Our people

Our workforce strategies, programs and initiatives through 2018–19 were shaped by the objectives from our Strategic Plan 2018–2022 — Innovative, effective policy; Strategic advantage for Queensland; Strong, accountable government; and A high-performing workforce.

Our people are empowered to demonstrate leadership at all levels, with staff responsible and accountable for their behaviours, actions and decisions.

Throughout the year we focused on building stronger workforce relationships built on mutual trust and respect and continuing our journey to embody the broad diversity of our state.

DPC measures our strategic plan objective to be a high- performing workforce by gauging whether our employees are positive about their job empowerment and the department's organisational innovation, leadership and engagement. The 2018 Working for Queensland Employee Opinion Survey saw positive results for DPC, with high levels of agency engagement (75 per cent), innovation (73 per cent), leadership (70 per cent) and job empowerment (80 per cent). Results across these factors exceeded public sector averages by between 7 per cent to 21 per cent.

The department also continued to focus on innovation to ensure we deliver strong customer-centric solutions for Queenslanders now and in the future.

We also sought to embed a workforce culture that upholds the Queensland public service values and commits to the highest standards of ethical behaviour.

Workforce profile 2018–19

The following is a snapshot of DPC's workforce profile for 2018–19 based on June 2019 Minimum Obligatory Human Resources Information (MOHRI) data:

• employed 444.57 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs). This figure includes 48.36 FTEs in OQPC
• comprised a workforce in which 71.34 per cent were women and 69.09 per cent of all senior executive and senior officer roles were occupied by women
• maintained a workforce with an average age of 40.85 years compared with the service-wide average of 44.39 years
• provided part-time work opportunities to 16.56 per cent of our staff
• contributed six FTEs to deliver corporate services to our client agencies and to the Public Service Commission
• experienced an annual separation rate for permanent staff of 4.70 per cent compared to a sector rate of 5.11 per cent
• paid no early retirement, redundancy or retrenchment packages during this period.

Key achievements 2018–19

• Focused on building our leaders by enhancing the capability of current and future leaders through a range of programs including LEAD4QLD, targeted training and a Job Shadow Program.
• Coordinated the 2019 Policy Futures Graduate Program; 37 graduates commenced in February 2019.
• Partnered with industry experts to improve business systems, practices and reporting processes and enhance the customer experience for employees through digitisation of forms and streamlining of existing business processes.
• Built a resilient workforce where the health, safety and wellbeing of employees were prioritised through the delivery of a comprehensive Be Healthy, Be Safe, Be Well program. This program focused on physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of staff.
• Implemented a 2019 Employee Engagement Program of Work to build inclusion and diversity and embed behavioural and cultural change.
• Continued our commitment to prevent domestic and family violence (DFV) by providing support for employees affected by DFV, promoted gender equality, as well as ensured we have a safe and respectful workplace culture.
• Continued to progress actions under our Cultural Capability Action Plan 2017–2020 to further DPC's cultural capability, including training, sharing of stories and speaker events.
• Continued to drive actions under our Disability Service Plan 2017–2020 to raise awareness, improve accessibility of our services and provide better support to staff who identify as having a disability. This included improved accessibility to legislation through the Browsealoud software and initiatives such as promotion of International Day of People with Disability and Global Accessibility Awareness Day.
• Supported the Central Queensland Bushfires and Far North Queensland Monsoonal Trough recovery efforts through the deployment of 48 community recovery ready reservists and 25 employees to the State Disaster Coordination Centre, with many staff undertaking multiple deployments.

Future directions 2019–20

• Develop a refreshed Cultural Capability Action Plan with actions that reflect the increased maturity of the department to embed cultural competence and deliver meaningful change.
• Embed respectful workplace behaviours through the delivery of a leadership and team toolkit and development of a leadership commitment video.
• Develop and implement reward and recognition activities through DPC's Appreciation Program that support a positive and high-performing workforce culture.
• Continue to build a culture where staff are empowered to lead at all levels through the adoption of the Leadership Competencies for Queensland, with a focus on updating role descriptions, embedding competencies into recruitment and selection processes and aligning learning and development and performance opportunities.
• Encourage collaboration, partnerships and broader skill development through the implementation of an internal and external job rotation program for employees.
• Improve business systems, practices and reporting processes through the continued implementation of electronic forms and Power BI (interactive data visualisation business intelligence tools).

Public Sector Ethics Act 1994

• DPC continued to support the principles identified under the Public Sector Ethics Act 1994 and build a strong and accountable workforce by continuing to deliver Code of Conduct training to employees. In 2018–19, 108 staff completed Code of Conduct training delivered through the department's online learning management system, bringing the department's completion rate over two years to 98 per cent. The program is also included in DPC's mandatory new starter induction program.

Case study

DPC Job Shadow Program

The DPC Job Shadow Program forms part of our commitment to build leadership capability and ensure a strong talent pipeline for the future.

The program offers staff a unique professional development opportunity to learn from our senior leaders. Participants gain valuable insight into decision-making processes of senior leaders and the diversity of issues they manage, as well as how we are achieving our strategic objectives.

A pilot program commenced in 2017 with one officer who was provided the opportunity to shadow the Director- General. The program continued in 2018 with six staff shadowing the Executive Leadership Team.

In 2019, the Job Shadow Program was further extended to include nominated Executive Directors. Ten employees (shadows) from across the department were successfully matched with our senior leaders. Shadows ranged from AO5 through to Senior Officer level and were able to further develop their leadership skills, professional network and corporate knowledge throughout the program.

The program officially commenced on 20 May 2019 and concluded on 28 June 2019. During this six-week period, our shadows undertook one half day of shadowing a week. Shadows kept the department informed through regular communication outputs including blogs, videos and Yammer posts. This enabled our shadows to build on their communication skills while sharing their insights and learnings with fellow colleagues.

The program was highly successful and received positive feedback from both our senior leaders and shadows.

Through our Strategic Workforce Plan 2018–2022, we encourage our staff to seek and embrace broader perspectives and lead at all levels, and our Job Shadow Program exemplifies the great progress we are making in this area.

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