People strategies: planning and delivery
Organisational reviews
The department conducts
organisational reviews, as required, to ensure that workloads in all areas
are matched with the number
of staff required
to perform the work and that the classification levels or work value requirements of
individual jobs are appropriate to the work being conducted.
Recruitment of staff
The department advertised to fill
four ongoing vacancies during 2015–16 (compared with seven in 2014–15), of which one was filled by
an external applicant.
Retention of staff
Fourteen ongoing
and 17 non-ongoing staff left the department in 2015–16. The turnover rate was 9.8
per cent for ongoing staff (8.8 per cent in 2014–15). Appendix 2 includes
details of separations.
Exit interviews with staff leaving
the department continued to be conducted by senior executive service (SES) managers. Three such interviews were
conducted during the year.
Graduate placement program
The department, in conjunction with
the Department of the Senate, Department of
Parliamentary Services and the Parliamentary Budget Office, conducts
the annual Parliament of Australia Graduate Program. The program involves
three-month placements of people from the graduate programs of government agencies. It
allows the department to have the services of
enthusiastic new Australian recruits and enables participants to return to
their home departments with valuable experiences of parliamentary operations.
The program continued to draw a high
level of interest from individual graduates and a range of agencies. Seven graduates undertook three-month placements
in the department in 2015–16.
Feedback from graduates confirmed
that the program is highly successful and that the objectives of the placements were met.
Alumni
The department formed an alumni
association of former staff in 2008. On 30 June 2016, there were 206 members. The association issued two
newsletters during the year.
Some members of
the association assisted with the Parliament House Open Day on 19
September 2015.
On 8 October 2015, the annual
general meeting of the association was held, attended by 15 association members. At the meeting, two co-chairs were
elected and the membership of the alumni
board was increased by self-nomination of attendees. The board met once in
2015–16. A reception for members of
the association and staff was held on 27 November 2015.
Training and development
Table 10 shows the department’s
training and development expenditure as a percentage of expenditure on salaries
in 2014–15 and 2015–16. It also shows the average
number of person-days spent on training and the average
staffing level in both years.
The average number
of training days for staff remained at 3.1 days of
off-the-job training per person per year. The fluctuation in staff
training days generally reflects the stages of the parliamentary cycle.
Table
9 Expenditure on training and development programs, 2014–15 and 2015–16
| |
2014-15 |
2015-16 |
| Expenditure as percentage of annual payroll |
1.14% |
0.8% |
| Average training days per person |
3.1 |
3.1 |
| Average staffing level |
155.6 |
153 |
Table 11 compares the average
attendance of staff at training courses in 2014–15 and 2015–16. It also shows the average
staffing level and total number of training
days attended in 2015–16 for each
classification.
Table
10 Average
staff attendance at training courses,
2014–15 and 2015–16
| Classification |
Average staffing level |
Total number of training days attended |
Average number of training days attended |
| |
2015-16 |
2015-16 |
2014-15 |
2015-16 |
| Senior Executive Service |
5.9 |
16.3 |
3.9 |
2.8 |
| Executive Band 2 |
21.7 |
46.1 |
1.8 |
2.1 |
| Executive Band 1 |
39.9 |
84.9 |
2.1 |
2.1 |
| Parliamentary Service Level 6 |
26.2 |
62.8 |
2.7 |
2.4 |
| Parliamentary Service Level 5 |
6.0 |
12.4 |
3.4 |
2.1 |
| Parliamentary Service Level 4 |
28.7 |
89.6 |
4.3 |
3.1 |
| Parliamentary Service Level 3 |
9.6 |
9.3 |
2.2 |
1.0 |
| Parliamentary Service Level 2 |
15 |
9.3 |
0.8 |
2.6 |
| Not specified |
120 |
– |
– |
– |
| Totals |
153 |
480.6 |
3.1 |
3.1 |
Leadership development
The department has invested in leadership
development with a range of external providers for over a decade and has trend data from staff surveys
on leadership for the entire period. In 2015–16 staff participated
in leadership programs designed for specific parliamentary service (PS) levels.
Programs were conducted for Executive Band 1, Parliamentary Service Level 6 and Parliamentary Service Level 4 and 5 staff.
Workplace diversity
The workplace diversity program
aligns the department’s workplace diversity strategies and actions with the Parliamentary Service Values.
New
staff continued to receive training,
as soon as practicable after their commencement, in the prevention of
discrimination, bullying and harassment.
Knowledge management
The Knowledge Management Steering
Committee met three times during 2015–16. The
committee comprised staff from all areas of the department and was
chaired by the Clerk Assistant (Table),
supported by the Parliamentary and Business Information Services Office. The
committee continued to oversee the
department’s commitment to knowledge management processes.
The committee monitored the
department’s ICT activities, including key business systems and web portals, and the department’s progress on the National Archives
of Australia Digital
Continuity 2020 Policy. In
addition, the committee commenced work to implement a new project management framework for the department.
Studybank
Thirteen staff participated in the
department’s Studybank program during the year (compared with 12 staff in 2014–15). Collectively, they received financial
assistance of $25,389
(compared with
$13,969
in 2015), along with a total of 70.1 days of study leave on full pay.
Performance assessment
All eligible staff participated in
the annual work performance assessment cycle, which was completed on 31 October 2015. The cycle consists of setting
individual work objectives, conducting
performance assessments, preparing individual development plans and providing
feedback to supervisors. The
individual development plans are compiled and the development requirements of staff are reviewed. These plans and
requirements form the basis for the training program for the next calendar year.
Employment framework
The Department of the
House of Representatives Enterprise Agreement 2012–2015 covers all staff
except SES. The department’s SES staff are covered by determinations
made under section 24(1) of the
Parliamentary Service Act.
In April 2015 the notice of employee
representational rights was issued to staff, commencing the bargaining process for a new enterprise agreement.
Staff
salary scales under the agreement are summarised in Table 12.
Table 11 Salary
scales of staff covered
by the 2012–2015 enterprise agreement, at 1 December 2014
| Classification |
Salary scale ($) |
| Executive Band 2 |
132,608-140,509 |
| Executive Band 1 |
102,457-114,286 |
| Parliamentary Service Level 6 |
82,570-93,709 |
| Parliamentary Service Level 5 |
76,320-80,758 |
| Parliamentary Service Level 4 |
67,474-73,001 |
| Parliamentary Service Level 3 |
61,044-65,576 |
| Parliamentary Service Level 2 |
54,250-59,235 |
| Parliamentary Service Level 1 |
47,955-52,473 |
Salaries expenditure
In 2015 departmental salaries
and allowances totalled
$19.208 million ($18.04
million in 2014–15).
Work health and safety
The department’s aim under the
health and safety management arrangements is to create and maintain a safe and healthy working environment. During
2015–16 work was undertaken on
producing a work health and safety management
system.
Workstation assessments are
conducted for staff on request. These include education on the correct set-up of workstations—for
example, the height of the desk at both sitting and standing positions. Workstation information is provided in
orientation sessions for new staff.
In October 2015 the Presiding
Officers wrote to the heads of the parliamentary departments requesting that a working
group be established to review:
·
the approach taken by each parliamentary department to work
health and safety issues
·
whether each agency’s approach is at best practice levels
·
any benefits to be gained from a joint consideration of work,
health and safety issues at parliament house.
A report on these matters was
provided through the Parliamentary Administration Advisory Group to the
parliamentary departmental heads confirming the appropriateness of the
approaches of each department to work health and safety. The working group also
provided a whole of parliament work, health and safety risk assessment and has
made recommendations to further support Work Health and Safety practices across the parliament.
The working group will continue to
meet quarterly to ensure its recommendations are implemented.
The
department’s Comcare premium
rate for 2015–16
was 0.45 per cent of payroll, a decrease from the 2014–15 rate of 0.6 per cent.
During the year, no dangerous
occurrences required notification under section 37 of the Work
Health and Safety Act 2011, no investigations were carried out, and
no directions or notices were
received by the department under section 191 of the Act.
No
compensation claims were received from staff in 2015–16.
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