ANSTO: Ensuring the robustness of Australia’s nuclear science and research capabilities
Explore ANSTO’s journey with SAP
For the past 70 years, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) has leveraged nuclear science and technology for the benefit of all Australians. The highly specialized and critical nature of the field makes developing and retaining skilled talent one of ANSTO’s highest priorities. To effectively support and manage its workforce, ANSTO upgraded to SAP SuccessFactors solutions.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Federal, national, and central government | Sydney and Melbourne, Australia | 1,300 employees |
manager engagement increased from below 50%.
platform manages all aspects of talent.
General Manager People, Performance, and Capability, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Federal, national, and central government | Sydney and Melbourne, Australia | 1,300 employees |
manager engagement increased from below 50%.
platform manages all aspects of talent.
General Manager People, Performance, and Capability, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
Managing and retaining talent central to enriching Australia’s future
ANSTO plays a critical role in addressing some of Australia’s most challenging matters relating to nuclear science and technology. Its range of responsibility is vast, including conducting research, producing nuclear medicine, and advising Australian government, industries, and education, in addition to the broader community.
Nuclear medicine uses small amounts of radioactive material known as radioisotopes for the diagnosis, staging, and treatment of diseases and medical conditions such as cancer. Each week, ANSTO produces nuclear medicine that enables up to 12,000 procedures and is sent to more than 250 Australian hospitals and medical clinics for various treatments and tests. Between 75% to 80% of the radioisotopes used in Australian nuclear medicine come from ANSTO’s Lucas Heights campus in Sydney.
Additionally, ANSTO plays a key role in manufacturing and resource sectors through materials research that contributes to high-speed rail and electric vehicle development.
With its infrastructure investment exceeding A$1 billion and dedicated staff exceeding 350 researchers, ANSTO plays a critical role is supporting the country’s scientific research and innovation.
The essential nature of ANSTO’s work, along with the breadth of its various responsibilities, means that ensuring the development, retention, and succession of the ANTSO talent pool is vital to its unique workforce and nuclear expertise and capability. ANSTO is specifically focused on identifying, recruiting, and retaining specialist talent, for which there is a high demand in the external market.
Due to the uniqueness of the organization, the tenure of employees at ANSTO is much longer than most other organizations. When staff eventually retire, the loss of accrued knowledge can be a challenge to replace. Another risk is that talent might move to other fields or companies to develop skill sets or further progress their careers. This has negative short- and long-term effects on ANSTO as both an organization and a nuclear research facility.
The process used by ANSTO for employee succession relied on data maintained manually on static spreadsheets, making it outdated and ineffective. An employee’s prior experience was not visible within this process, meaning that vital skills were often invisible to line managers and other key decision-makers.
Succession was viewed as an HR process rather than a business activity with the potential to add value and prevent gaps in expertise. Consequently, learning and performance management functions were undertaken as separate tasks. This led to incongruent decisions, such as high performers not being identified as potential successors, and the suboptimal allocation of career development resources.
ANSTO faced limitations concerning the employee lifecycle and skill sets and lacked an integrated talent development and succession process. To resolve these challenges and better manage its talent and HR processes, ANSTO implemented SAP SuccessFactors solutions.
General Manager People, Performance, and Capability, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
Unlocking prosperity through employee engagement and insight
ANSTO has seen several tangible benefits from the implementation of SAP SuccessFactors solutions that have addressed key concerns regarding data visibility and employee succession.
Using SAP SuccessFactors solutions, the entire ANSTO employee lifecycle is now maintained in an integrated system. This includes SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting, SAP SuccessFactors Performance & Goals, SAP SuccessFactors Learning, and SAP SuccessFactors Succession & Development solutions. ANSTO can now proactively plan succession for all critical roles, safeguarded by the system proposing succession candidates and identifying those employees who could benefit from further skill development.
Succession has been introduced as a key managerial responsibility, resulting in managers at all levels increasingly taking ownership of and responsibility for closing any expertise gaps. The business dashboard for SAP SuccessFactors solutions shows the current bench strength of all critical roles within the organization, helping ensure that decision-makers retain full visibility of all relevant employee data and identified successors.
For employees, the integration of SAP SuccessFactors solutions allows them to be fully recognized for their skills and achievements. This helps motivate talent to complete their employee profiles, confident that their previous work experience, qualifications, and career development goals are visible to relevant managers.
For managers, the engaging user experience in SAP SuccessFactors solutions encourages self-sufficiency and a greater understanding of the skills at their disposal. More detailed and rich employee data is now being captured, streamlining performance and succession processes. Standardized assessments and automated candidate ranking enhance the recruitment process.
Overall, decisions regarding succession are more intuitive and informed, remedial actions are easier to trigger, and senior managers are better able to align ANSTO’s people-related strategies with its organizational needs.
General Manager People, Performance, and Capability, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
Empowering the future of ANSTO
Although the implementation of succession planning is relatively recent, ANSTO has already seen an increase in meaningful user engagement with SAP SuccessFactors solutions from managers and employees alike, which is a positive step toward the retention of important talent and skills.
Manager engagement with the succession process was below 50% prior to the implementation and has now improved exponentially to 94%. Line managers have begun to develop action plans for successors, which include the identification of developmental needs and provision of relevant training. The time taken to identify successors for a given role has also accelerated rapidly, from days to mere seconds.
General Manager People, Performance, and Capability, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
Enabling knowledge and innovation with greater employee engagement
ANSTO is preparing to implement a career worksheet that will assist employees in understanding their current capabilities and what skills they need to further develop for specific career pathways. By encouraging team members to recognize their own developmental needs, ANSTO hopes to empower employees to be more proactive and to exert more control over their career trajectories, resulting in an increasingly engaged and skilled workforce.
ANSTO is committed to continuing to improve the user experience on SAP SuccessFactors solutions by focusing on capability adoption and further digitalization initiatives. Actively participating in the user community for SAP SuccessFactors solutions has allowed ANSTO to contribute to and learn from collective best-practice exchange, providing lasting benefits for the future of the organization and in turn nuclear scientific research. Networking with SAP and other organizations is recognized by ANSTO as a key enabler of knowledge and innovation, and this will continue to play a critical role in its ongoing journey of improvement.