Investing In People
Aim
To develop and invest in leaders that will genuinely challenge the status quo.
Approach
- Developing a high performing culture of skilled professionals
- Investing in innovation and knowledge sharing
- Developing skills to meet current and future needs
- An increased focus on staff development of commercial acumen.
Key Performance Indicators
| Target | Actual | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full time equivalents (average) | 1,018 | 1,013.5 |  |
| % Women in leadership positions Level 6 and above | 16 | 18.5 | |
| % Completion Individual Performance Agreements | 100 | 95 |  |
Key Achievements
- New Reconciliation Action Plan developed.
- Revised and improved workforce planning process and tools deployed.
- Innovation and Research Program continues to reap benefits.
- Tackling red tape through the Removing Roadblocks campaign.
Introduction
Investing in our people is key to creating an organisation where people embrace and accept those who inspire to bring innovative ideas, skills and perspectives to work. We seek to ensure that the right people are attracted to and retained to address our future business operations. We are currently identifying new skill sets for innovative solutions and world class practices for Western Australia.
Key Achievements
Promoting Diversity and Equal Opportunity
We strive to create a rich, diverse workforce and place a strong emphasis on promoting equality to ensure our workplace is free from harassment, discrimination and that all employees have access to training, progression and promotion. Our Equal Employment Opportunity Management Plan, developed in accordance with Part IX of the Equal Opportunity Act 1984, provides guidance on activities we implement across the organisation.
| 2014 (%) | 2015 (%) | 2016 (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 29.8 | 30.0 | 30.5 |
| Culturally diverse background | 17.4 | 18.8 | 17.2 |
| People with disabilities | 3.2 | 1.1 | 2.9 | Indigenous Australians | 1.8 | 1.8 | 0.8 |
Women in Leadership
We recognise and value the role of women in the workforce and gender diversity at all levels of the organisation as a business imperative. We continue to reach our target for the proportion of women in our workforce and slightly exceed our target for women in Level 6 positions and higher.
| 2014 (%) | 2015 (%) | 2016 (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women in the workforce | 30 | 30 | 29.0 |
| Women in Level 5 positions (permanent employees) | 28 | 28 | 17.2 |
| Women in Level 6 positions and above (permanent) | 15 | 18 | 18.5 | Women in acting opportunities | 33 | 35 | 35.3 |
Our ongoing activities include:
- professional development leadership programs for our women
- Professional Women???s speaker series, with guest speaker Director of the Cultural Code Connection Ingrid Cumming providing a powerful address on culture, values, decision-making and leadership as a young Whadjuk Noongar woman
- employment advertisements promoting flexible working arrangements and encouraging women and people with diverse backgrounds to apply.
With a State government recruitment freeze in place during part of the last year some employment efforts were limited.
Reconciliation Action Plan and Indigenous Employment
This year our Reconciliation Action Plan has been redeveloped to align with a continued commitment to reconciliation in Australia. The Plan is currently under review by Reconciliation Australia and will be released later in the year. Acknowledgement of Country and Welcome to Country are now required for all our major events reflecting two of the many changes that have been identified in the Plan. Moving forward the Diversity Working Group will be focusing on identifying positions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Previously we aimed to increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment (directly or indirectly) to three per cent. We have added a mandatory clause to our contracts stating ???the Contractor must use its best endeavours to provide employment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people during the course of the project???. This confirms our commitment to go beyond any established targets as we work with our partners and suppliers to create new opportunities.
NAIDOC Week
Each year we take the opportunity to promote awareness and celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples during NAIDOC Week. This year our celebration included a Welcome to Country by Matthew McGuire and traditional dancing by Wadumbah Dance Group. This was followed by a bush tucker inspired morning tea sourced from Kuditj Caf??, an Aboriginal owned and locally based caf??. Similar events were held in our regional offices across the State.
Family Day
Our annual event, Family Day, promotes a healthy work-life balance and recognises the contributions staff make to the organisation. It involves each directorate and region putting together displays for visiting family and friends outlining past achievements, current and upcoming projects and events. We also seek involvement from the community, the day helps us to demonstrate our family values.
Attraction and Retention
Workforce Planning and Succession Planning
Our workforce planning process and tools have been simplified and improved to focus on succession planning, identification of high potential employees and of critical future skills gaps in the context of our current economic and fiscal environment. The enhanced tools and process enable us to engage with our Corporate Executive and Managers in a conversation around changing demands, knowledge management and identifying the right skills for the future. For a diverse, sustainable and commercially minded workforce we will emphasise:
- succession management and talent pools; identification of new capabilities required
- skill and capability development with a particular focus on high potential employees
- knowledge management in high risk functions.
Recruitment
Finalising restructures resulted in higher than average recruitment, particularly for the newly formed Network Operations Directorate, over a concentrated period. The annual number of positions advertised was average, despite a freeze on external recruitment between December 2015 and May 2016. The recruitment freeze resulted in withdrawal of nine positions prior to a written offer being made to recommended appointees. The table shows recruitment details over the last three years
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Positions advertised | 82 | 117 | 100 |
| Applications received | 1,532 | 2,340 | 1,808 |
| Average applications per advertised positions | 18.7 | 21.5 | 18.1 |
Developing our Employees
As we work to implement our Keeping WA Moving strategic direction, our focus is on growth and development opportunities to support our core capabilities and commitments underpinned by our Individual Performance Agreements.
Individual Performance Agreements
Individual Performance Agreements foster regular conversations about performance, behaviour and development. They help employees understand how work fits into the bigger picture. The IPA assists in clarifying roles and expectations for both managers and employees, identifies training opportunities and supports a strong manager???employee relationship and a performance culture. This year we had a 95 per cent completion rate.
Graduate Program
Our three year structured graduate program targets recent engineering graduates and provides them with development via job rotations across the business, coaching, mentoring with our senior leaders, and ongoing formal training. The training our graduates receive over the three years is part of a newly designed program that brings together graduates across the Transport Portfolio, to facilitate not only skills development but the building of networks across transport. The training covers three key areas: work readiness, technical, and commercial and leadership skills. With an excellent retention and success rate, our graduate program is designed to internally develop talent for our next generation workforce.
Innovation and Research Program
The Innovation and Research Program is another area that provides great opportunities for collaboration and encourages staff to learn, solve problems and explore new and innovative opportunities. Since its inception back in February 2015 the program has generated almost 70 ideas from across the State. There were 42 ideas generated last year. Using some simple economic assessment measures we were able to determine that over the last 12 months we believe that the Return on Investment of those funds is in the order of 11 per cent for projects that have been completed. This indicates a positive benefit cost ratio returning 3.2 dollars for every one dollar spent. Ideas and submissions span the four Keeping WA Moving focus areas.
In 2016-17 we will be talking to Directorates making them aware of the program, promoting the availability of the funds to undertake Innovation and Research related projects and encouraging areas to identify priority areas where research will help to overcome barriers in areas they are working in.
Removing Roadblocks
The objective of the Removing Roadblocks challenge is for employees to identify inefficient or illogical work practices that may inhibit productivity and innovation. Using a dedicated software package employees collaborate online to identify and develop solutions on how to work more effectively. We have elected to run a campaign for each area within the organisation taking a localised approach so that we are targeting specific bureaucratic processes within each work area as well as looking for corporate improvements across the board. The software operates in a similar way to social media sites like Facebook which means that for many employees there is a level of familiarity and intuitive use leading to even greater engagement. The campaign will continue to be rolled out throughout the next 12 months as we look to work with employees to improve our work practices creating a more agile and flexible organisation.
Looking Ahead
- Continue succession planning as we tackle our ageing workforce profile.
- Profile and create a diverse succession pool focusing on future leaders, high potentials and critical skills gaps including having an emphasis on identifying positions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
- Continue to promote the benefits of the Innovation and Research program encouraging areas to identify priority areas where research will help them to overcome barriers.
- Deployment of a new Human Resources Management System that will allow payroll, recruitment, data and analytics and training to all function within the one system.
- Continue the deployment of Removing Roadblocks as we fight red tape.
Case Study: Route Manager Training Program
One of the benefits of the program is the opportunity to challenge and influence existing business practices aimed at promoting improved performance.
This dedicated program facilitates staff development and is helping us to build new skills as part of an overall succession planning and workforce management approach to meet new business needs.
To address this new skills requirement we developed a structured 18 month training program including rotational placements in various areas associated with operation of the overall metropolitan network. The program allows participants to complete technical aspects of work by gaining on the job training under the guidance of experienced practitioners. One of the benefits of the program is the opportunity to challenge and influence existing business practices aimed at promoting improved performance. This dedicated program facilitates staff development and is helping us to build new skills as part of an overall succession planning and workforce management approach to meet new business needs.
At the end of the 18 month training program the participants will have the necessary skills required to fulfil their role as part of the Route Management Team. The program includes on the job learning through 16 rotations as participants gain skills in defined competencies during each placement. Technical training also supports the on the job learning helping to reinforce the level of competency gained. This program has been developed using best practice examples from existing models used in other international transport agencies.
The project began in mid-2015 with the first cohort of trainees starting in February 2016. Four more trainees will be recruited from our graduate pool to commence in February 2017. This approach is just one more way in which we are ensuring that we have the right people with the right skills to meet the needs of the community.