3.1 Workforce Planning
The Chief Minister’s Statement of Ambition recognises that an effective public service must ’attract and retain the talented people that can help make our city great.’ The ACTPS workforce is continuing to be shaped and supported through a range of whole of government workforce strategies.
A modern work environment
The ACT Government is committed to providing contemporary and innovative work environments that support staff to deliver services to the Government and the broader community.
Activity Based Work (ABW) has been endorsed as the presumptive model for the refurbishment of existing office accommodation across the ACTPS. This decision has also informed the design of the Dickson and Civic office buildings, which are expected to be occupied by the ACTPS in 2020 and will accommodate 3,000 employees across both buildings.
Currently, over 800 ACTPS employees are working flexibly in ABW-designed office environments at a number of locations. Lessons learned from each roll-out of ABW environments have been applied to the design of subsequent office fit outs. Collaboration with the unions has occurred. Significant knowledge and experience has been established to inform the change program that will assist to transition staff into the Civic and Dickson office blocks.
Workforce Transformation Program
A cross-Service working group of Human Resource Directors has supported the development of people and workplace culture across the ACTPS by focussing on the transition of staff to the new Government Office Blocks.
Two important outcomes were achieved in 2018-19: the development and launch of a package of team resources called Culture Ready Conversation Starters and a ‘Train the Trainer’ program for HR practitioners focused on the emotional and interpersonal aspects of organisational change called the Dynamics of Change Program.
A new intranet portal was also developed and released during the reporting year. The Workforce Transformation Portal is a whole of government intranet platform for staff moving to the Dickson and Civic Office blocks.
To further support workforce transformation, additional resources and tools will be developed in 2019-20 for people managers and staff. These will focus on staff in ABW environments.
Culture Ready Conversation Starter Resources
Culture Ready Conversation Starter Resources assist managers and teams to build positive team cultures through regular, good quality communication and engagement with each other. The resource topics include: collaboration and communication; change management; team innovation and strategic thinking. The resource also provides guidance for managers on how to manage team conversations.
The resources are available on the Workforce Transformation Portal.
Work will continue in 2019-20 to monitor the frequency with which the resources are accessed, and any feedback received about them.
Dynamics of Change
In 2018, Human Resource Directors identified further opportunities to support Workforce Transformation activities by sharing the Dynamics of Change Program. The Program is a best practice training program for managers and staff, developed by Canberra Health Services (CHS).
The program supports managers to navigate emotional or interpersonal elements of organisational change and effectively lead teams through transitions. Phase one of the program is a manager workshop with a supporting manager guidance document, followed by an ongoing peer support network for managers. Phase two is a facilitated team workshop.
To create positive change processes across Directorates, CHS shared the program for use across directorates. A CHS facilitator delivered a program demonstration session and a series of dedicated Dynamics of Change ‘Train the Trainer’ sessions. Sixteen HR practitioners and managers participated in the demonstration of the program material and thirteen practitioners participated in dedicated Dynamics of Change ‘Train the Trainer’ sessions. These practitioners are currently involved in workforce transformation and change projects in their respective directorates.
University of Canberra Smart Work Study
In November 2018, researchers from the University of Canberra Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis commenced a study into ‘smart work’ practices in the ACTPS.
Smart work is a collection of working practices and employee attitudes that include alternative work arrangements such as part-time or home-based work; flexible working practices such as jobshare arrangements and contemporary working practices and office design such as ABW environments.
The University of Canberra research team have completed an extensive literature review and a series of face to face interviews with ACTPS personnel and expect to publish their research for peer review in 2019-20.
Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) Branch Out Pilot
The ACTPS has joined a collaborative cross-government working group run by the APSC on the secondment ‘Branch Out’ Pilot program.
The program aims to help participating organisations transform and advance their policy and business outcomes by strengthening cross-sector relationships and building capability through secondments. Work will continue on this program in 2019-20.
Whole of Government Training Panel
A new Whole of Government Training Panel commenced on 1 July 2018 which offered a larger choice of courses with additional providers. The new panel arrangement provides directorates and public sector bodies with access to a variety of suppliers who provide contemporary, future focussed and structured training.
Forty providers have formed part of the Training Panel. The new Panel offers the following training categories:
- Communication and Engagement – 19 providers;
- Computer Skills – 3 providers;
- Executive Development – 9 providers;
- Emergency Response and Fire Safety – 4 providers;
- First Aid – 8 providers;
- Inclusion – 6 providers;
- Management and Leadership – 20 providers;
- National Qualifications – 13 providers;
- Self-Development – 14 providers;
- Work Safety – 11 providers; and
- Working in Government – 12 providers.
Training in Executive Development, Emergency Response and Fire Safety and Inclusion were added as standalone sessions to the training categories for the first time.
During the reporting year, there were 1,696 attendees as part of the ACTPS Training Calendar. The most popular courses covered topics such as Essential Writing Skills, Introduction to Procurement, Job Applications and Interview skills, First Aid courses and Respect, Equity and Diversity.
ACTPS Graduate Strategy
The ACTPS Graduate Program is a program designed to recruit the graduates needed to build an agile, responsive and innovative public service and ensure the future provision of services to the Canberra community.
To support these aims, the Strategic Board has endorsed the development and implementation of a Graduate Strategy.
During the reporting year, an interim report into the ACTPS Graduate program was delivered. The ACTPS Graduate Strategy Interim Report looked at the evidence on the effectiveness of current ACTPS whole of government graduate talent management and provided a focus on opportunities for future improvements to the ACTPS Graduate Program. Primary data on existing graduate career development and cohort characteristics was gathered and analysed. Qualitative data about graduate workforce planning was obtained through an ACTPS Strategic Workforce Plan Survey. The survey generated useful feedback on the future business needs and current experiences of graduates and the ACTPS Graduate Program.
In June 2019, the ACTPS Graduate Strategy 2021-2026 was approved by Strategic Board. The Strategy identified improvements to the ACTPS Graduate Program in five areas:
- a renewed focus on attracting and retaining inclusion graduates and graduates from key professional groupings;
- communication and engagement with potential graduates on the breadth and impact of working in the ACTPS and promoting our organisation as a graduate employer of choice;
- shaping a tailored learning experience to support graduate learning in both technical and generalist ACTPS capability;
- establishment of an Executive Stream Sponsor role to better match graduate talent with business areas and workforce planning needs and graduate recruitment focus for the next five years; and
- measuring what matters and listening to the business, the data and graduates themselves to achieve continuous improvement.
The Strategy is currently being rolled out across the ACTPS. More information on the Graduate program is available in Section 2.1, Attraction and Retention