What it does: Provides workers’ compensation insurance
Staff stats: 816 full-time employees
The good bits: Work-life balance
The not so good bits: No international or even interstate transfers
The Workcover Queensland story
You’ve no doubt heard of workers’ compensation. But, unless you or someone you know has been unfortunate enough to have to make a claim, you probably don’t know how it works in practice.
Workers’ compensation has been around since Germany put a Workers’ Accident Insurance system in place back in 1881. Soon after its formation, Australia’s union movement mobilised to make sure any worker injured on the job continued to be paid a wage and was compensated for any medical expenses they incurred.
In Australia, the states and territories each have their own workers’ compensation legislation. They each also have statutory bodies that enforce OHS laws, run programs to reduce the number of workplace injuries and oversee workers’ compensation schemes.
In Queensland, the Workers Compensation Regulator is responsible for these tasks. It works closely with WorkCover Queensland. This a self-funded, government-owned statutory body that has been providing workers’ compensation insurance to the state’s employers since 1997. (Apart from a handful who have a self-insurance licence, all Queensland employers are required to purchase a WorkCover accident insurance policy from WorkCover Queensland.
Despite being in a monopoly position, WorkCover Queensland aspires to be a customer-focused insurer and aim for insurance excellence while keeping premium costs low for employers and providing injured workers with access to rehabilitation and the best possible return to work support.
WorkCover Queensland is divided into the following four groups: Customer, People and Finance, Solutions and Technology and Strategic Development. It is headed up by a CEO, who reports to a board of directors, who report to the Minister for Industrial Relations. It is headquartered in Brisbane’s CBD.
The culture
WorkCover Queensland is committed to gender equity (65 per cent of the workforce is female), supporting LQBTIQ+ staff, closing the gap in employment outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, accommodating staff with disabilities, fighting ageism and recruiting individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse groups.
WorkCover Queensland seeks to bring together diverse talent and provide staff with a truly inclusive place to work.
Social contribution
Australians often joke about workers’ comp claims. But they are serious both for injured workers and business owners who can potentially suffer severe financial and legal consequences if a workplace accident occurs.
Through investing in efficient online customer services and experienced claims management capability, WorkCover Queensland manages to keep premiums affordable for business owners while still providing excellent rehabilitation services and return-to-work support to injured workers.
WorkCover Queensland staff raised over $25,000 for charities in 2018 through its ‘Casual for a Cause Fridays’ program.
The recruitment process
WorkCover Queensland offers two grad programs. Both run for two years, involve four rotations, provide diverse experiences and allow participants to develop deep expertise in their areas of interest. Both also provide a comprehensive support network. One made up of buddies, mentors, learning facilitators and managers who assist grads in developing their technical knowledge, customer and stakeholder engagement skills and interpersonal and leadership capabilities through on-the-job and formal training.
The Injury Management Graduate Program is open to those with a bachelor’s degree in one of the following disciplines:
Applicants are expected to be citizens or permanent residents of Australia or New Zealand and possess:
To apply for this grad program, you’ll need to submit a CV and cover letter via the careers page of the WorkCover Queensland website. If your application proceeds, you’ll do a video interview, psychometric testing, background checks, a group assessment and a face-to-face interview.
If you’re offered a place, you will be able to grow your experience and understanding of return to work, injury management, stakeholder relationships and business engagement projects.
The Digital Technology and Design Graduate Program is much the same as Injury Management one except that it is aimed at those with a bachelor’s degree in one of the following disciplines:
If you’re offered a place in this grad program, you will be able to grow your experience and understanding of development /testing, insight/analytics, desktop/networks, experience design, UX/UI, communications, project management and solutions consulting.
Remuneration
Both grad programs offer an industry-competitive salary as well as generous super. There are also the usual public-sector perks, such as study assistance, a range of leave entitlements and flexible working arrangements. There are also some benefits usually confined to the private sector, such as subsidised private health insurance, as well as yoga and meditation classes.
Career prospects
WorkCover Queensland prides itself on developing its staff. Employees have ongoing development conversations with their managers and are provided with opportunities to learn on the job or through structured courses and programs. Staff are also encouraged to undertake further study and professional development to advance their careers.
The vibe of the place
WorkCover Queensland manages to combine many of the best bits of the public and private sector. It offers staff a high degree of job security and the opportunity to work in a respectful and diverse workplace but also boasts the latest technology, modern office facilities and dynamic, customer-centric culture.
Star Rating: Not available
"What we do:
WorkCover Queensland is a government owned statutory body, providing workers' compensation insurance in Queensland since 1997. We are a customer-focused insurer and aim for insurance excellence, we maintain high return to work rates by partnering with our customers and stakeholders, we live our breathe our values of excellence, integrity, responsiveness, and respect.
Work culture:
At WorkCover Queensland we have an incredible culture driven by employee engagement and talented individuals working together as one team to truly make a difference. We’re in a unique position where we’ve mastered the art of successfully balancing government and corporate agendas to achieve some pretty amazing things, and this is just the beginning.
Diversity:
WorkCover Queensland brings together diverse talent and provides you with the opportunity to achieve your potential, add value to the meaningful work we do and make WorkCover a truly inclusive place to work. #webelong
Making a difference:
A graduate WorkCover Queensland opportunity is more than just a job, it’s an opportunity to develop your career and make a real difference, no matter what part of the business you work in! You’ll get the tools you need to do a great job and be surrounded by passionate, inspiring people to help you do it.
It’s never about a single person, a single team or a single project here at WorkCover – we work together to build a better business.
When you love your work and the people you work with, amazing things can happen. Don't believe us, click on our videos to hear about some of our customer stories.
Graduate program:
Over the two year program, you’ll experience 4 rotations of 6 months. This will provide you with a range of diverse experiences that will enable you to develop deep expertise in those specific areas of interest to you and an idea of where you want to focus on after the graduate program has finished. You’ll have a fantastic support network of a manager, buddies, mentors and learning facilitators who will help you develop your technical knowledge as well as your customer and stakeholder engagement skills as well as interpersonal and leadership capabilities on-the-job and through formal training.
Your well-being:
With great success, one of WorkCover’s ongoing corporate goals is a commitment to continue designing a benefits program that enhances the wellbeing of our people and their families.
The aim is to focus on supporting and encouraging healthy habits, both in and outside the workplace. The purpose of WorkCover’s health and wellbeing strategy is to influence our people to change their lives to be happier, healthier and to spread the education amongst our community."
Executive – Small and New Business in the Customer Group at WorkCover Queensland