buy-in, effectiveness, the honesty and simplicity of conversations and most importantly the satisfaction I get in seeing Team growth and development; makes it more than worthwhile. Sustainability Pays Off At KSS

W hat is meant by a War on Waste – this term can be used to cover many areas of our personal and professional lives. Generally what it means is to reduce usage that may not be required or be used less. By reducing waste we save money, remove excess cost and maybe even do something good for the planet. To be successful we need to be curious, ask questions, challenge things, never accept the status quo. There are so many areas where we can all make a significant difference: We need to continu- ously look for new ways to reduce waste to offset the signifi- cant increase in costs across the business. • Time and effort – where we carry out processes that can be improved through a more efficient process or through an automated process rather than a manual process. Sometimes we do something and by not doing it, there is no negative impact. • Reduce costs – this is often the key focus when trying to reduce waste. Costs can be reduced by removing an unnecessary cost. We need to ask ourselves - do we really need that? Are we getting a worthwhile benefit by incurring the cost? Often when we challenge ourselves and ask these questions we realise that the cost may not be worthwhile or achieve any signif- icant benefit and we can do without it • Is the service being provided at a worthwhile price – we should challenge all our suppliers and ask questions as to whether the service is worth the cost? Sometimes a National Agreement will mean we have to follow the cost but often we can challenge the cost. Especially where the invoice is at a very summarised level, ask for more

detail. How many hours did the task take, what is the rate per hour? • Recovery of costs – where we incur a cost we could on-charge we should look to do this – security, rubbish, delinquent costs, electricity, parking, damage to property and so it goes on. • Nice to have - sometimes we get used to having a service and it becomes part of our day to day lives. We should always challenge ourselves as to whether we really need the service? Because it has been used for many years or that’s how it was always done – challenge this. • Reduce usage – electricity and all utilities as well as stationery and cleaning materials – turning off lights and taps and looking to use less. As the Australian and NZ economies face many economic hurdles with increasingly more competition in the Storage Industry, more government legislation and taxes, increased utility costs – we need to continuously look for new ways to reduce waste to offset the significant increase in costs across the business. Lets all band together and declare a War on Waste. Anthony Rous Chief Financial Officer Below: Sustainability Award - L to R: Jared Mobbs (Brookvale), Carolyn Coates (NSW Operations Mgr) Neil Pardoe (Rydalmere), Matt O’Brien (Camperdown), Darryl Hodgson (NSW Operations Mgr), Tony Vuong (NSW Operations Mgr), Kemal Sermen (Ultimo), Jelena Stricevic (NSW Operations Mgr), Antone Boustani (Waterloo), Sathish Gopinath (THQ), Maria Katselas (Moore Park).

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Well done to all for your efforts and progress on building your culture.

Darryl Hodgson NSW Operations Manager

12 Kennards Kourier Oct 2018