Workforce Management Plan

Transcription

1 Workforce Management Plan Adopted on Wednesday 19 June 2013

2

3 Contents Message from the General Manager 5 city Plan: Cascade of Plans 6 our Vision, Mission and Community Outcomes 7 Introduction 8 labour Market Considerations 9 council s Staff Profile Primary Human Resource Strategies and Themes 13 our Future Workforce 14 on the Horizon 15 The Workforce Management Plan can be accessed on Council s website at Further information or feedback on the Plan can be made via to rcc@rockdale.nsw.gov.au Alternatively, comments can be made in writing to: City Plan , PO Box 21 Rockdale NSW 2216

4

5 Message FROM THE GENERAL MANAGER The primary focus of the Workforce Management Plan is to ensure that Council achieves its vision and goals through its most valuable resource, our people. For through their knowledge, skills, motivation and ongoing development Council will be able to meet its goals and the challenges that it will face over the period of the plan and beyond. The plan highlights Council s priorities for the coming four years, they being the strengthening Council s leadership capability and management skills, work/life balance initiatives, youth and aged employment, attraction and retention, customer service, work health & safety, equity and diversity which are all focusing on our ultimate goal of achieving a great place to work and maintaining an employer of choice status. The Workforce Management Plan addresses these priorities and other issues that we foresee on the horizon as affecting Council in the longer term to deliver its services, such as an ageing workforce and the national occupational skills shortage. Our vision is to create a workplace that will attract, retain, and develop a highly skilled, motivated, and engaged workforce that strives to continuously improve the quality of our services to our customers, a workplace that respects and meets the needs of our staff, and supports our corporate goals. Meredith Wallace General Manager Workforce Management Plan

6 City Plan: Cascade of Plans The Rockdale City Plan reflects our community s aspirations. It is our long term plan that sets our long term objectives and the way Council will work to achieve them. A well-managed council knows what it wants to achieve, and knows when it is successful. The diagram of the City Plan Cascade of Plans shows how individual and team performance plans are developed to work towards achieving the aims of the City Plan. A Workforce Management Plan is developed to address the human resource requirements of the Delivery Program and achieve the community s priorities identified in the Community Strategic Plan. The actions to be delivered by each part of the Council are identified in the Operational and Service Plans, and individual and team performance plans are developed so that everyone is clear about the part they have to play in the overall achievements of the Council in delivering the community s priorities. CSP Delivery Program Operational Plan Service Plans Cascade of Plans 12 years 4 years Community Strategic Plan one year x 4 Individual and Team Performance Plans Council s Accountability Plan, Principal Activities 1-4 years Actions, Measures and Targets Service Levels, Standards, Performance Measures Individual and Team Performance 1-4 Years All performance measurement, organisational development and employee recognition will be linked to the Council s aims. Rockdale City Council 6

7 Our Vision, Mission & Community Outcomes Our Vision One Community, Many Cultures, Endless Opportunity. Our Mission To provide quality local government services that protect our environment, are respectful to our community s needs and are delivered in a financially, socially and environmentally responsible way. Our Values Pride in our City Be creative and innovative Champion effective new ideas Be proactive in finding solutions Responding to Community Needs Be enthusiastic when dealing with customers Be empathetic, polite and professional Respond within agreed timeframes Focus on solutions to meet customer needs Take ownership of a customer query by resolving it or following up its resolution personally Respect the customer s perspective Community Outcomes The Community Outcomes in the Rockdale City Plan are: Rockdale is a welcoming and creative City with active, healthy and safe communities. Rockdale is a City with a high quality natural and built environment and valued heritage in liveable neighbourhoods. A City that is easy to get around and has good links and connections to other parts of Sydney and beyond. Rockdale is a City with a thriving economy that provides jobs for local people and opportunities for life long learning. Rockdale is a City with engaged communities, effective leadership and access to decision making. Working Together Be open and accountable Keep up-to-date with industry and technology changes Challenge each others ideas and strip away barriers to innovation Be receptive to change and new ideas Workforce Management Plan

8 Introduction The 2013 to 2017 Workforce Management Plan builds on previous Human Resource Strategies that have positioned Council well in creating a desirable workplace. With the changing make up of the Australian workforce over the next 10 to 20 years due to the retiring Baby Boomer generation, the significantly smaller workforce following the Baby Boomer s retirement from the workforce and the occupational national skill shortages, organisations more than at any other time in Australian history require a strategic approach to ensure that they have the ability to attract the right people, with the right skills, to the right positions and retain them for as long as they can to meet the organisations strategic directions and objectives, in what will be a very competitive supply driven labour market. Workforce Planning The Process Strategic workforce planning is the alignment of an organisation s human capital with its corporate and business objectives. It analyses the current workforce to determine future workforce needs based on strategic objectives, by identifying the gap between the present and the future and implementing solutions to enable the organisation to achieve its mission, goals and objectives. Workforce planning seeks to ensure that an organisation has access to a workforce with the skills, knowledge and ability to undertake the activities required to achieve corporate objectives, taking into account such factors as the projected loss of knowledge through employee exits and the projected knowledge and skill requirements for maintaining and advancing the business. Knowledge and skill requirements may include technology, new roles, maintenance and security of key workforce intelligence, or new business demands. Why is it necessary? Workforce Planning is about forecasting future labour market needs, but is also useful for: Identifying staffing problems, Managing risk and minimising crisis containing workforce costs e.g., absenteeism, turnover Developing workforce skills, and Ensuring adequate service delivery in the future. a Department of Local Government requirement as part of the Integrated Planning & Reporting process. Rockdale City Council 8

9 Labour Market Considerations In order to accommodate the many changes to the labour market and more importantly skill shortages in key areas, there are a number of strategies that must be further explored and implemented into the Rockdale City Council workforce. These strategies include but are not limited to: the need for salaries and wages to remain competitive, greater use and consideration of flexible work practices and work / life balance, succession planning for critical positions, increased focus on Graduate and Apprenticeship recruitment, maximising job satisfaction and opportunities for skills development and the creation of a positive work environment and culture based on innovation, continuous improvement and engagement. In addition, Council will also consider the creation of leadership strategies to grow and manage talent in Council. This includes taking advantage of and securing our corporate knowledge and creating a sustainable and recognisable corporate brand which promotes Council within the local business communities and region, as an Employer of Choice. The success of any recruitment strategy depends upon the image in which the Council is viewed, in the local and wider business communities and region. One key method Council has pursued in the past, has been through partnerships with industry and educational facilities e.g. Universities, TAFE etc. Graduate recruitment (student positions) will be a key focus in order to boost the pool of applicants in the middle level of the organisation. Graduates create the talent pool that is hard to attract on the open market and as they become indoctrinated into the Rockdale way become a key source of talent. Council must also take advantage of applicant sources such as work experience and placement programs and other such services. In order to compete for talent in the open market and retain a sufficient level of skill at senior levels of the organisation, Council must ensure it has sufficient bench strength available to replace key people in middle and senior management and specialist positions. This grow and manage approach to leadership and talent management must include secondments, traineeships, graduate development opportunities and a more flexible approach to resource management through the use of project teams and taskforces. One successful way of approaching succession management is to integrate this into all other Human Resources processes. Council must identify high potential employees, identify potential departures, plan and implement opportunities for high potential employees, hold regular reviews and give feedback to staff and finally evaluate succession management systems. In addition to creating succession plans Council must continue to address the issues of knowledge management. It is imperative to effectively capture corporate knowledge and address the high risk imposed to possible loss of corporate memory through loss of employees. This is particularly evident (and critical) when organisations have a significant number of people close to retirement age. Some ways of minimising this risk is to adopt phased retirement with a focus on skills and knowledge transfer, mentoring, coaching and engagement of people post retirement. Rotation and movement within the organisation will ensure greater flexibility and breadth of knowledge and skills. Another strategy that must be further explored in order to retain staff is the extension of Council s flexible work arrangements. Some of the options that can be considered include greater access to part time or casual work, flexible work hours (i.e. start / finish times), working from home, paid maternity leave and carers leave, flexi time, flexible pay and benefits, retention of mature age workers for example through job rotation, less than full time hours employment arrangements and phased retirement. Council does support many flexible work practices however their availability must be further communicated to staff and supported by management and continue to use this option as a point of difference in the labour market. Workforce Management Plan

10 Council must also consider these in order to address and manage the current workforce challenges. These being, demographic change, aging population, shrinking workforce pool, the increasing competition for employees across a range of areas and skills shortages in a number of occupations trades, planning, engineers, and environmental health, increased employee expectations for flexible work arrangements and other benefits and in relation to our local community, their changes with respect to their demand for particular services. Rockdale As can be seen from the abovementioned, the key focus of the Workforce Management Plan is to deliver sustainable services to the Rockdale City Council communities. Council through its community engagement processes has developed a Community Strategic Plan and Asset Management Strategy that has assisted Council in developing its strategic directions to meet our community s expectations in regard to the type of services to be provided and the level of services expected. Rockdale City Council It is therefore important to be aware of the composition of our staff as at 1 July 2012 to determine where Council s short, medium and long term strategies should be focused on to ensure service delivery is maintained, changed or new services introduced, and to determine if the right skills exist within the workforce to deliver current and future services. 10

11 Council s Staff Profile 2012 As at 1 July 2012 Rockdale City Council had a staff head count of 396, which equates to a full time equivalent (FTE) staff number of 372. Staff Profile by Age and Gender Council s staff numbers by age and gender as of 1 July 2012 as represented in the graph below depicts an ageing workforce with 239 staff members of 45 years of age or older. This equates to 60% of Council s current staff numbers that will be of retirement age within 15 to 20 years. Workforce Characteristics AGE GROUPS MALE FEMALE AGE GROUP TOTALS Gender Totals Rockdale City Council Workforce by Age and Gender as at 1 July 2012 As at 1 July 2012, out of Council s 396 strong workforce, 115 staff or 29% of Council s workforce currently reside within the Rockdale City Council local government area Seventy eight (78) staff have recorded English as a secondary language as spoken within their families, being 20% of Council s workforce. Considering 318 staff did not elect a secondary language this figure is under representative of Council s culturally diverse workforce. No. of Staff Age Groups Male Female Workforce Management Plan

12 Staff Turnover During the 12 month period prior to 1 July 2012 Council had a total of 20 voluntary separations, which does not include staff who have separated from Council due to contract conclusion, retirement or termination reasons, which equates to a staff turnover rate of 5%. The 2010/11 and 2009/10 years had staff turnover rates of 2%, 2008/09 turnover rate was equally low (2%) and the 2007/09 year produced a staff turnover percentage of 3%. The 2010 and 2008 Staff Survey s suggest that this low staff turnover rate is due to the impact of previous human resources strategy focuses on work/life balance, equity, safety and leadership development taking effect as well as the impact the global financial crisis has had on the local employment markets. Secondary Language Spoken Other Than English Our performance as at 1 July 2012 Staff turnover is one of Council s key workforce metrics that Council utilises to determine its performance against its key human resources strategies. As at 1 July 2012 Council s key human resources areas were performing well as the following metrics indicate. This information is important to Council s ongoing monitoring of its performance to determine the effectiveness of its strategies and in the monitoring of trends. METRIC FORMULA PERFORMANCE Voluntary Staff Turnover Rate Total number of voluntary separations / headcount 5% (x 100) Unplanned Absence Rate Total unscheduled hours absent / total work hours 1.24% (x 100) Overtime Hours Rate All overtime hours worked / total work hours 0.54% including overtime (x 100) Annual Leave Liability rate Number of employees with A/L liability greater than 19.19% 8 weeks / headcount (x 100) Long Service Leave Liability rate Number of employees with LSL liability greater than 49.46% 13 weeks / headcount (x 100) No. of Workers Compensation Claims Number of Workers Compensation claims received 12 (2011/12) Cost of Workers Compensation Claims Actual cost of lost time injury claims $87, (2011/12) Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (2011/12) Number of Lost Time Injuries per 100 employees 0.03% Rockdale City Council Secondary language spoken Workforce that did not elect a secondary language 12

13 Primary Human Resource Strategies and Themes Building on our performance to date, the following initiatives will be primary strategies within the Human Resources Strategy over the following four years to assist the organisation and staff in achieving their goals and objectives. Employer of Choice standing within the Community and Industry Council s focus on employer of choice qualities and practices should see a continuation of lower staff turnover rates over the coming years. The need to differentiate the organisation from its workforce competitors has been planned and implemented through the past two Human Resources Strategic Plans, with state, national and international recognition being received for Council s Continuous Improvement, Work/ Life Balance, Customer Service, Quality, WH&S, Risk and Environmental management systems initiatives. Work/Life Balance Recent staff surveys have indicated overwhelmingly that its strategies in relation to work/life balance, safety, equity and leadership have improved the quality of working life at Rockdale City Council. Council s Work/Life balance initiatives are seen as a key point of differentiation and is a key strategy that underpins all of Council s human resources strategies, such as attraction, retention, safety and wellbeing, and our employer of choice focus. Our Ageing Workforce A focus on youth employment to address Council s ageing workforce should be given primary consideration over the next 5 to 10 years to prepare for the skills and workforce gaps that will impact on all employers with the retirement of the baby boomer generation. Greater emphasis on replacing separating employees with Graduates, Trainees and Apprentices will ensure the sustainability of Council s services in addressing the ageing workforce and trade skill shortage over the next 10 to 20 years. Similarly, Council s flexible work strategies focused at retaining older workers approaching or past their retirement age on either a full time, part time or casual basis, particularly in critical positions, will be continued. Succession planning strategies for critical positions should be developed by the appropriate supervisors recognising talented staff with potential to make the progression as a strategic business priority. As the potential workforce is anticipated to shrink with the retirement of the Baby Boomer generation over the next 5 to 10 years, Council will be looking to target segments of the workforce that have traditionally been under-engaged, such as women, and Council will be looking to increase the participation of women in its workforce, particularly at management level. Women currently make up 37% of Council s workforce. A High Performance Culture To ensure that staff have clarity of role and task and to cyrstalise their individual involvement in delivering Community Outcomes, Council will be strengthening the linkages between the City Planning documents and individual staff through the development and implementation of an online Performance, Planning and Review system. Continuous Improvement Council s commitment to continuous improvement through the utilisation of best practice systems and frameworks will be continue to be a major focus for Council in refining its systems, practices and processes. Council workplace systems are certified to the International Standards of ISO:9000, Quality Management Systems, ISO:14000, Environmental Management Systems, and AS/NZS:4801 Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems and Council utilises the Australian Business Excellence Framework to underpin its Excellence Program. The review of key Council systems and processes such as customer service and information technology will be undertaken with a view to improving our systems, processes, capability and staff skill sets. Workforce Management Plan

14 Rockdale City Council Leadership Development and Culture Council s focus has also been directed at developing the tiers of leadership throughout the organisation and creating and establishing a workplace free from harassment, bullying and discriminative behaviours. These focuses have delivered strong workplace cultures of safety, equity and continuous improvement which will continue to be fostered during the period of this plan. Work, Health & Safety A key theme in Council s Human Resources Strategy will be its continuing focus on work, health and safety. Council has in place best practice systems of work that will continue to be reviewed to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our staff, contractors and visitors and to ensure Council s compliance with its legislative obligations. Our Future Workforce Whilst Rockdale City Council s workforce looks to be in a good position to be able to meet its workforce needs for the short and medium term, Council will need to maintain its focus on improving its employment related policies and conditions to meet the challenging internal and external workforce market pressures of the future to ensure that it can continue to attract and retain a workforce that can deliver the array of services that is expected by our residents, customers and stakeholders. The key workplace and employment conditions that will need to be continually reviewed will be to: Maintain competitive wages and salaries. Maintain attractive work/life balance initiatives that will appeal to women and the different age workforce segments. deliver learning and development opportunities that provides skills based and career focused progression and learning. Maintain a workplace environment that is free of discriminatory behaviour and practices, where staff are treated with respect, fairness and understanding. Maintain a safe workplace environment through best practice safe systems of work. 14

15 On the Horizon Keeping an eye on the external environmental factors is also a key to the effective planning of our future workforce needs. Council will need to plan for the mooted industry reform currently being considered by the State Government in relation to amalgamations, mergers or cross region service delivery by Council s. During the four year span of the Workforce Management Plan it is anticipated that Council will be affected by these industry changes with the likelihood of it impacting in the third and fourth year with the likely commencement of the implementation of the reform. At the time of putting this Plan together it is too early to anticipate what the industry reform will look like and how it will affect Rockdale City Council. For example, the Southern Sydney Region of Council s, which Rockdale City Council is a member Council, is in favour of cross region cooperation in relation delivering some services regionally whilst maintaining current Council identities and boundaries. This proposal is being put to the State Government as an option and if successful will have an impact on how Council undertakes some of its services which will have an impact on Council s workforce. Workforce Management Plan

16 Important This document contains important information about Rockdale City Council. If you do not understand, please visit Council's Customer Service Centre at 2 Bryant Street Rockdale on Monday to Friday from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm. Council Staff will be happy to arrange interpreter services for you. You may also contact Telephone Interpreter Services in and ask them to ring Rockdale City Council on on your behalf. Rockdale City Council 2 Bryant Street Rockdale NSW 2216 T F rcc@rockdale.nsw.gov.au