SECTION 1 - Introduction THE NEED TO UNDERTAKE WORKFORCE PLANNING. In order to comply with legislative requirements in developing Council s Community Strategic Plan (CSP), a Workforce Management Plan is required to address the human resourcing requirements of the 4 year Delivery Program. establish Council s workforce requirements based on the commitments and objectives in the Community Strategic Plan with a particular focus on the four year Delivery Program; consider and contribute to the refining of the appropriate workforce structure to meet those commitments and objectives; promote workplace equity and diversity as a tool to benefit Council; and support and develop Council s employees. Irrespective of the legislative requirements, it is simply good practice to adopt a strategic approach to workforce planning to ensure Council has the right employees, with the right skills, to deliver the services required by the community, both now and in the future. Why is it important Workforce planning helps to ensure that the community s goals, as expressed in the Community Strategic Plan, will be met. The development of an effective workforce plan will enable Council to focus on the medium and longer-term goals and provide a framework for dealing with immediate challenges in a consistent way. THE SCOPE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLAN - LINKS TO OUR COMMUNITY STRATEGIC PLAN Scope of this Workforce Plan This Plan is closely linked, in focus, to assisting Council in meeting the requirements of its 2013-17 four-year Delivery Program. This Plan must however look at and address the workforce planning issues for a minimum of four years into the future and hence it is named the Workforce Management Plan 2014-18. How workforce planning benefits our organisation Effective workforce planning aims to provide Council with the people best able to inform its strategic direction, develop innovative approaches to complex issues, and deliver appropriate services effectively and efficiently. Workforce Strategy Underpinning Objectives A component of this Workforce Plan is to identify several actions to be implemented over the time frame of the Delivery Program. One of these actions is to enhance Councils capacity to provide a more rigourous approach to determining detailed future workforce requirements. The goals of this strategy are to effectively:
This Plan provides a foundation for future workforce planning and it is important that Council has an accurate understanding of its current workforce, and such information as well as some historical data to allow for trend analysis is outlined in the following Section. SECTION 2 - Current Workforce Profile and Trends FTE EMPLOYEES LEVELS FTE employee numbers Employee numbers can be shown in two ways. The first is simply the number of employees employed by an organisation. However, in terms of available human resources to deliver against expectations, it is more useful to measure employee numbers in terms of the number of Full Time Equivalent employees or FTE. The next table illustrates employees in terms of FTE at Council and their employment status, with the exclusion of casual labour. Note: all numbers have been rounded to whole numbers. Status 06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 Permanent Fulltime 336 344 342 344 335 323 331 323 Permanent Parttime 43 44 46 50 53 55 55 58 FTE Total Permanent 379 388 388 394 388 378 386 381 FTE Temporary FTE 18 19 27 9 15 13 22 21 Apprentices & 25 25 22 21 24 18 26 25 Trainees FTE Total FTE 421 432 437 423 426 407 433 427 The above data indicates that Council has had some slight peaks and troughs in terms of FTE over the past 8 years: However, the overall numbers over the longer term have remained remarkably stable with less total FTE than it was at the end of 2007-08. In terms of permanent staff FTE, the numbers have remained equally stable, but with less at the end of 2013-14 compared to most years since 2006-07. This is evidence of considerable ongoing efficiency gains over this period as the client base and workload for the vast majority of Councils services would be growing each year in line with population growth. (See next table.) FTE Establishment numbers In 2013-14, Council started recording the FTE of its establishment numbers. This will be monitored and reported upon on an ongoing basis. The FTE of establishment shows the equivalent of how many full-time permanent positions (as opposed to people) there are within Council s organisation structure. The
establishment number will include positions that are vacant. At the end of 2013-14 there was an establishment FTE of 418.51. Population numbers As noted earlier, the Eurobodalla Shire has continued to grow in terms of its population. See the following graph which indicates growth since 2011 and also future trends. It is not expected that Council s workforce would increase in direct proportion to the population it serves, however it is inevitable that there would be some measure of growth in order to maintain not only existing utilities and services, but to provide for additional infrastructure and subsequent maintenance. In simple terms; every service provided by council has to meet the needs of more and more people. Visitor numbers In addition to a rising population base, The Eurobodalla Shire needs to provide and maintain infrastructure capability for a much higher seasonal population, due to the very large number of visitors it receives each year. These numbers fluctuate, but nevertheless planning needs to take account for the capacity of providing services at the highest end of the potential visitor numbers.
It is estimated that the Shire s peak population in summer reaches 120,000; more than 3 times the number of permanent residents. In total the Shire can expect between 1.1 and 1.2 million visitors per annum. Maintaining services over the past several years, without significant expansion of employee FTE numbers, has been a major challenge for Council. It would be an unrealistic expectation, however, that this can continue indefinitely, regardless of efficiency improvements, while still maintaining services as indicated in the CSP, to the standard required with an ever expanding client base. The challenge in future years will be to maintain stability in workforce numbers wherever possible for some services and to moderate growth in workforce requirements (and hence costs) as much as is feasible for other services. EMPLOYEE TURNOVER Employee turnover is a factor when planning for future workforce needs. In Council s case, turnover has historically been quite low, apart from two peaks in 2007-08 and then again in 2011-12 (when a major restructure aligned with a staff freeze took place). As a guide most organisations would expect turnover of around 12-15 % per annum (plus or minus a few %). There are benefits associated with lower overall employee turnover in that corporate knowledge, as well as specific skill sets, are retained and there are efficiencies in that fewer people are in a learning stage within their roles and need less intense levels of training, coaching and supervision. Some level of turnover however, is beneficial in terms of bringing people with new ideas and perspectives to the organisation and promoting diversity as well as providing opportunities for career advancement for existing staff. 06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 Terminations 41 56 31 21 30 57 28 31 Commencements 45 59 36 19 31 46 25 24 Turnover (%) 10.07% 13.82% 7.37% 4.96% 7.16% 14.04% 6.79% 7.41% Terminations by length of service Of those employees who left Council in recent years, very few had more than 10 years experience, again with the exception of 2011-12, (restructuring). It is expected however that this number of more experienced staff leaving Council will trend much higher in future as older baby-boomers start to retire in increasing numbers. (See next section for Age profiles) Length of service 08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 < 5 years 14 14 22 19 13 13 >5 to <10 years 10 5 5 13 5 5 >10 to <20 years 2 0 6 13 3 6 >20 years 5 2 2 12 7 6
AGE PROFILES Ageing workforce For comparative purposes, the following table shows data for Eurobodalla in relation to other NSW Councils. The data is presented in percentage terms. As indicated below, Eurobodalla Shire Council s workforce shows a very similar age profile to other Councils, particularly other large rural councils and those in our region. For Eurobodalla as for other rural councils, we only have approx. 18% of our workforce under 35 and conversely have around 60% who are 45 years of Age or over. This is a cause for concern for the medium longer term. In analysing our workforce further, males in particular have an older profile with 62% of males in our workforce 50 or over. (All data based on end June 2013 figures). Mid 2013 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55 + Rural Large Councils 4.7 13.8 22.6 32.4 26.5 South East Region Councils 5.5 12.2 23.1 31.3 27.8 All Councils 5.5 15.1 23.1 28.5 25.5 Eurobodalla Shire Council 7.3 10.4 22.6 33.8 26.0 (percentages across the rows) Recruitment source In terms of recruitment, selection processes are based on the merit principle. Applicants are assessed against specific criteria by considering their written application, their performance at interviews and referee checks; for some positions there are also practical tests undertaken. Historically, data shows a fairly even success rate for both internal and external applicants in winning jobs in Council, however in the past year approximately three quarters of appointments for externally advertised positions were won by external applicants. Internal appointments are of existing employees, be they permanent employees gaining promotions, or temporary or casual employees or trainees and apprentices winning permanent positions. External appointments are people from outside of Council s workforce. The below is illustrative and shows the outcomes for the year 2013-2014. Appointments (externally advertised) Sep Qtr Dec Qtr Mar Qtr Jun Qtr 13-14 % External appointments 10 21 12 7 50 76% Internal (Existing Casual/Temp employee) 1 2 1 4 Internal (Promotion of Perm employee) 4 1 5 2 12 Total Internal appointments 5 3 5 3 16 24%
EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT Short course training In terms of Workforce planning it is imperative that Council has the capacity and systems in place to ensure that it can support employees in improving their skills and knowledge. Typically, approx. 140 short courses will be conducted each year; the majority focussed on Work Health and Safety (WHS) and mandatory licences renewals. In view of the future directions of South Eastern Region Of Councils, the Organisational Development Working Group (of which Council is a member) has been tasked to develop joint approaches with regard to purchasing power across common areas of WHS and mandatory training in the Group s region. The context of the changes to SEROC is underpinned by the Local Government Reform initiatives. As an outcome we will be able to continue to efficiently and effectively deliver onsite training to our staff. Leadership training Directors, Managers and Supervisors have been participating in Leadership training since late 2010. By the end of 2011, a further 120 staff who had any form of supervisory role also participated in an intensive 4 day workshop on enhancing their leadership, performance feedback/management and communication skills. This focus on leadership training is in acknowledgement of the outcomes of the 2009 and 2012 Employee Opinion Surveys, where employees indicated this was an area where they saw room for improvement. At the start of 2014 approximately 200 staff participated in Advancing Supervisory Skills workshops to demonstrate commitment to developing the current leaders and emerging leaders to the highest levels. In mid-2014 development on the Leadership in Action Framework commenced. The Leadership in Action Framework seeks to help our organisation: Cultivate leaders who are best equipped to deal with themes, issues and relationships unique to the sector of local government. Retain and up-skill committed and aspirational staff, enhance their motivation, morale and performance and that of their followers. Build pride within current staff (and attract new staff). The framework will be used to bridge gaps in current learning and development plans in terms of leadership and be used to progress under-pinning development programs. This Leadership in Action Framework supports the principles of on-the-job learning and addresses feedback from the approx. 200 staff that attended the Advancing Supervisory workshops. The Unearthing Leaders program expected to commence in 2015, will be one underpinning development program for the Leadership In Action Framework. Unearthing Leaders will be a means of identifying and developing committed & talented staff and at the same time broadening ESC s collective leadership capacity.
This initiative arises from and is in part modelled upon the valuable experience gained from sending two teams of 5 staff each to the Rural Management Challenge in 2014. Accredited training In addition to providing the above, Council has, for a number of years, been increasingly promoting and organising nationally recognised accredited training. As at the end of June 2014, it had 63 employees who were enrolled in courses and studying across a wide range of subjects for formal qualifications. The range includes those courses being taken as part of traditional apprenticeships, those being undertaken by trainees and cadets and also those being undertaken by existing permanent employees utilising the Australian Apprenticeship program, as well as other programs which involve considerable subsidy support via both Federal and State Government initiatives. Staff as at end June 2014, are participating in courses offering 10 different qualifications from Cert. III to Diploma levels. While there is an impressive number of employees undertaking such training, (and many more have previously completed similar or other certificate courses) it is envisioned that while this will continue in the short term, it will diminish over the next few years. This is because so many staff have been successfully studying for qualifications over the past few years that in future most staff will have suitable qualifications. However, with staff turnover there will always be a steam of new staff who may need qualifications. In addition, changes in industry and legislation may lead to new or different requirements in terms of the type of qualifications required. Part of workforce planning is to try to anticipate and plan for such needs in the future. Please note the above data does not include staff who are studying privately to enhance their qualifications and career options. HEALTH & SAFETY Lost time injury hours and new workers compensation claims There are several data sets that can be used in developing a workforce plan for an ageing workforce. A significant one is statistics in relation to the number of hours of lost time due to injuries sustained in the workplace, and also the number of new workers compensation claims submitted annually. The following table and charts illustrate these in relation to Council employees: Lost Time Injury Hrs. 05-06 06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 4175 2418 3831 2325 1998 2895 3863 3816 1496 New Claims 35 33 30 22 18 20 22 22 18 While the dramatic drop in lost-time injury hours in 2013-14 is gratifying, and is the lowest in the past eight years, a look at the data shows that this number varies quite significantly from year to year. What is
particularly encouraging is the contrast between the number of new claims in the three years between 05-06 and 07-08, where there were an average of 32.7 per annum of new workers compensation claims, and the subsequent six year period from 08-09 to 13-14 where there were an average of 20.3 new claims per annum. Council s very strong preventative approach to WH&S issues in recent years appears to be effective. This approach was augmented by a training program designed to affect behavioural awareness and change called SafeStart which was attended by all operational employees, who due to the physical nature of their work, are most at risk of injury. The trend in the new claims table is promising, particularly in light of the fact that Council has an ageing workforce. A high proportion of the workers compensation claims now relate to 'sprains and strains' type of injuries from those in operational physical work duties. However, in future, as this stream of workers continues to age, it is a reasonable assumption that regardless of preventative injury WH&S initiatives, that there will be an increased risk of physically degenerative sourced injury claims. In addition, older workers tend to take longer to recover from such injuries. This will place a burden in financial and operational terms in regard to workers compensation premiums and subsequent lost productive time, and again subsequent labour replacement costs. It is not always practical or possible for injured employees to be found light/alternative duties given the imperative to occupy every position within Council by employees competently equipped via training, qualifications and experience, to carry out their duties both efficiently and effectively. It is a reasonable expectation that the workers compensation and rehabilitation and 'return to work' function within HR will, over time, become an increasingly critical function. Notwithstanding the above, Council is expected to endorse a new long term WHS Strategy in 2014-15, which will set targets to continue to reduce the number of injuries and lost-time due to injuries each year. (See Action Item 6) SECTION THREE - Workforce Action Plans ACTION ITEM 1 Mapping workforce predictions to Delivery Program with a four year forecast Timeframe: 2014-15 and ongoing Link to Delivery Program: SS2.1 Provide and manage frameworks for the development and maintenance of an effective and motivated workforce. For every iteration of a Four Year Delivery program, its proposed activities need to be analysed in broad terms to determine: (a) whether effective delivery of the activity will require significantly more or less workforce resources; (b) whether new skill sets or qualifications for the relevant workforce will be required; and (c) at what estimated stage will these resource variations be required.
There is currently a long term Service Review underway within Council. As each service review report and associated recommendations are approved by Council, Organisation Development (OD) will follow up to develop future scenarios to allow for best-estimate future workforce predictions. Input by the relevant Directors and Divisional Managers and co-ordinators of the areas delivering the relevant services, as well as other stakeholders will be sought. The above approach will progressively provide data to inform of potential variations in workforce requirements and identify critical positions and roles and (if required) the most critical additional skills requirements. As more services go through the review process, their modelling will commence and the data base representing all Council will be built up over time. All such models will be reviewed annually to ensure the four year predictive workforce planning perspective is maintained. The workplace predictive process should be sufficiently rigourous to produce reliable data but simple enough that it can be utilised by a broad range of managers/supervisors in a timely and consistent manner. The subsequent analysis will be co-ordinated by O.D. Outputs from this exercise will also contribute to and inform all longer term financial modelling and planning. ACTION ITEM 2 Ageing Workforce (a) Attracting and retaining younger workers Timeframe: 2014-15 and ongoing Link to Delivery Program: SS2.1 Provide and manage frameworks for the development and maintenance of an effective and motivated workforce. The ageing workforce is an Australian wide phenomenon and concern, and more so for Council, as it is for regional NSW Councils generally. Council has an enviable track record in providing one-year youth traineeships, via the Youth Employment Traineeship Scheme (YETS) which is restricted to youth living within the Shire and who are under 21. For several years we have placed around 6 or 7 youths per annum. Council also provides other 2 year operational (outdoor) traineeships as well as a considerable number of apprenticeships and cadetships which are open to all applicants. However, the youth trainees in particular, have no guarantee, or even a strong likelihood of gaining permanent employment with Council at the end of their traineeship. The approach to youth traineeships has therefore evolved to try to allow for retention of the trainees as employees on completion of the traineeship. This has been a conscious decision to try to achieve a more balanced workforce profile and to allow for younger people to gain the experience required to replace the generally aging workforce. Recent innovations have been to:
Trial some traineeships being extended to 2 years allowing the trainee deeper experience and to attain additional higher level qualifications, thus increasing their competitiveness in applying for permanent positions in future. Continue to allow for and encourage direct appointment of suitable trainees to entry level permanent positions as they become vacant at or towards the end of the term of their traineeship. Introducing the capacity to extend a youth traineeship into a cadetship to allow the trainee to continue to degree level qualifications and develop professional capacity. In 2015, YETS will have 8 places available. All opportunities to create additional traineeships, traditional trade apprenticeships and also cadetships in Council s wide range of professional occupations and specialities will continue to be encouraged and facilitated. Although this often cannot be a commitment, managers will be encouraged to provide where possible, opportunities for permanent employment to people utilising these workforce entry mechanisms. ACTION ITEM 3 Ageing Workforce (b) Increasing flexible working arrangements for older employees Timeframe: 2014-15 Link to Delivery Program: SS2.2 Provide and maintain a framework for the management and minimisation of risks to health and safety Council has enhanced its flexible working arrangements for all administrative employees and its operational employees continue to value and operate on a nine-day fortnight basis. It has also started to grant a small number of employees reduced hours per week, on a trial basis, as a means of transitioning such employees into retirement. Further, it has developed a Code of Practice to facilitate more staff looking at this option. The advantages are: It allows older employees to wind down their time at work over a staggered period of time without having to either retire completely when they d rather not (or can t afford to), or to become overtired and stressed by continuing to work full-time as they age. It allows time for other less experienced or new employees to be coached and mentored by the more experienced employees, who are transitioning to retirement, so that knowledge and skills are passed on. Uptake of this initiative however remains low and further strategies to encourage it s consideration by older staff will be explored in 2014-15 It should be noted that over time, if successful, the above strategy should result in more permanent parttime employees as a proportion of all employees. As an employer this will allow Council to provide
employment to a greater number of the community while not necessarily increasing FTE employee numbers or wage costs. There are however additional transaction and administrative costs associated with this practice. Part-time employment would appear to be a favoured option for many employees and it was noted that Council s part-time employees indicated significantly higher job satisfaction levels than full-time employees in the 2009 and 2012 Employee Opinion Survey. In addition the table of FTE shows an increase in the parttime FTE every year for the past seven years. This trend is expected to continue in the next four years, regardless of transitioning to retirement uptake. ACTION ITEM 4 Diversity initiatives Timeframe: 2014-15 Link to delivery program: SS2.1 Provide and manage frameworks for the development and maintenance of an effective and motivated workforce. While it is the norm that there are still areas of employment that are traditionally male or female dominated, Council has whole areas of employment where there are minimal women employed. These are in the nonmanagerial or non-professional aspects of operational areas, such as roads construction and maintenance, water and sewer and waste services and other trade and labouring areas. Other organisations have for many years seen inroads made in overcoming barriers to women in gaining positions in such occupations and Council, as part of its next review of its EEO and Diversity strategy in 2014-15, intends to explore why this is not occurring. Encouraging women to enter such occupations would enhance Council s potential talent pool as well as be in keeping with the spirit of EEO legislation and community expectations. Council has had past success in initiatives that in part led to employing an increased number of its employees who identify as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background. Council will continue to explore initiatives to further increase the ratio of Aboriginal or Torres Strait employees to reflect their demographic share of the shire s population. As an example, it is planned that of the 2015 intake of YETS trainees, two will be targeted for local youth of Aboriginal or Torres Islander origin. For the first time a further two of the traineeships will be targeted for local youth with disabilities. This aligns with Councils commitment to EEO and to providing opportunities to local youth. Council improved its data collection in regard to EEO target groups by incorporating capacity to selfnominate as being a member of such groups via the 2012 Employee Opinion Survey. This will be emphasised further in the next survey (see next Action Item 5).
ACTION ITEM 5 Employee opinion Survey Timeframe: 2015-16 Link to Delivery Program: SS2.1 Provide and manage frameworks for the development and maintenance of an effective and motivated workforce. The confidential 2009 and 2012 Employee Opinion Surveys were critical tools in alerting Council to issues that concerned employees. A further confidential Employee Opinion Survey be undertaken in late 2015 for the following reasons: to measure the success or otherwise of actions and improvement projects; To gain employees perspectives on other areas where they believe improvement is needed; To measure if any further progress has been gained in terms of employee s job satisfaction and engagement levels; and To further inform future projects or changes to promote higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness of services and to further inform ongoing workforce planning. As per the previous surveys in 2009 and 2012, the responses and collective results of any survey of employee opinion needs to remain confidential between employees and Council, otherwise: direct comparison with the original survey as a benchmark for progress will not be valid; significantly less employees will participate, perhaps to the point where it becomes nonrepresentative and therefore weakens or even negates it s validity; and responses could be influenced (either positively or negatively) if respondents are aware that the results will be publicised outside the organisation, hence again detracting from any confidence in the validity of the results. ACTION ITEM 6 Implementing Actions of WHS Strategy 2014-2022 Timeframe: 2014-15 and ongoing Link to Delivery Program: SS2.2 Provide and maintain a framework for the management and minimisation of risks to health and safety A draft long-term WHS Strategy 2014-2022 is expected to be endorsed for adoption by Council in early 2014-2015. This document (which is based substantially on the findings and recommendations of an external WHS audit conducted in 2013) contains an extensive list of actions.
These actions will be prioritised and a schedule for completion prepared for at least the next two years (to end 2015-16). The action plan will be reviewed annually and be continuously amended to reflect changing risks or environmental factors. The action plan will also be reviewed in light of the findings of Council s annual WHS self-audit which is organised and overseen by Statecover.