It’s one thing to lead with compassion when you’re a small team. Scaling that kind of Heart-Led Hustle across a national workforce is much harder, but Programmed has proven it can be done.
Programmed was named the winner of the Enterprising at Heart Award at the Third Annual Employer Awards, recognising a business that measures success not just in placement numbers, but in lives transformed.
Programmed is a workforce solutions provider, placing participants into roles with host employers across a wide range of industries. The challenge is real: convincing host employers to take a chance on candidates who don’t fit the traditional mould. But Programmed has tackled this head-on, dedicating staff whose primary role is to advocate for Asuria participants internally – countering preconceptions and ensuring that attitude and motivation take precedence over resume gaps.
What set Programmed apart in the eyes of the judges was the breadth and intentionality of their structured approach. Their retention strategy includes bi-weekly check-ins with participants as they adjust to new work environments, catching issues early and providing timely support before small challenges become reasons to leave.
They also developed three dedicated pre-employment training programs: Introduction to Supply Chain with Forklift, Introduction to Supply Chain with RF Scanning and Voice Pick, and Introduction to Food Processing and Manufacturing. Each is a five-day program that builds industry-specific skills while also addressing job readiness for participants who may have been out of the workforce for extended periods. Crucially, Programmed commits to employing participants directly after course completion.
The initiative that perhaps best captures Programmed’s spirit is the Future Foundations program, delivered in early 2025 in partnership with Asuria and RTO Learning Sphere. Held at Programmed’s Seven Hills Skills Development Centre, the culturally safe, employment-focused warehousing program was designed specifically for First Nations youth — and seven participants secured employment with Programmed hosts as a direct result.
In 2025, Programmed placed 124 Asuria participants, including 46 vulnerable young people and 20 First Nations participants.
They also noted that embedding compassion into business imperatives “gets more challenging as a business grows larger yet Programmed has designed and implemented a comprehensive program of practical activities that builds confidence and skills for participants in genuinely compassionate ways, therefore increasing the likelihood of retention.”
Asuria CEO Nicole Grainger-Marsh said the award recognised something rare: “Programmed has done something that many organisations talk about, but few achieve at scale. They’ve built compassion into the architecture of how they work. Every system, every program, every dedicated staff member advocating for our participants is evidence of an organisation that has genuinely made inclusion a business imperative, not an afterthought. We are proud to call them a partner.”