Hi all,
Welcome to our new starters
As mentioned at the beginning of the year, 2025 is shaping up to be a busy one across the Group based on the status of our workbook, and we’re seeing this now having welcomed over 100 new starters over the January to March period. A significant majority of these roles are site-based and working on projects in the Construction division, most notably the John Hunter Health & Innovation Precinct in Newcastle.
I extend a warm welcome to all our new starters across the Group and a big thanks to our recruitment team, particularly Hima Oommen with support from Lisa Jerman, Alex Periera, and Dave Plunkett, who have been working tirelessly to onboard all our new starters in orderly fashion.
New business
Of note in March, a shout out to our Audio-Visual team who were recently awarded the AV supply and install works associated with the major redevelopments of the Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, and the Children’s Hospital at Westmead. The project will be delivered over a six-month period later in 2025, beginning first with the Randwick site and then Westmead. Notably, this will be Star Group’s largest eHealth project delivered to date and is a testament to the capability and track record of our team with this important client, positioning us well for future opportunities in the space.
Technology Updates
March has been a busy month for technology initiatives across the Group. Notably, we started briefing sessions for project and site management teams across the business on IPM, the new modern and bespoke system being implemented over 2025 to better track and manage our projects and remove many of our older paper or excel based processes. We also in March launched a new digital expense reimbursement system that replaces the current paper-based process, with the roll out initially focussed on salaried staff.
To give you a broader sense of the technology journey now well underway, we've prepared the high-level roadmap below. What's important to note, the Board has endorsed a multi-year plan for technology improvement and while we work through implementing our first priority project, we will be starting to plan for our next priorities particularly in the health, safety and quality space.
International Women's Day (IWD) recap
Earlier in March we celebrated IWD with an event that brought together female colleagues in site and office-based roles from across the business along with senior management. As we know, promoting female participation at Star Group has been a strategic focus, and it’s really pleasing for me to see that our efforts are not going unnoticed. As a powerful example that brings this to life, our survey results from the IWD event held back in 2023 event indicated at the time that only 36% of our female staff felt well supported by their peers. Fast forward to the 2025 IWD event, that same number increased to 87%! A big thank you to everyone across the Group for making this happen including Sue O’Shea at a senior management level.
Looking at our female participation numbers along with the broader industry, while we still have plenty of room for growth, we are making progress, with the percentage of our site-based roles held by women having doubled compared to 2024.
Humpty Dumpty Foundation Balmoral Burn
It’s that time of year again where we call out for participants for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation’s Balmoral Burn event on Sunday 25 May. As a reminder, Humpty is Star Group’s principal charity partner, recognising the great alignment in the work we do in delivering and maintaining public health infrastructure and Humpty’s mission to ensure every Australian child has access to the healthcare they need. Over an 11-year period Star’s support for Humpty is approaching $300,000, which includes donations of 23 items of essential children’s medical equipment across 17 hospitals and health services along Australia’s eastern seaboard.
Following the strong staff participation at the Burn over the past three years, I’m excited to announce Star Group is once again a Tier 1 Sponsor for the event, which means we’re sponsoring a race and have our own dedicated marquee on Balmoral beach to congregate and celebrate on the day.
If you’d like to learn more, please watch the short video below and visit the registration link. Importantly, the event isn’t just for runners, you can come watch, bring the kids, and enjoy a great day out in support of sick kids in hospital around the country.
Register for the Burn now!
Cheers,
John