It is something of a familiar tale in corporate Western Australia – expatriates and those working on the east coast struggling to find a suitable job when they want to return.
It is something of a familiar tale in corporate Western Australia – expatriates and those working on the east coast struggling to find a suitable job when they want to return.
Time and time again, those returning to live in the state say the job they landed was the only one that attracted them enough to resettle.
One such case is that of Rob Bransby, newly appointed as CEO at WA’s biggest health insurance group, HBF.
Mr Bransby is one of those who realised the opportunity was probably a once-in-a-lifetime chance when he was headhunted in 2005 to the organisation, which has 900,000 members and 65 per cent of the state’s private healthcare market.
He had 20 years’ experience, on-and-off, with national bank NAB, and had been based on the east coast since 1997 in a series of senior management positions, the last as CEO of subsidiary specialist healthcare financier Medfin, a group with 110 staff and seven offices across Australia.
Just a few months after this appointment, Mr Bransby took up an offer to join HBF as group general manager as an understudy to Mike Gurry for a year.
“The timing may not have been perfect but these opportunities don’t come along very often,” Mr Bransby said. “I think I am the sixth CEO in the [group’s] 65-year history.”
Mr Gurry had led HBF for 11 years when he announced his retirement late last year.
“I would not have come back without working for an iconic organi-sation like HBF,” Mr Bransby said, pointing to the pulling power of the mutual-like not-for-profit, which has the feel of a community organisation. HBF has a special culture; they were seeking someone who would fit in with that.”
This culture attracts not just him, he says, but all the staff and is a trait he wants to preserve as he brings some of the latest banking thinking to the health insurer.
It is a careful balancing act, bringing in a leader with a commercial background into an organisation with a caring culture, as he calls it (perhaps reflected in the advertising icon Ted the Bear, whose presence has been reduced lately because HBF feels it is linked only to healthcare).
“Business is still business, but the organisation’s priority is the health and well being of a large number of Western Australians,” Mr Bransby said.
The focus for HBF under Mr Bransby, who cites dealing with people as his management strength, is member value, something it is seeking to enhance by freeing up employees, by, for example, automating some functions so they can spend more time with customers.
“It is a very commoditised industry. The only way to differentiate is through delivery,” Mr Bransby said.
“If we get that right it is difficult for the competition to come in and threaten us.”
Part of this strategy, in a shift from where financial services have been heading in recent years, is more outlets.
“We are about to expand our distribution capability via our physical presence, that is, more branches and people,” Mr Bransby said.
HBF already has 20 branches in WA, having added only one in the past few years. There are also new products – HBF plans to offer what it dubs ‘wellness’ products such as yoga and reflexology – and is looking at savings accounts.
“We want to be seen as innovators and leaders in this space,” Mr Bransby told WA Business News.
It is this type of thinking that Mr Bransby hopes will continue to attract customers and, similarly, the right kind of people.
Mr Bransby believes his organisation has been untroubled by the skills shortage because it offers an alternative to those who are not seeking the financially focused rewards offered by careers in more commercial financial services.
“Who we are and what we stand for means we generally have no problem attracting the right type of people,” he said.
West Perth-based roadside assistance provider and rival financial services not-for-profit, RAC, is competing for the affections of employees, many who have worked at both organisations.
“There are a lot of good quality Western Australians who don’t want to leave the state,” Mr Bransby said.
“They often end up at HBF or RAC. When they are looking for the next challenge it seems obvious that the other [business] is they will turn.”