Why we removed the $500,000pa revenue requirement from Smart50 Workplaces

If you’ve been reading SmartCompany in the last couple of weeks, you will have seen promotions and mentions of Smart50 Workplaces. It’s a new program designed to start important conversations about great hiring and retention at Australian SMEs and celebrate the work of 50 brands who put care for their people first and foremost.

The new initiative is an extension of the long-running, annual Smart50 brand, which ranks the fastest growing Australian SMEs each November. So it made sense for Smart50 Workplaces to deploy similar eligibility criteria to those that we’ve always used – focusing on independent Australian companies with a maximum of 200 staff. 

However, there is one key requirement that we’ve deliberately left out of Smart50 Workplaces: the minimum $500,000 revenue for the past three financial years.

The $500,000 sets an extremely high standard and is necessary when choosing our Smart50 winners each year. 

SmartCompany recognises, however, that there’s so much more that goes into running a great small or medium-sized business than financial performance alone. Smart50 Workplaces is all about hearing from the companies that invest in the support, skills and wellbeing of their people – and a company certainly doesn’t need $500,000 in revenue to do that.

We hope that by removing this financial requirement, we get to hear from so many more exceptional Aussie businesses, who can share their challenges, successes, and what’s working in their hiring and retention efforts. It’s a historically tight labour market right now as we all know, so this is a very timely discussion.

This article was part of a feature series on workplace and employment trends to support our Smart50 Workplaces program, developed in partnership with Employment Hero.

Download the ‘What are great employers doing differently in 2023?’ report to look at current trends in the employment landscape and best practices from Smart50 Workplaces Top Performers.