Bunnings

Our first Bunnings Grads have graduated! Our first grad program kicked off 18 months ago, and we welcomed eight team members from our stores across Australia into our Store Support Centre, ready to take the next step in their career.   Congratulations to Reuben, Georgia, Emma, Niraj, Sanjit, Tabitha, Angus and Jordyn for completing the program. They've all secured permanent roles in our Store Support team, with some of them relocating to Melbourne or Perth for the opportunity.   Throughout the program, our grads developed knowledge and skills aligned to their uni courses, with rotations designed to gain a broad functional understanding and mentors to guide them along the way. They've been involved in business projects, complemented by knowledge picked up through development sessions and networking. Describing his journey from scanning barcodes in Sydney to writing code in Melbourne, Class of 2024 grad Niraj said: “When I first got the call about the role being offered to me, I was thrilled but also scared about moving to a new city. I've been amazed by the opportunities I've had as a Graduate Developer, and blown away by the support and encouragement from colleagues, leaders, and mentors.” In March, we welcomed the program's second intake and we're looking forward to meeting the next group of participants when applications open for the 2025 program. Congratulations to the group and good luck as you embark on the next chapter in your career at Bunnings!

This NAIDOC week we wanted to throw the spotlight on an innovative new indoor plant food called ‘tarkiner’ that launched in-store recently. Tarkiner was made in collaboration with Circular Head Aboriginal Corporation (CHAC) and Seasol International. CHAC is an Indigenous not-for-profit organisation located in Smithton, Tasmania, established in 1994 to represent the nine Aboriginal tribes of the Circular Head region. To support the initiative, Bunnings and Wesfarmers provided financial support to CHAC through the Building Outstanding Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander (BOAB) Fund in addition to the project support provided by Seasol. We are committed to supporting the long-term economic success of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses, to help them innovate and reach their potential and create opportunities for them and their communities for generations to come. Watch the video to learn about the story of tarkiner and how the partnership came to life. Thank you to the teams at CHAC and Seasol for bringing this to life and supporting the local Circular Head communities to bring a piece of Tasmania to customers’ homes.

We’re teaming up with TradeMutt to continue the important conversation about mental health. Our new partnership will raise funds and awareness for TIACS, the free, early intervention mental health care counselling service for tradies, truckies, farmers, and blue-collar workers. TradeMutt is a social impact workwear brand founded by mates Dan Allen and Ed Ross, both chippies by trade. After Dan lost a great mate to suicide, these two realised that mental health challenges faced by tradies needed attention - urgently. They started the conversation with their funky work shirts, and TIACS (‘This is a conversation starter’) was born. The Bunnings Trade x TradeMutt pattern on the shirts and bottles is deliberately loud and unmissable: it’s there to break down mental health barriers and spark conversation. Everyone’s welcome at our free Funky Shirt Friday trade BBQ breakfast at all Australian stores between 7-9am on 26 July. It’s the official launch of the partnership, and you’ll also be able to pick up our limited-edition co-branded work shirt ($75) and water bottle ($25) in stores from that morning.    All funds raised from sales of the shirts and bottles will support the professional phone and text counselling service for tradies and their families operated by TIACS. Since 2018, the free counselling has supported 18,500 tradespeople and their families. We hope that more tradies and their loved ones will feel empowered to start conversations around mental health and utilise this incredible resource – it operates Monday to Friday, 8am to 10pm, on 0488 846 988.   Find out more about Bunnings Trade and the TradeMutt partnership supporting TIACS: https://lnkd.in/gVJ_wPjP 

Many of our stores chose to get behind Pride Month in June, to show support for our LGBTIQ+ team, customers and allies. During the month stores hosted events, decorated parts of the store and added some special touches to uniforms. Each year, our team get behind a large number of events and causes that reflect the diverse communities we serve and the makeup of our own team. It’s part of making everyone feel welcome. A shout out to all our team who helped celebrate the month.

We want to extend a massive thanks to all our customers who helped FightMND raise an incredible $20.1 million for this year’s Big Freeze 10 campaign! The generosity of our customers has once again supported FightMND to fight the beast that is Motor Neurone Disease. Thank you to everyone who visited our stores to buy beanies, buckets, and snags at our National Reds Run BBQ. We’d also like to thank our hard-working team for bringing this to life with ice bucket challenges, participating in the sausage sizzle, and creating some amazing art on our A-frames. Thank you to our customers and team members who supported Big Freeze 10. You have brought us one step closer to a cure for MND.

Our Tech team in Victoria brought their A-game last week as they hosted the Tech Expo Games! Along with wide-ranging activities including mini-golf, hammer-throw, curling, and a pentathlon just to name a few, this event allowed our Technology, Digital, Innovation Lab and Data & Analytics teams to showcase their latest work and encourage even closer collaboration across the team.   Some of the innovations that participants got to learn about included the Bunnings & PowerPass apps, helping to simplify the process for suppliers hosting products and updating product information on our website, and even how to build an arcade machine to showcase the incredible innovations happening on our Bunnings Workshop website. The Integration & Business Services team hit the bullseye and charmed their way to the People's Choice Award featuring their self-made scoreboard, data manoeuvring systems to help drive informed decision-making, the Bunnings API developer portal to help developers both internally and externally create innovative digital experiences, and the event data hub powering smarter stock distribution into our stores.   Well done to all of the participants in this year’s Victorian Tech Expo, and thanks to all of the team for pulling together such a fun event to spotlight not only the wide array of innovations happening in the Bunnings Tech Team, but the strong culture inside the team.

One of the most important pieces of the Bunnings culture is developing our team to pursue their career goals internally. We were delighted to offer eight of our store team members the chance to participate in a two-year Microsoft Traineeship program which has led to six of the eight participants receiving permanent roles in our technology team. Not only did the Microsoft Traineeship program provide team with permanent positions within our technology team, it also provided them with amazing exposure and experience in a vast array of tech responsibilities, as well as a Certificate IV in IT (Networking). Josh, one of the recent graduates from the program, had first joined Bunnings in March 2015 as a register operator and trolley collector. Through participating in this traineeship, he is now a Technical Support Officer. While he admits he was “a bit nervous moving from a store team member role into a technology support role”, the leadership and support from his fellow team empowered him to thrive in his new role. The highlight of Josh’s time was getting to travel from his position in WA to fill out a new site in South Australia with all their technology needs. Josh calls this the biggest opportunity he has been given throughout his nine years with Bunnings and is excited at the prospect of more opportunities to fit out future stores. Congratulations to Josh, Ally, Liam, Zac, Jacob, and Jimmy for completing this traineeship and accepting permanent positions within our technology team. To find out more about a career at Bunnings, visit https://lnkd.in/grzskTkU.

Our teams across Australia and New Zealand absolutely loved bringing Bluey, Bingo, and Hammerbarn to our customers earlier this year, and we’re thrilled with how kids, parents, and Bluey fans all over the world reacted! We’re chuffed to have the project and our partnership with BBC Studios Australia & New Zealand recognised at the D&AD 2024 Awards, which celebrate the best creative experiences across the globe each year. D&AD represents the global design, creative and advertising communities, and the judges are discerning: the iconic ‘Pencils’ are only awarded to the year’s most creative communications. Hammerbarn for Real Life earned two prestigious ‘Wood Pencils’ in the Purchase Experiences and Brand Partnership categories. Thank you to our store team who embraced the Bluey spirit throughout February, to the team behind the scenes at Bunnings, BBC Studios, and Ludo Studio who brought this amazing partnership to life, and to our customers who embraced the Hammerbarn experience with open arms. Congratulations to this year’s other Pencil winners, and a special thanks to D&AD for continuing to invest in global biodiversity with each award win. This year’s 5,000 seed pods will support koala habitat enhancement and Eucalyptus tree restoration at the Cattai Wetland project, north of Taree in New South Wales.   I guess the only thing left to say is… Wackadoo! 💙

We were pleased to collaborate with Diversity Council Australia Ltd on this case study where our Indigenous Affairs Manager, Michelle Matthews, shares insights into our approach to First Nations inclusion, and the initiatives and programs we offer. We’ll keep working hard to create sustainable employment opportunities and leadership pathways for our Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander team, and we thank DCA for allowing us to share our story.   #FirstNationsInclusion #NRW2024 #ReconciliationWeek #Reconciliation #IndigenousInclusion

Thank you so much to our customers who attended Bunnings stores last Saturday to help raise over $600,000 for the amazing team at FightMND.   Stores across the country hosted our iconic sausage sizzles which were entirely staffed by our team members – and we are incredibly grateful to these team for their hard work to drive such a massive result.   Along with the BBQs, many stores hosted events such as raffles, competitions, and ice bucket challenges. Plenty of our team at stores across the country took a dip in ice cold water to experience the Big Freeze and help raise much-needed funds to fight the “Beast”.   Thank you to our team for making this happen, and to all of our customers for attending stores on Saturday to raise these funds. Don’t forget to purchase your Big Freeze 10 Beanie & bucket online or in-store.