Thanks for the link ILOVESTEVE I didn't realise Australia Zoo was that big,I went to Disney Land in Florida a few years ago,I loved it,it was massive!!!

Been to the Zoo lately?

http://www.australiazoo.com.au/

According to Australia Zoo website , they are holding the first annual Steve Irwin Day on 15th November 2007..

http://www.australiazoo.com.au/visit-us/calendar/?event=1&month=11&year=2007

CRIKEY CROCS RULE!!

This is fantastic news, I am even more determined now to get to Australia Zoo in November 2009.

Thats great news thanks for telling us ILOVESTEVE!

This is an old article (that some of you may have already seen) but I thought it was an interesting read!

Best Practice; Crikey!
December 2003

Managing change at Australia's fastest-growing tourist attraction
Love him or hate him, Steve Irwin is one of Australia's most recognisable personalities, famed both here and abroad for his work with crocodiles, snakes and other dangerous animals. His flagship business, Queensland's Australia Zoo, has grown to employ over 200 people - over three-quarters of whom have joined in the last two years. HR manager Sandy Whitehead has loved every minute of it

In one of her staff newsletters, Sandy Whitehead refers to herself as HR manager of "the best place in the world to work", a claim that, coming from most organisations, would inspire scepticism at best and nausea at worst. But Whitehead - who is responsible for 220 keeping, operations and customer service staff at the Australia Zoo site, compared to around 50 when she started in November 2001 - tells HCA she really means it.

Steve Irwin is no ordinary boss, she says. "There's just a special feeling here that [makes you] you want to be here," she explains. "It's very exciting. We get to experience a lot of things that people may not ever experience," she says.

Like herding kangaroos, for example, one of Whitehead's preferred jobs. The global success of the Steve Irwin brand means something is always happening on-site. Irwin's media company, The Best Picture Show Company has produced more than 100 Crocodile Hunter and Croc Files TV shows for a global television audience of 200 million viewers in 35 countries. There's also been a feature movie with MGM and work with children's entertainers the Wiggles. "We have a cameraperson here every day from Steve's media company," says Whitehead, "and he's constantly filming, capturing moments around the zoo. It's as though we all come to Little Beerwah [the town in the north of Queensland where the zoo is situated] to work and we're almost on a filmset every day." Local support for the zoo is immense. It recently won a 'what's the best tourist attraction on the Sunshine Coast?' poll on local radio by a landslide.

The zoo's growth rate in terms of the number of people it employs was 78.3% for the financial year 2001 to 2002. Even with SARS, the Iraq conflict, ongoing war on terror and the Bali bombings, this figure only fell to 39.9% for financial year 2002 to 2003. "Visitor numbers are down in Australia and other theme parks haven't been going well at all," says Whitehead. "We're still hitting really terrific growth rates." With 650,000 guests last year, it's possible the zoo could have one million this year. Forty-three percent come from overseas, due to Irwin's immense popularity abroad (he travels with bodyguards in the US).

Star quality doesn't just pull punters: it also attracts staff. Hundreds contact Whitehead each month looking to work at Australia Zoo. For non-specialist roles, she uses an external recruitment company to hold a database of applicants, screened for suitability. More specialist roles are recruited in-house.

Being involved with what Whitehead calls the "Steve Irwin rollercoaster" guarantees a certain quality of culture, but it also requires a certain type of person: someone who is happy with change and doesn't expect a great deal of formality. "A lot of it comes down to the recruiting practices that we have, the induction practices and then the processes that happen in the zoo daily," says Whitehead. Recruitment is focused on behavioural rather than technical questioning.

Induction involves a presentation about the zoo's history, culture and organisational structure at the company's conference centre. "People are always really excited and [say] 'can we go and see everything now?'" says Whitehead. "We have to hold them back and get all their payroll paperwork done." It then takes a few hours, she says, to give a detailed, personalised tour of the zoo and introductions to key staff: a considerable investment of time given the numbers of new faces that have come onboard. It is meant to feel "as though you were bringing them into your own family".

It may sound too corny to be true but this is the way Whitehead says she runs her department. "It's almost as though it has its own little community," she says. "A lot of the staff live with each other. When we started, there was 20 or 30 staff together; it was very much a family and they would sit down and watch videos at night about animals or whatever. Now that we're a lot bigger, we can't do that sort of thing but there are quite a few staff married to each other; we may recruit one member of the family and then recruit the other partner. It's very pro-family." One staff couple even got married on-site.

Irwin touched on his belief in family values in a recent interview with Andrew Denton on the ABC's Enough Rope programme, saying it was inspired by a bout of severe depression following his mother's death in a car crash. Indeed, Irwin's businesses are family-owned and run by him and his wife Terri. Even their three-year-old daughter Bindi appears regularly on her father's television shows and has her own clothing label named after her, sold through Irwin's retail sites. Irwin refers to Australia Zoo director, Wes Mannion, as his "best mate" and has known Best Picture Show Company boss John Stainton, his manager, for years.

But for all the family feel of the business, Whitehead says it was initially a bit strange for Irwin to have a "human" resource person on board, his focus being so sharply on animals. Mannion had to fight to "get somebody in to look after the humans". Irwin - a man who will happily pose with his head inside a crocodile's jaw - admitted on Enough Rope to being frightened by human behaviour. Being bitten by snakes was fine but the "people factor does actually scare the living daylights out of me," he said.

It was hard for Irwin to get his head around the HR function, says Whitehead, but he was very curious in introductory talks about how she operated. Whitehead - who trained and worked as a PE teacher before going into HR and recruitment - says the two hit it off when Irwin started drawing parallels between her approach to people and his own attitude to animals. Both understood the importance of maintaining eye contact, she jokes.

Irwin is not someone who, as Whitehead puts it, "has all the pieces of paper". His parents bought the piece of land that is today Australia Zoo in 1970, running a reptile and marsupial (the passions of Irwin's father and mother respectively) rehabilitation farm. Irwin learned to catch crocodiles from an early age and took over management of the farm in 1991. He shot to fame in 1992, when Stainton captured his work on the Queensland government's rogue crocodile relocation programme in the first Crocodile Hunter series.

"He's really learnt hands on," says Whitehead, "and he wanted to know that I was going to be down to earth as well ... that I wasn't a theoretical person that was going to be doing all these psychological tests that don't mean anything to him." She maintains that it is a very hands-on place to work. On her arrival, Whitehead says there was only a handful of zoo staff with tertiary qualifications. "Now, we've brought in a few more specialists," she says. Recently, this has included hiring a graphic artist and designer to work across the business, and a vet.

The "professionalisation" of the business is just one of Whitehead's challenges. She says it is undergoing a dramatic shift, whereby plans, procedures and specifications must be re-written at the same time as the company is trying to cope with major change-management issues. Therefore, the HR department has an important internal communications role to play. It has been charged with detailing and communicating business policies and procedures throughout the company - many of which had never been formalised previously. "Before, not much had really been written on paper," she says.

"We had a group of people who were all doing lots of different jobs," she explains. "There was a staff member in the shop cleaning the toilets; someone in the office who whenever the phone rang would jump in the bus and go out to the rail station [to pick people up]." She specialised the departments, assisting each of them to develop and communicate their vision, objectives and strategy and formalise them in their procedure manuals.

Health and safety procedure is also critical at a workplace where the risks are many. "It's something we have to constantly work on," she says, and the formalisation of policy and procedure - especially as there is no precedent for much of the work undertaken at the zoo - has been vital to ensuring glowing reports from the health and safety inspectors. "When you're so practical and hands-on, you actually are really safe because you have to be," she says. "We've set the benchmark for a lot of that ... in relation to crocodiles, koalas ... we're leading the way."

Whitehead has also introduced random drug-and-alcohol testing. "It's our obligation to provide a safe workplace and it's the staff's obligation to come to work fit for work," she says. The policy is detailed at recruitment stage and has largely been popular with staff - who received an education programme so they knew what was going on, why and how it would work, before it was introduced. This is what made the difference in getting buy-in for the programme. "I can tell you now it's hugely successful," says Whitehead. "The first few times it was done, there were a few people caught out. Now, there hasn't been someone caught for a while."

It's bigger than just the obvious danger of allowing anyone to be drunk or stoned and in charge of a crocodile, she says. The zoo has thousands of people on-site at a time, with staff responsible for the welfare of large crowds. There are also bus drivers and leaf cutters - people who climb eucalypts to collect food for the koalas - whose safety is paramount. The handful of sackings Whitehead has had to make in her time has largely been concerned with safety issues too.

As might be expected, Irwin is not the kind of boss who insists on formal procedure when it comes to staff, so Whitehead has tried to keep things as face to face as possible. She has also tried to continue the Irwins' habit of saying thank you to staff as often as possible. "There's always a lot of feedback around the customer-satisfaction surveys that we run ... and we'll give the staff copies of letters that come in about them because a lot of people write in about our staff and name them." She's also introduced a 'Staff person of the month' award, which she received herself (along with a free holiday to Disneyland in the US) in Christmas 2002.

The rate of growth at Australia Zoo has meant it has been impossible to decipher any seasonality. "What we're finding is that good people that we've put on as casuals to cope with demand have been converted over to full time within three to six months," Whitehead says. She is always hiring new faces to cope with growing demand, despite a relatively low turnover rate (even though the zoo pays non-specialist staff no better than anyone else on the Queensland Tourism Award). The family value of commitment comes into play here, she says. "You'll find that loyalty from Steve and Terri ... they do reward the people who will work with them."

Not everyone has liked the speed of change. Whitehead admits some of the original staff have moved on because they preferred the way things were when it was a smaller operation and don't like what they're seeing as Irwin's fame and the company grows. But it's too late to stop it now, and a A$40m scheme to develop a 251-hectare site encompassing a zoological garden of native Australian flora and fauna, as well as significant species from elsewhere in the world, is already underway. "It's a roller coaster," says Whitehead. "You're on it, you're scared but you're happy; sometimes you want to get off because it's going too fast, but as soon as you're off you want to get back on."

http://www.hcamag.com/hca_aus/detail_article.cfm?articleID=260

To honor Steve on his birthday, and for all that he has done...Let's go to the Austalia Zoo.

http://www.australiazoo.com.au/

I have just spent some time admiring the croc's and thinking of Steve.

I have said this several times today, and felt it as well ... Steve is smiling!

I agree with you Catbus, I felt Steve was laughing and smiling tonight as I was walking home. It was a weird feeling, something made me look up at the sky and I am sure that I felt Steve smiling back down.

I think we experienced something wonderful! Alison, I was completely overwhelmed a couple of hours ago. I was listening to Radio Irwin and sitting here at work all alone in the office... and I felt a huge smile (like it was locked in) come over my face... but yet at the same time... my eyes filled with tears...but not sad tears. I felt a wonderful warmth about me. And all along, my smile never left my face. I truly felt something extraordinary. It was a wonderful feeling.

I absolutely believe that Steve is so amazed at what is happening here on planet Earth. He is such a humbled person... but I know he is so proud of what the world is doing... he really knows that we have heard his message and we will carry on. I feel his smile too!

I love watching the tour the Zoo with Steve Video. When I watch his shows,for the time that he is on the screen, thoughts of his not being with us any longer disappear. His spirit and zest for life remains here with us to shine forever.

http://www.australiazoo.com/crikey/videos/

It was the perfect show to be be shown tonight! It was Crocodile Hunter Diaries "Live at the Australia Zoo"! It was filmed in 2004 and was wonderful! Animal Planet actually did Live TV at the Zoo! and it was with snakes, lizards, and crocs! I laughed, I smiled, and I thought the same thing that you just said Shanon. I, too watched this, and really felt that he is there, he will always be there. I am sure everyone at the Zoo, staff and visitors, can sense his presence and spirit. Steve is the Zoo... the Zoo is Steve... that is forever.

Hello my friends, Alison, cat & shanon, reading your words this morning has made me smile, I was sad yesterday morning, thinking of Terri and the kids, and what they used to do for Steve on his birthday, I imagine it was always a day of fun for them all, but by the end of the day I had a big smile every time I thought of Steve, he was an amazing man and his warmth and happiness is in us all..
I had a dream last night, Steve gave me a hug, I don't quite know what to make of it cos when I woke up it felt so real, as if I was asleep but also awake..
Spending time here yesterday with my Steve family was a good thing as we were all helping each other through a difficult day, Thankyou my friends..


Here is a link to some brilliant news for Australia Zoo..

Irwin's Zoo does land deal..

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21274203-1702,00.html

Yes Steve is smiling..

CRIKEY CROCS RULE!!

Australia Zoo named Best Tourism Retailer..

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21278499-1702,00.html

CRIKEY CROCS RULE!!

Good morning my friends.
We all honored an continue to honor Steve in one of the best ways possible, his way..."Smiles" Everytime we view a picture, hear his voice or think of him. This man was the all time endorsement for one of the best things in life, smiling. How often do you remember seeing Steve when he wasn't smiling that big sincere, I love the world smile? He would want us to settle for nothing less when thinking of him. Thank you all for being here to share thoughts with. ILOVESTEVE thank you for the articles, great news!

quote:

Originally posted by ILOVESTEVE:
I had a dream last night, Steve gave me a hug, I don't quite know what to make of it cos when I woke up it felt so real, as if I was asleep but also awake..
Spending time here yesterday with my Steve family was a good thing as we were all helping each other through a difficult day, Thankyou my friends..

Yes Steve is smiling..

CRIKEY CROCS RULE!!

ILoveSteve, thank you for sharing this. I believe you experienced something very much the same as I did. Obviously,it was something very vivid, an expereience hard to explain. I can say that it took me by surprise and left me feeling so content. I do not want to try to interpret or explain...because I know and understand it in my heart.

I am so glad that we are all here together. Yesterday was a day to celebrate Steve and say thank you for all that he has done, for all that he is, and for all that he will continue to be! What a gift he has given the world!

Good evening cat, I hope your day is going well.
I put my dream down to the fact that Steve was on my mind alot yesterday, but secretly I believe it was Steves way of saying he is still with us and everything will be ok, everybody needs a hug from time to time, and even if it was only a dream it meant the world to me and made me smile..

I hope this finds you well, are you boogieing to radio Irwin, I had a lovely mental picture of you yesterday.. Take care..

CRIKEY CROCS RULE!!