Case Study: South East Water
Across 40 different departments, over 100 employees enrolled in a Future Skills short course
South East Water is one of three Victorian Government owned retail water corporations that provides drinking water, sewerage, trade waste, recycled water and water-saving services for residents and businesses in an area bordering more than 270 km of coastline and covering a land area of 3,640 km2 from Port Melbourne to Portsea and approximately 30 km east of Pakenham. They currently have around 900 employees.
South East Water provides a variety of employee benefits designed to support career growth, such as personalised career development plans, study assistance and access to on-demand learning. In today's tech-driven business landscape, upskilling and reskilling employees are crucial for fostering collaboration, innovation, and productivity across all sectors and functions.
RMIT Online’s Workforce Development Director Kade Brown said that 3 in 5 Australian businesses believe their workforce has outdated digital skills. "Organisations that prioritise workforce development, like South East Water, achieve benefits on multiple fronts. They grow the base of digital skills that will differentiate them in the market whilst also communicating to their workforces that they are willing to partner with them on their career journeys. This leads to enhanced employee engagement and retention, and all the financial and non-financial benefits that follow from that."
In 2022, RMIT Online was brought on as a training provider to deliver its Future Skills short course portfolio to South East Water employees across 40 different departments. Over 100 employees enrolled into a course, with an 85% completion rate. Project Management, Business Analytics, Customer Experience and Developing AI Strategy were among the most popular categories of courses.
South East Water’s People, Safety and Governance General Manager, Elizabeth Holley, says the Future Skills courses have been well received with staff.
At South East Water, we care for our people and support them to be their best. These short courses enable our employees to explore learning opportunities that meet their professional and personal development interests. We’re committed to providing a work culture that fosters growth and continuous learning, and with the help of RMIT, we’re able to deliver on this. Not only do these short courses address immediate skills needs, but they also foster a growth mindset – encouraging continuous learning and development, which is at the heart of how we work.
After the success of the pilot in 2022, South East Water renewed their contract for a second run in 2023, where a further 50 employees completed short courses.
Hear from learners:
Customer Experience Strategy and Design:
- "Excellent course content and additional resources”
- “Content was a good mix of reading, video and tutorials”
- “The standard for learning is very high”
- “Mentors were motivating and adept in their field”
Cyber Security Risk and Strategy:
- “Mentors with excellent experience”
- “Good content, concise, relevant comprehensive and detailed”
- “Great guidance feedback and encouragement from mentors”
- “Good course structure”
Product Management Fundamentals:
- “Course was a great introduction of product management”
Business Analytics SQL and Python:
- “The course structure and teaching is easy to digest and what was expected”