Uplifting communities

IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS, AUSTRALIA POST HAS HAD TO RESPOND TO A NEW WORLD WITH ALL NEW DEMANDS. GROUP CEO AND MANAGING DIRECTOR CHRISTINE HOLGATE HAS GUIDED THE BUSINESS THROUGH THE PANDEMIC, ENSURING IT MAINTAINS ITS CRUCIAL ROLE FOR COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE NATION.

- OLIVER FEATHERSTON 

COVID-19 has forced institutions and individuals to adapt to a radically different world, one that isn’t short of challenges. Even before the pandemic, Australia Post was facing its fair share of obstacles, with financial difficulties presented by the decline of letter deliveries. Introducing new demands like sanitary workspaces and social distancing could well have been a serious blow to the organisation.

That is to say, it could have been a serious blow if not for the leadership of Group CEO and Managing Director, Christine Holgate. Though Christine has only been with the organisation since the end of 2017, she’s already had plenty of experience guiding Australia Post through dire straits. Even with this competence, COVID-19 represented an entirely new challenge – 1.4 million more households shopped online in April when compared to the same month in 2019.

“Our strategy through this crisis has been simple and strong – to protect our people, serve our country, and safeguard our business,” Christine shares.

“It’s like we’ve had 10 weeks operating like Christmas,” she continues. “Because of social distancing and the need to stay home, the items being purchased have been larger and heavier than we would normally see as people have upped their purchasing of wine and goods for the home office. We’ve had to make arrangements to handle more manual processing, moving quickly to open 16 new or repurposed processing facilities across the country and recruit hundreds of casuals to assist in managing the continued parcel demand.”