Departmental Health and Capability
Creating a supportive and focused workplace is central to the department's ability to maintain high performance.
Key capability requirements in DPMC are fairly constant. They are based on our ability to attract and retain high-performing staff. DPMC seeks to create a workplace where staff are treated – and treat each other – fairly and with respect, where staff are well managed, and where unhelpful barriers to work and personal development are removed as much as possible.
Our people
One-third of our staff have been with us for five years or more and just over half of our staff have been with DPMC three years or more. DPMC continues to balance the retention of existing staff – and their good organisational knowledge – with the recruitment of new talent and skills.
Planned turnover (defined as retirement and secondment) and unplanned turnover has remained stable for the last five years, at close to 19 per cent. DPMC’s solid practice of secondment of staff continues to be reflected in this 19 percent: staff are attracted to the department because they wish to broaden their policy coordination experience in a whole-of-government environment or to work on specialist projects or taskforces with the intention of using this experience upon their return to a line agency. Almost a third of staff who left in the last 12 months did so for lifestyle reasons, and one quarter moved to other positions within the state sector.
Organisational health
In 2010 the department commissioned an assessment of staff perceptions of organisational climate and their degree of engagement with the organisation. This is the fourth such survey undertaken by DPMC, with the measurement of engagement being a new feature. The Climate Survey provides invaluable insight into the way staff think about working at the department, and their areas of concern and satisfaction. The response rate to the survey was 86.4 per cent (2008: 83 per cent), which is very positive compared with industry standards. The department was again considered by staff as achieving ratings that ranged from “good practice” to “outstanding”. See “Snapshot of 2010 Climate Survey results” table.
| 2009/10 | ||
|---|---|---|
| ELEMENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE | DPMC’s RATING | EXPLANATION |
| Clarity | Outstanding | Purpose, values and roles are clear to all and widely understood. People know what they have to do to be successful. |
| Drive | Good Practice | The organisation has the building blocks of a performance culture. Rewards extend beyond financial. Innovation is seen as important. |
| Alignment | Good Practice | Structures are creating organisational flexibility, underpinned by good communication. Cooperation across the business is occurring. |
| Confidence | Good Practice | Staff believe the organisation can succeed and their unit is effective. Morale is positive. Improvement in the other factors will improve this result further. |
Key results show that:
- DPMC continues to be seen as a high-performing organisation. Compared with two years ago, scores have trended upwards. Government House scores in particular have risen significantly.
- The most important motivators for all staff are meaningful work and challenging work.
- DPMC staff show as “engaged” in four important areas of the employee-engagement scale: pride in their organisation; satisfaction with leadership; opportunities to perform well at work; and performance being recognised and acknowledged. In two areas, staff show as being only “somewhat engaged” (neutral): prospects for future personal and professional growth; and a positive work and team environment.
- Women are slightly more engaged than men. In the climate-factor ratings, however, there is little practical gender difference.
- The biggest opportunity to enhance DPMC’s effectiveness and staff engagement will be achieved by improving “drive” and “alignment”. Specific areas for attention within these elements are workload, particularly in NAB and DESG, and the creation of opportunities for stretch and advancement within the organisation.
Our health
Creating a healthy and safe work environment is an ongoing departmental priority. Our staff are encouraged to participate in a wide variety of health and wellbeing activities.
Absence due to illness remains low. Average sick-leave usage is 5.4 days per annum (2008: 5.7); average accrued sick leave is 37.5 days (2008: 41.8). We continue to monitor sick leave and actively encourage staff to stay home when they are sick. The department remains vigilant in its response to potential influenza outbreaks by supplying all employees with a personal pack of hand antiseptic, providing travel packs for those travelling for work purposes, arranging extra cleaning services of commonly used services, and advising staff and managers to stay home if they have any flu symptoms.
DPMC also provides a comprehensive occupational health service to all staff. This includes:
- immunisation for influenza (free vaccination)
- eye tests
- a health and exercise subsidy
- ergonomic assessment for all new staff as part of induction, and further assessment on request.
The Health and Safety Committee met four times during 2009/10 and facilitated occupational health and safety discussions between management and staff. In addition, a self-audit was undertaken by DPMC and validated by an external resource: this audit highlighted good practices and low risk to staff, and showed the department’s responsiveness to workplace health concerns.
Our learning and development framework
A learning and development matrix was constructed from staff feedback through the performance management process, and a framework was implemented to reflect the development needs identified.
We are working with others on a management skills programme intended to develop the department’s leadership capabilities and to function as a “bridge” into further development opportunities such as the Leadership Development Centre (LDC) and Australia New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) offerings.
The department has also collaborated with Learning State in facilitating opportunities for administrative staff to pursue nationally recognised qualifications in business administration. This initiative has seen a good level of interest from the target group, with a small cohort of staff currently working through their qualifications.
DPMC continues to build strong collaborative relationships with the other central agencies, Treasury and SSC, in the sphere of learning and development. The central agencies’ induction programme – which provides good opportunity for new staff from DPMC, Treasury and SSC to understand the role and function of each agency – continues to be well supported and well attended.
Risk-assurance processes
DPMC continues to update its strategic risk profile. After further efforts from a DPMC-wide working group, the review of each of our high-level risks and associated mitigation strategies has been established as a formal agenda item for the department’s Senior Management Group. This review process is expected to continue into the 2010/11 financial year.
The Audit and Risk Committee has continued to meet regularly to review and assess a range of DPMC capabilities and areas of potential risk, and to report on these to the Chief Executive. The current committee consists of two external members (Souella Cumming, who is also the Chair; and from May 2010 Shenagh Gleisner) and one DPMC representative (Steve Long in 2009 and Michael Webster in 2010). Michael Wintringham was an external member, and also the Chair, until March 2010.
Information management
Systems development focused on the delivery of a highly resilient and available network, and the server environment has been “virtualised” to support this. Work continues on the establishment of a disaster recovery site in Auckland. A new business process application for the Honours Secretariat was implemented, offering a more efficient and effective process for honours nominations and awards. Work has commenced on revamping the department’s intranet and its websites. Challenges for network management, security and the protection of data integrity are ever-present as viruses, spam and cyber threats increase and evolve.
