National Transport Insurance (NTI) has been named “best of the best” in the Aon Hewitt Best Employers awards.

The insurer announced the honour at its Sydney office last week, earning a standing ovation from staff.

“We announced it at a videoconference and they were just absolutely delighted,” CEO Tony Clark told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“If our people are engaged, that follows through to customer service levels and also the financial performance of the company… [which is] the highest it’s ever been.”

Winners of the Aon Hewitt awards were announced in Sydney last week.

The scheme assesses data from 120 organisations and more than 70,000 employees, with 16 companies named best employers in terms of employee engagement and “people practices”.

Mr Clark says NTI has strong staff engagement because it creates many career options, whether in technical areas or leadership.

“We also invest a lot in development plans and career paths for our people.”

The company, which is jointly owned by Vero and CGU, funds education including MBAs and courses with the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance.

“Education is important… people think when you do that you might lose staff, but if you don’t do that the company won’t perform as well,” Mr Clark said. “We are prepared to make that investment and take that risk.”

Aon Hewitt Employee Engagement Lead Stephen Hickey says NTI engages staff and is creative with career development options.