Jawun secondments create champions of change

"I never thought just six weeks would be the start of something so much bigger. It's added a whole new dimension to my work and life."

Two years ago, Jaimes Adlington took a break from his day job an Executive Manager in Westpac Group's audit team to spend six weeks on secondment at independent Indigenous education provider, Tranby Aboriginal College.

Established in 1958, Tranby is Australia's oldest, independent Indigenous Australian education provider, and a true pioneer in education and training for Aboriginal adults.

While on secondment, Jaimes' remit was to share his expertise and recommend ways to improve the College's financial position. His contribution was so highly valued by the Tranby team that, upon his return to Westpac, he was nominated to join the College board.

"The opportunity to become a board member was a great step for me, professionally. More importantly, working with Tranby has opened my eyes to the richness of Aboriginal culture and heritage. It's a privilege to know I'm supporting an organisation that's helping thousands of students to make lasting changes in their communities."

Jaimes is one of more than 700 Westpac Group employees who have been seconded to share skills with Indigenous Australian organisations as part of the Jawun Indigenous Community Partnerships program, since it was co founded 15 year ago.

More about Westpac's participation in the Jawun program

During 2015, almost 60 employees undertook secondments with Indigenous Australian community organisations for periods of six weeks, and in some cases up to 12 weeks, through the Jawun Indigenous Corporate Partnerships program.

During these secondments, our employees worked across a variety of tasks - from reviewing business plans and risk management processes, to making recommendations on new technology systems and marketing plans. Not only do these secondments provide much needed resources to the host organisations, our employees benefit enormously both professionally and personally from the experience.

Since Westpac helped co-found Jawun 15 years ago, more than 700 Westpac Group employees have shared almost 90 years of time with Indigenous Australian community organisations.