ACT Public Service Workforce 2016-17

Introduction

The Sector workforce delivers a wide range of services to the ACT community, including health, education, planning and urban renewal, transport, law enforcement and maintenance of infrastructure.

At June 2017 the Sector consisted of seven ACTPS directorates and eight public sector bodies.

ACT Public Service Directorates

  • Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate;
  • Community Services Directorate;
  • Education Directorate;
  • Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate;
  • Health Directorate;
  • Justice and Community Safety Directorate; and
  • Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate.

ACT Public Sector Bodies

  • ACT Audit Office;
  • ACT Electoral Commission;
  • ACT Teacher Quality Institute1;
  • Calvary Health Care ACT;
  • Canberra Institute of Technology;
  • Cultural Facilities Corporation;
  • Director of Public Prosecutions2; and
  • Office of Legislative Assembly.

Approximately ninety per cent of the Sector’s workforce is found within the seven directorates. The remaining ten per cent fall within public sector bodies which operate independently of the ACTPS. Because of this, information contained in the ACT Public Service Workforce 2016-17 section relates to the ACTPS directorates only. Information relating to the public sector bodies is contained within the section ‘ACT Public Sector Bodies 2016-17’.

2017 Agency Survey

Background, Aims and Objectives

Section P.1 of the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Notice 2017 (the Annual Report Directions) requires that the Head of Service produce a report on culture and behaviour within the Sector workforce. The Agency Survey is the method by which information on culture and behaviour is collected from ACTPS directorates and public sector bodies.

The aims of the Agency Survey is to collect data on the outcomes delivered under the RED Framework and identify how the values under the ACTPS Code of Conduct are being embedded into workplace culture3. These objectives are met through collecting and analysing information via the Agency Survey on the following topics:

  • learning and development activities provided by directorates and public sector bodies;
  • HR strategies employed by directorates and public sector bodies (i.e. Attraction and Retention Incentives (ARins), workforce planning, managing performance);
  • disciplinary action and preventing bullying and harassment;
  • the tools and measures used by directorates and public sector bodies to implement the RED Framework and Employment Strategies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and People with Disability; and
  • risk and fraud strategies used by directorates and public sector bodies.

Methodology

The ACT Government conducted the 2017 Agency Survey in-house through the WCGD within the CMTEDD.

This is the second consecutive year that an online survey provider was not used as the platform to conduct the Agency Survey. In 2015 Qualtrics, LLC (Qualtrics) was used to collect information via an online survey instrument survey; Insightrix Pty. Ltd. (Insightrix) conducted the survey from 2014 to 2012; and prior to 2012 information was gathered using a variety of communication methods.

The data was collected from 27 June to 21 July 2017. A writable PDF instrument was sent to contacts at each participating directorate and public sector body. Information was then gathered by each directorate and public sector body, and was collated and analysed by WCGD. All seven ACTPS directorates and eight public sector bodies completed the Agency Survey.

Development of the Survey Instrument

To achieve the research objectives, WCGD, in collaboration with HR Directors, conducted a review of the survey questions and design in March 2016. The Agency Survey was then restructured to reflect the main strategic objectives for ACTPS people planning: an agile, innovative, responsive and engaged workforce.

The 2017 Agency Survey provided respondents with the opportunity to document any actions or initiatives that their directorate or public sector body had undertaken during the reporting period. This allowed directorates and public sector bodies to support their data with contextual information and commentary.

The survey instrument, a writable PDF, was prepared by WCGD and emailed to directorates and public sector bodies to enable them to participate at their convenience. Upon completion of the survey, directorates and public sector bodies were required to gain approval from their delegate prior to submitting their responses to WCGD.

A full copy of the 2017 Agency Survey can be found at Appendix 4.

Reporting Notes

  • Questions that have multiple response options will result in percentages that could add up to more than 100 per cent. In the case of open-ended questions, respondents often provide more than one reason for their response and in these cases, percentages will add up to more than 100 per cent.
  • Data has been rounded to one decimal place and as such, percentages may not add up to exactly 100 per cent on certain graphs.
  • Where possible, comparisons are made within this report between 2016-17 results, 2015-16 results and those results collected by Qualtrics for the 2014-15 reporting period, and Insightrix for the 2013-14 reporting period.

The ACT Public Service Workforce Profile

Background, Aims and Objectives

Section P.3 of the Directions requires that directorates and public sector bodies produce a Workforce Profile report, specifically including information on ARins, Special Employment Arrangements (SEAs) and Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs). Further, Section P.3 requires the State of the Service include information at a whole of government level on Full Time Equivalent (FTE), headcount and demographics.

The Workforce Profile information is intended to provide a holistic overview of the Sector and detailed analysis of ACTPS workforce data. It includes data, analysis and commentary on employment and key demographics, including part time employment, employment growth, separation rates and diversity. Further, Workforce Profile data provides a historical summary of indicators based on the ACTPS structure, including high-level time series information over the past five years. This allows for time series comparison and incorporates retrospective updates that help to remove time lag in human resources data processing.

Workforce statistics contained within the Workforce Profile data are based on information from the ACTPS payroll system and information provided by public sector bodies as at the final pay of June 2017 (‘June 2017’). Indicators apply to the period over the 2016-17 financial year.

Reporting Notes

  • Shared Services, a division of CMTEDD, administers all but one per cent of staff payroll across ACTPS directorates and provides the data for the Workforce Profile. The Workforce Profile provides data for the directorates and entities that are administered through Shared Services.
  • For the purposes of reporting:
    • ACT Insurance Authority,  Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission, Land Development Agency and Long Service Leave Authority are reported on separately to CMTEDD (in most instances);
    • while a public sector body, ACT Teacher Quality Institute is in reported in the Workforce Profile data of the ACTPS;
    • ACTION is included in the reporting of TCCS;
    • while a public sector body, Director of Public Prosecutions is included in the Workforce Profile data of JACS; and
    • the ACT Audit Office, ACT Electoral Commission, Calvary Health Care ACT, CIT, Cultural Facilities Corporation and Office of Legislative Assembly are reported on as public sector bodies and their data is included in the section ‘ACT Public Sector 2016-17’.
  • Workforce indicators included in the Workforce Profile are based on paid staff and exclude employees on leave without pay, board members and contractors.
  • The data reported in this section, and the ACT Public Sector 2016-17 section (including the appendices) excludes contractors and employees of Territory Owned Corporations.
  • These are point in time indicators and do not adjust for seasonal fluctuation, such as demand for casual teachers and back pay. Directorates and employee cohorts with small numbers are susceptible to fluctuation.
  • Additional data can be found in Appendix 2, including a detailed breakdown of each directorate’s FTE, time to hire statistics and further information on the recruitment and higher duties actions of the ACTPS.
  • Data has been rounded to 1 decimal place and as such, percentages may not add up to exactly 100 per cent on certain tables/graphs.

ACT Public Service Workforce Snapshot June 2017

Infographic spread left page (Left to right) ACT Government logo, vertical. Purple Icon of light rail tram passing between two trees, text reads: Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate. Line of 5 purple icons, head and shoulders sitting alongside a lock in a circle, a hand holding two monetary notes, scale, leaf, suitcase. Text above reads: Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate. Text below reads: ACT Insurance Authority, Gambling and Racing Commission, Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission, Land Development Agency, and Long Service Leave Authority. Purple icon of mortar board graduation cap, text above reads: Education Directorate. Purple icon of two hands shaking, adjacent text reads: Community Services Directorate. Purple icon of police cap, adjacent text read Justice and Community Safety Directorate. Purple icon of love heart with shouted heart beat signal, text adjacent reads: Health Directorate. Purple icon of two apartment buildings next to two wind farm turbines, adjacent text reads: Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate.  Light pink birthday card featuring purple cake with four candles. Text reads ‘average age 42.5’ across top of the card. Pink silhouette of the Australian Capital Territory, text adjacent reads: The ACT Public Service represents 10.1% of the ACT labour force. Pink silhouette of an hour glass with text ‘average length of service 8.8 years’ written across top and bottom. Right page (Left to right): Simple info graphic featuring head and shoulder silhouettes. The ACTPS headcount total equals twenty one thousand, seven hundred and ninety one, up five hundred and thirty one from last year. This consists of sixteen thousand, five hundred and thirty four permeant employees, up two hundred and thirty three from last year. Three thousand, seven hundred and eighty five temporary employees, up two hundred and seventeen from last year, and one thousand, four hundred and seventy two casual employees, up eighty one from last year. Simple vertical bar graph. The ACTPS headcount by age group consists of 9% of employees 60 or over, 22% of employees between the age of 50 and 59, 25.8% of employees between the age of 40 and 49, 26.1% of employees between the age of 30 and 39, and 17.1% of employees aged 29 or under. Simple bar graph representing full time equivalent (FTE) employees broken down by Permeant, Temporary and Casual. The ACTPS consists of nineteen thousand, two hundred and seventy six point seven FTE employees, up three hundred and seventy two point two form last year or 2%. This consists of fifteen thousand, one hundred and eighty two point five permanent employees up one hundred and seventy eighty point three from last year or 1.2%, three thousand four hundred and three point six temporary staff up one hundred and seventy one point four staff from last year or 5.3%, and six hundred and ninety point six casual staff up twenty two point six from last year or 1.3%. Four petal icons shaped like a clover above the text ‘Full Time Equivalent FTE, Headcount HC’. Four icons inside petals in a vertical line from top to bottom a female figure, two over lapping speech bubbles, the universal symbol for disability, and a head an should figure. The text next to each icon reads: Female, FTE equals twelve thousand one hundred and fifty three point three or 63% of the ACTPS FTE, HC equals fourteen thousand one hundred and thirty nine or 64% of the ACTPS. The next reads: Culturally and linguistically divers, FTE equals three thousand five hundred eighty two or 18.6% of the ACTPS FTE, HC equals three thousand nine hundred and seventy or 18.2% percent of the ACTPS. The next reads: People with disability, FTE equals four hundred and sixty four point four or 2.4% of the ACTPS FTE, HC equals five hundred twenty one or 2.3% of the ACTPS.  The final row read: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, FTE equals three hundred and ten point one or 1.6% of the ACTPS FTE, HC equals three hundred and fifty or 1.6% of the ACTPS.


1 For the purposes of reporting in this year’s State of the Service Report, ACT Teacher Quality Institute is included in the workforce profile data of the ACT Public Service.
2 For the purposes of reporting in the ACT Public Service Workforce 2015-16 section, Director of Public Prosecutions is included in the workforce profile data of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate.
3 From the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Notice 2017, (the Annual Report Directions) Section P.1 Culture and Behaviour.