Our business policies

Our mission is to contribute to public good outcomes by providing excellent, tailored professional services to public sector organisations.

Our strategic context

Over the past decade, about 90 per cent of our firm’s income has been earned from Australian Government contracts, either directly as prime contractor or through supporting Australian universities as prime contractors to the Commonwealth.

Our firm has developed by working with executives in large mission-driven organisations to deliver public good outcomes in their agencies’ strategic and organisational contexts.

Our best clients are masters in serving the public good. Our employees and associates are excellent at what they do; and collectively, we have demonstrated a capacity to do an amazing range of things. But while many kinds of expertise are necessary to deliver better clients outcomes, the way our firm adds value has never been about what we do.

It has always been about what our clients need to do, and helping them bring together whatever it takes to deliver the goods. That means we need to understand what creates value for them, and mobilise relevant ideas, talent and business capabilities on their behalf.

Alignment with client values

To understand our clients, we need to earn and sustain their trust. This starts with the letter of the non-disclosure agreements in our contracts, but it goes much further.

Our firm’s code of conduct refers to and is aligned with the Australian Public Service values. We seek client feedback, and client complaints are referred to a director. Beyond that, we need to be up front about our business values.

Our business values

Our business values cover five main areas:

  • ethics
  • adding value
  • transparency and accountability
  • learning and innovation
  • developing our people and networks.
  1. WHH must be ethical (and be seen to be ethical) to be a trusted partner of public agencies and universities. This includes a duty to behave with probity in procurement processes and to engage in honest, open communication about contract matters. We will face and discuss any ethical issues that emerge in our dealings openly, honestly and rationally, and seek to resolve these issues.
  2. WHH must create client value. We must be excellent at what we do, and we must recognise that what we do adds value only when it contributes to realising our clients’ vision for delivering a public good outcome. Our capacity to create client value is built on understanding clients’ strategic and organisational contexts, and we will work to build sustainable relationships that leverage shared learning and mutual understanding.
  3. WHH must be transparent about business goals and methods. Like any firm, we must earn a commercial return on funds at risk on the business to provide a sustainable service. We will communicate openly and honestly with clients about commercial issues (including risk allocations) and meet both commercial and public sector standards of accountability in relation to government work.
  4. WHH must learn and innovate to endure. Client-focused innovation is central to creating outstanding value. Our business is not about what we already know; it is about shared learning that delivers great outcomes for clients.
  5. WHH must develop our people and networks in order to create client value, earn and learn.
  • We will use our corporate knowledge and networks in the projects we work on, and expect projects to return the knowledge and networks improved by use.
  • At program and project levels we will value issues and problems as opportunities to learn, rather than avoid or ignore these opportunities.
  • Our employees and key associates will have learning agendas and engage with relevant communities of practice to test and share their learning.
  • We will grow and sustain the professional and academic networks that provide the reach and depth of expertise our best clients want.

Employment and professional associate frameworks

WHH employees work under a collective agreement made in 2007 with legal support from a Canberra-based firm with a specialist practice in industrial law.

This agreement provides a facilitative framework for flexible, congenial employment of skilled, self-starting professionals. It has been approved by the Australian Government’s Workplace Authority.

Individual employment agreements refer to duties of confidentiality and nondisclosure commonly contained Commonwealth contracts.

Employees are bound by WHH company policies, which include the collective agreement, individual employment agreements made under the collective agreement, our code of conduct and internal policy statements.

WHH professional associates generally enter into standing agreements that refer to duties of confidentiality and nondisclosure commonly contained Commonwealth contracts.