Tim announces his retirement

Tim Lord, our CEO and Managing Director, has announced he is set to retire after 19 years at the helm. Tim will leave an enduring legacy when he steps away around April 2025 after seeing one final harvest through and commissioning the new pelleting and packaging facility in Myrtleford. Tim was instrumental in shifting HPA’s focus to developing and growing flavour hops to support the rapid growth of the craft beer segment. The international success of Galaxy is testament to this. During his tenure we have also seen the business grow 10-fold across Tasmania and Victoria. The Board, with the assistance of an external recruitment firm, will commence the search for a new CEO who can build on Tim’s legacy and spearhead HPA’s next phase of growth. Tim will continue as CEO & Managing Director until the appointment of his successor to ensure a smooth transition, at which point we’ll give everyone plenty of opportunities to say their farewells and send him off in style. Please feel free to reach out to Tim or the leadership team if you have any questions.

New team members

We warmly welcome the following permanent employees who have joined the HPA team since our last newsletter in December:

• Corey Docking – Financial Controller
• Rebecca (Bec) Tod-Aitken – WHS Advisor VIC
• Cooper Howden – Apprentice Fitter VIC
• Rick Cobbe – Farm Hand VIC

Post-harvest wrap

A successful harvest hinges on having the right people. We’re so thankful to everyone who helped us bring in this year’s crop, especially those who took on specialised and supervisor roles.

We employed a total of 394 casuals from 30 different countries of origin. This included 109 casuals in TAS, and 285 casuals in VIC. In the post-harvest survey sent to all casuals, responses were generally positive and constructive, providing some great insights into their experience and identifying some focus areas for improvement. 100% of casuals said they would recommend working at HPA.

Annual performance reviews

It’s that time of year again! The following timelines for annual performance reviews apply to permanent employees:

• Head Office: June – July
• RHG and BRV: June – Aug
• BPE: Aug – Sep

Annual Reviews will be recorded in the Performance menu of Employment Hero. Your manager will schedule a suitable time with you to have the review meeting. You will be sent an email from Employment Hero with a link to access your performance review to make any comments before the meeting. There is a paper-based option if preferred, but the information will be uploaded in Employment Hero. Please contact your manager or HR if you have any questions.

Superannuation increases to 11.5%

The Superannuation Guarantee rate has increased another 0.5% from 1 July to 11.5%. This is the minimum superannuation contribution that employers are required to make on behalf of employees. Stage 3 tax cuts are also effective from 1 July. This means everyone will get a tax cut from changes to individual income tax rates and thresholds.

Training & Development

During the first 6 months of the year, employees across the business have completed internal training on safe work procedures. Our farm teams also finished another busy harvest, supported by an intensive program of building employee capabilities and developing role-based skills through externally facilitated training. Completed courses include:

• Forklift High-Risk Work Licences
• Defensive Driver Training
• Working Safely at Heights
• Elevated Work Platform High-Risk Work Licenses
• Email Ninja
• Enter & Work in Confined Spaces
• Mental Health First Aid
• First Aid & CPR
• Front End Loader
• Freight, Logistics & Supply Chain
• ISO9001:2015 Foundations
• Agricultural Chemical User Permit (ACUP)
• Operate & Maintain Chainsaws

Diversity & Inclusion

HPA has achieved a zero gender pay gap across the business. This is an important milestone to celebrate from our Diversity & Inclusion action plan. It demonstrates HPA’s commitment to equitable and fair employment practices. By comparison, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Industry report a 10.2% gender pay gap.

Quality & Food Safety

All sites have completed their quality audits with positive feedback from our auditors. A key area highlighted for improvement in the audits is ensuring that our procedures accurately reflect what we do and that we consistently follow them. A critical focus area across all sites in the lead-up to the 2025 harvest will be making sure “we say what we do and do what we say”. This means always following our processes and procedures and seeking support when unsure. We are gathering data from harvesting and pelleting to assess our performance at the post-harvest review, helping us identify our strengths and areas for improvement.

The Cancer Council’s Biggest Morning Tea

This year we held the Cancer Council’s Biggest Morning Tea across all sites. It was very pleasing to see the generous donations to this very worthwhile cause. Thank you to everyone who donated money this year. A total of $782 was raised across the business, which HPA will match, bringing the total donation to $1,564.