Catholic Employment Relations

Customer details

Catholic Employment Relations provides expert employment relations, human resources, industrial and legal advice for Catholic employers. As a not-for-profit, we work with our members to help manage their relationships with their employees in a lawful and compliant manner. Our staff are legal experts, human resources specialists and employment relations professionals who provide guidance, training, and consulting services to help employers navigate the complexities of employment legislation. Our goal is to help our members establish and maintain positive relationships with their employees while complying with applicable employment law. By providing expert guidance and support, we help employers avoid costly legal disputes. We provide advice and support to Diocesan agencies (parishes, churches), Education (Independent and Systemic schools), Catholic Health organisations, Religious Institutes and Retreats , Aged Care, Social Services.

Challenge

Our members showed minimal engagement until a crisis occurred - so they were being reactive rather than proactive and there was a lack of awareness regarding the services we offered. The work carried out by our highly skilled lawyers exhibited redundancy, with tasks that could have been automated being manually completed daily. A disconnect existed between our members and our team, and the absence of a feedback mechanism meant there was no means to measure engagement or gather data indicating the direction we should take. Additionally, our organisation lacked a social media presence. Our members were unaware of what their fees covered and what costs were incurred additionally. While we had some partnership agreements, there was no formal contractual agreement and no promotion of their services to our clients.

Expectations of my role

To expand acquisition beyond NSW and also beyond Catholic organisations
To implement a new membership plan
To establish and build our social media presence including a video strategy (no use of video prior to my starting)
To engage and retain current clientele
As part of the Executive team aid in the development of team culture

The Strategic Plan

Promotion & brand awareness - I developed marketing materials and the strategic selection of conferences for participation, ensuring proactive communication and connection were established before each event to raise awareness of our organisation. The CEO and Director of Legal and Professional Services attended these conferences, actively engaging with the audience. I organised a targeted follow-up email and phone campaign, featuring an offer of complimentary webinars for potential new members. To expand our presence, I coordinated the attendance and presentation of talks and papers by senior team members at prominent events, particularly those significant to the legal and religious sectors, attended by our target audience.

Membership restructure - establishment and clear communication campaign of a new three-tiered membership. Planning an implementation of introduction of costs, gathering of new membership information and communications with clients to ensure smooth transition.

Developed a clear onboarding process.

Relationship management - I initiated the process of educating and training every team member on the significance of branding, encompassing both the organisation's brand and their personal brand. Facilitating comprehension and garnering their support for the development of branded content aimed at promoting our business and fostering customer engagement was a key aspect of this effort. Commencing promotional activities and engagement initiatives with both the team and the public, particularly through social media platforms, involved highlighting individual success stories, showcasing time spent within the company and sharing personal narratives. Additionally, I encouraged team members to participate in on-camera activities to enhance visibility and connection with our audience.

Content Creation - Established the CER Matters podcast channel, producing monthly podcasts featuring guest speakers. Conducted meticulously branded and rehearsed professional webinars on a monthly basis, utilising new camera equipment and microphones (organised personalised training for the team on delivery and development of webinars). Developed guidelines, templates, and policies, alongside weekly updates, to promote our services and maintain ongoing engagement with our members.

Member engagement - created the CER Member Portal. Members can log-in and access all of our content at their leisure. This portal is added to almost daily and I run supporting monthly campaigns around segmented content. Our portal is designed to allow members to edit their own interests and details so our CRM and audience segmentation is accurate and updated regularly.

Training - set up our training modules both online and in-person. Set up campaign to promote our bespoke training and a booking form for member to easily access our expertise. Members have the flexibility to learn at their preferred speed and explore our member portal, where they can avail themselves of on-demand webinars, presentations, guidelines, checklists and articles covering various employment law topics.

CRM management - Before I joined the company, our member contact details were outdated and no longer accurate. Following an extensive research campaign to identify the most suitable CRM solution for our needs, I enlisted the services of Visual Metrics. Opting for Creatio, I successfully executed the migration of all our data and established the configuration for email campaigns, as well as audience segmentation and management.

Development of Company Culture - worked with the EA to develop and plan cultural events and involvement in local charity runs, working with other Catholic organisations on a voluntary basis and monthly promotion of individual staff with our members - development of relationships and engagement. Establishment of a 'Living our Values' Award to encourage staff to embody our values. Organised and achieved 'Great Place to Work 2023'.

Social Media Campaigns - daily investment of time to develop our Google presence through use of SEO and constant updating of Google business listing. Monitoring of key word usage and constant update of content on our social channels with particular concentration on LinkedIn. No budget investment (due to financial constraints) - all growth was organic.

Results

Secured 43 new educational organisations in Western Australia - Sandhurst, 5 CatholicCare in Victoria and South Australia.
Effectively enrolled existing members for the 2023/2024 period, encompassing 44 Independent schools in NSW, 11 Diocese members, and over 60 Social and Religious entities.
Implemented the member portal, attracting over 1154 members who engage with the content daily.
Achieved a noteworthy increase of over 60% in social media engagement, all through organic means.
Managed to remain under budget for 2023, despite significant investments in creating marketing materials and attending conferences.
Established CER as industry experts, leading to invitations to speak at various events and conferences.
Implemented a successful relationship management structure, enabling members to interact directly with their individual ERS.
Built company culture - no staff attrition in 2023
Introduced CER training as a member attraction for 2024, a foundation upon which we will continue to build.