Valuing our employees

During the year our focus has been on developing a positive corporate culture where leadership is clear, communication is open and performance is rewarded.

During the year we developed strategies to build a 'community' within the Department, with common interests, needs and goals so that, regardless of location, staff feel part of the whole.

The magnitude of change over the last three years has impacted heavily on staff, and we understand that a significant challenge is the need to re-invigorate and re-engage staff. During the year our focus has been on developing a positive corporate culture where leadership is clear, communication is open and performance is rewarded.

These improvements sit within the leadership and people management categories of the Business Excellence Framework.

Employee Survey
An extensive survey of staff gathered perceptions and opinions on a range of issues relating to working for the Department.

The survey canvassed topics including job satisfaction, communication, leadership and values. Around 43 per cent of employees responded.

One key finding was that staff placed great importance upon delivering quality service to customers and also on integrity and trust among colleagues.

Four themes emerged as issues of concern to employees:

• Trust and relationships across teams and the organisation as a whole;
• Where we are going overall;
• Employee workload; and
• Staff development.

As a response to the results of the employee survey, the Department's Human Resources sub-committee endorsed a large number of initiatives aimed at organisational and staff development, including values enhancement, customer service training and the enhancement of the Performance Development Review Program.

Workforce Plan
An important achievement in 2003-04 has been the development of a Workforce Plan that allows us to shape our organisational culture and develop strategies to acquire and retain the best possible workforce. The plan contains 18 separate strategies. Key strategies introduced during the year include:

• Leadership and Executive Development - to build a cohesive leadership team by identifying leadership principles and behaviours, creating a shared vision and a consistent approach to leading the organisation. More than 120 of our current and future leaders attended Leadership Conferences in November 2003, and March and June 2004, which focused on raising awareness of the complexity and diversity of our business. The conferences will continue on a quarterly basis.
• Coaching skills workshops - to provide managers with the skills to foster honest and open relationships with staff, and to support the Performance Development Review process. Workshops for all managers were held between February and June 2004. Workshops to assist staff will be implemented later in 2004.
• Scholarship Program - to provide financial assistance to eligible employees to undertake an approved course of study resulting in the development of competencies that will help us to meet our business objectives. In 2003-04, scholarships to the value of $30,000 (including Fringe Benefits Tax) were awarded to 21 employees.
• Rewards and Recognition Program - to shape a positive corporate culture by providing an incentive that encourages staff to strive for high levels of performance and commitment, and to reward those staff who achieve it. The Employee Recognition and Award program was developed during the year to be launched later in 2004.
• Women in Leadership - to support our female employees and encourage them to use their skills and knowledge to contribute to the development of the Department for Planning and Infrastructure as an employer of choice.

A series of other initiatives that form the Workforce Plan will be implemented throughout 2004-05. These include:

• Training staff in customer service and relationship management;
• Expanding the Performance Development Review process through all levels of the organisation;
• Introducing an ongoing Corporate Health program;
• Developing on-line learning opportunities for staff;
• Introducing a Peer Support program; and
• Conducting exit interviews to determine the reasons for people choosing to leave the organisation and develop strategies to address any common themes that emerge.

Employee assistance
In 2003-04, Occupational Services Australia provided independent and confidential assistance. The service was used by 71 employees and/or their families (five per cent of employees), compared with 80 staff (six per cent) during 2002-03.

Equal employment opportunity outcomes
The Department’s equal employment opportunity plan, the Equity and Diversity Management Plan, was developed and endorsed during the year to ensure that:

• We meet our responsibilities in relation to equity and diversity targets set by Government, and in particular as they relate to:
  • women
  • indigenous Australians
  • people with disabilities
  • people from culturally diverse backgrounds
  • youth (aged under 25 years).
• The Department benefits from a diverse workforce that is representative of our customer base.
• We raise staff awareness of issues related to equity and diversity.

In 2003-04, we worked on refining existing strategies and developing new ones to ensure we met equity and diversity targets. These included:

• Holding a series of Leadership Forums and a Frontline Management Program - both include affirmative action strategies to encourage and support women and young people within the organisation and to contribute towards the achievement of equity indexes;
• Offering traineeships and a graduate program to help meet youth employment targets;
• Introducing a Women in Leadership initiative to support our female staff and encourage them to continue to use their skills and knowledge to contribute to the development of our Department as an employer of choice;
• Providing training to increase staff awareness of the needs of people with disabilities; and
• Participating in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Strategy (Public Sector Management Division), which is contributing towards equity targets for diversity.

Workplace culture and accountability is reflected in our organisational values, and we have ensured that our values underpin all of our human resource management strategies.

In December 2003, we introduced a new Human Resources Information Management System that will improve workplace equal employment opportunity data collection and facilitate better diversity reporting across the Department.