The founders of iClick2Learn, Natalie Bramble and Glen Dunkley are familiar business personalities in Dubbo.
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A string of awards has recognised the company and the amazing duo behind it, a husband-and-wife team who formed their company to create digital training programs in 2018.
Ms Bramble and Mr Dunkley were earlier winners of the 2021 Rhino Awards as Outstanding Employer of Choice from the Dubbo Chamber of Business and Industry.
They are also achievers internationally, winning the 2020 Business Worldwide Asia-Pacific Business Excellence Award while Ms Bramble won a scholarship with the prestigious Rare Birds Mentoring Program.
The training materials they create are not solely aimed to generate income and profits, said Ms Bramble, for they benefit not-for-profit community organisations such as Parents and Citizens Associations or groups that work with hearing and vision impaired people for example.
"We're an educational enterprise and certified social enterprise developing training videos such as projects teaching all kinds of business and community organisations how to apply for tenders [with government agencies].
"We are teaching committees how to govern their organisation, how to manage their finances and understand their legal responsibilities. We also develop low-cost educational materials for volunteers with community organisations.
But when creating the learning resources, Ms Bramble said, they ensure those materials result resource in transferable skills for every member or volunteer in an organisation that they learn and others can learn, too.
"What they're learning for example is how to run meetings and they can access that from our platform where we have 380 types of learning resources that Glen built right here in Dubbo," he said.
Every learning resources on iClick2Learn platform, Mr Dunkley said, has a $6 return of investment for every $1 spent by an organisation so that they grow as a social enterprise, too.
As a social enterprise operating in a regional area, Ms Bramble said accessibility has "never been a barrier". "I recently came back from the Pilbara in Western Australia working with an Aboriginal organisation at the Top End. Being based regionally, our online services have never been a problem."
Ms Bramble and Mr Dunkley also received the Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award which for them is a significant recognition of their contribution to creating a modern workplace in regional areas such as Dubbo.
"We don't even use the word staff [to refer to our employees]. We use the word team," Ms Bramble said.
"We don't use gender-specific language or use the word 'you guys but everyone here today or we use the first name instead of he or she.
"There are things that make people feel safe, comfortable and when they feel comfortable and think they are being listened to or considered, they'd be more engaged [in the workplace or organisation] as a result."
"We are very flexible with our team and we believe they're more likely to want to work than in a dictatorship that you do this and do that," Mr Dunkley said.
They describe their workplace and management style of a company with seven employees in Dubbo, and 35 others working remotely, 25 are contractors doing different projects as "sociocratic" derived from sociocracy, which in corporate parlance is dynamism in running a company or organisation that put focus on equality and diversity.
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"Diversity in our teams is 49 percent of our entire workforce which aligns with the United Nations' sustainable development goals for countries to adhere to," Ms Bramble said.
This diversity and equity model in managing their company meant that their employees are receiving salaries and enjoying working conditions according to Australian workplace standards, Ms Bramble said.
Two of their remote employees working in the United Kingdom and in the United States are receiving Australian pay rates and employment conditions, Ms Bramble said.
"We developed this hybrid workplace with more flexibility and diversity....so we asked ourselves what's the sort of workplace we want to work in, and what was the sort of thing we want to work with."
Mr Dunkley said being inclusive of their employees means that "they give inputs to the ins and outs of their workplace and we better people's ideas so they have ownership of the place.
"They're more likely to work well and self-motivated if there is flexibility. They can go and look after their loved ones.
"Modern workplaces are not so much just after huge money anymore. They're looking for a lifestyle in a way where it's a flexible workplace.
"We encourage that for we like to work with people with intellect and show reciprocity, so we help the team and they help us, too."