Staff spotlight - 600km trek across Europe

Staff Spotlight - Adrianna’s 600km trek across Europe to raise funds to fight cancer

ACU workforce planner Adrianna Mortier is planning a holiday with a difference – she is about to trek 600 km across six European countries on foot to raise money for CanTeen, which supports young people battling with cancer.

“Giving back is what I’m passionate about,” says Adrianna, who has been at ACU since 2011 providing strategic advice and planning to support the University’s growing work force.  

In order to fulfil her dream, Adrianna utilised her Annual Leave and took advantage of ACU’s “Leave Purchasing” policy, which allows staff to take extra time off work to pursue their interests.  “It is important to take Annual Leave from a wellbeing perspective for rest and relaxation, Adrianna says.

Adrianna, together with her husband Ron, plan to raise $8000 as they undertake the European Peace Walk (EPW) in August.  The EPW is a 600 km walk over 25 days through six European countries.  The walk commences in Vienna, Austria and finishes in Trieste, Italy.

“We have six healthy grandchildren who we love dearly and we know that we are immensely fortunate that they enjoy good health. We believe it is important to ‘give back’ in return to help others and therefore, we have combined our passion for travel and the outdoors to raise funds to support CanTeen,” Adrianna says.

Adrianna has been focusing on workforce planning for more than a decade working for the NSW Government (NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet), and the City of Sydney Council.

Workforce planning is the systematic identification and analysis of workforce needs to achieve organisational outcomes, in terms of the size, employment type, experience, knowledge, skills and competencies, for current and future sustainability.

“We look at the profile of the workforce through a range of relevant demographic data across the organisation, taking a helicopter view of what’s happening, in the context of external and internal organisational shifts” she said. 

Adrianna says given ACU’s workforce demographics it was important to “grow its pipeline and be able to transfer knowledge from those about to leave to other staff”. 

To read more about Adrianna’s journey and the European Peace Walk please go to:  https://canteenfundraising.everydyhero.com/au/adriannamortier