Alcoa’s Director of Human Resources, Kim Horne, said the development was a major breakthrough for the HR profession.
“Following the opening of our new Peel Regional Office, you can live in the beautiful South-West of WA and have a successful and fulfilling HR career,” Mr Horne said.
“There are senior HR leadership positions which were previously based out of the Booragoon office in Perth but are now based at our new office, so there are real opportunities for practitioners to progress into managerial positions without relocating to the city.
“Alcoa is ensuring that HR practitioners no longer have to be employed in capital cities to work for big companies. This is significant news for HR graduates, in particular, who have grown up in regional areas and who don’t have a desire for city living.”
The HR employees based at the Peel office support Alcoa nationally, not just in the South-West region. In 2007 Alcoa made the decision to take the company’s essential support services, including the majority of the HR department, closer to its operations.
Managing Director, Alan Cransberg, said it made good business sense to move those vital support roles to the Peel region which is home to Alcoa’s Pinjarra and Wagerup alumina refineries as well as the Willowdale and Huntley bauxite mines.
90 employees are based in the new Peel Regional Office office, with 60 of those relocating from Alcoa’s head office at Booragoon in Perth.
The roles in the new office fall under the areas of:
- HR People Services – HR helpdesk, payroll, workers’ compensation, salary packaging, expat and compensation administration, employee services and recruitment providing support to Alcoa’s operations nationally;
- Procurement – Accounts payable and Capital Procurement, supporting Alcoa locally and nationally;
- Finance – Global Business Services accounting functions including property and building strategies Alcoa’s operations nationally;
- Real Estate and Facilities Management – The team dedicated to managing Alcoa’s land and building strategies across the country; and
- Various management positions.
Hot desks in the new office ensure Alcoa employees based at Booragoon can work close to the operations when required.
Alcoa is committed to equal opportunity and a more diverse and inclusive workplace. Its work and family policy and flexible work arrangements include: paid parental leave, job share, part-time work, flex time, work from home, and flexible start and finish times. This year Alcoa was named an ‘Employer of Choice for Women’ for the seventh consecutive year.
While creating job opportunities in regional WA, Alcoa’s new office has also positioned the Peel region as a global ‘centre of excellence’ for the alumina industry and boosted the local economy.
The building has been designed to achieve a 4-star ‘base building’ Australian Building Greenhouse Rating (ABGR) which is Australian best practice in energy efficiency.
The Premier of Western Australia, The Hon. Alan Carpenter MLA will officially open the new Peel Regional Office on 4 July 2008.
Alcoa’s Peel Regional Office is located on the corner of Pinjarra Road and Roe Avenue, Pinjarra.
Media contact: Sarah Tempest 0404 800 417
