Our people
Our workforce delivers real and tangible results for the people of Queensland. Under our Strategic Workforce Plan 2020–2024, we remain committed to building a workforce that is high-performing, accountable, innovative and effective.
In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted our workforce. This saw the department activate its business continuity plan to ensure our employees remained connected, responsive and agile while delivering for Queenslanders.
To support the health response, we have seen parts of our workforce mobilised within the department and across the Queensland public sector to meet emerging needs. We have also coordinated employees to participate in Queensland Health’s contact tracing and deployed staff through the Community Recovery Ready Reserve to ensure our communities are supported during a crisis.
In addition, we have managed the State Disaster Coordination Centre’s Public Information Capability, which ensures critical information reaches authorities and communities across Queensland.
Employee health and wellbeing has been an important part of our COVID-19 workforce response, and employees have been supported throughout this period to ensure they continue to drive positive outcomes for Queenslanders.
Our workforce response has demonstrated our commitment to build leaders at all levels, and to model the public service values in the way we do business.
Working for Queensland Survey
In 2019, our workforce once again participated in the annual Working for Queensland Survey designed to explore employee perceptions of our workplace climate including employee engagement, job satisfaction and leadership within the public service.
The department maintained a response rate of 93 per cent with results higher than the public sector average across all climate factors including:
- leadership and engagement: 80 per cent positive (17 per cent higher than the public sector average)
- people and relationships: 89 per cent positive (14 per cent higher than the public sector average)
- job empowerment: 85 per cent positive (9 per cent higher than the public sector average).
Our survey results highlighted that employee wellbeing remains important to employees, which has been used to identify opportunities for improvement and drive positive workplace change.
Workforce profile 2019–20
The following is a snapshot of DPC’s workforce profile for 2019–20 based on June 2020 Minimum Obligatory Human Resources Information (MOHRI) data:
- employed 465.55 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) including 46.63 FTEs in OQPC
- comprised a workforce in which 70.75 per cent were women and 65.79 per cent of all senior executive and senior officer roles were occupied by women
- maintained a workforce with an average age of 41.05 years compared with the service-wide average of 44.46 years
- provided part-time work opportunities to 13.90 per cent of our employees
- experienced an annual separation rate for permanent employees of 4.46 per cent compared to a sector rate of 4.49 per cent
- no early retirement, redundancy or retrenchment packages were paid during this period.
Key achievements for 2019–20
- Developed a transition plan and tailored resources to support our workforce to remain high performing and productive through each of the key phases of our COVID-19 response, including:
- Ready – prepared our workforce for remote working
- Respond – identified and mobilised parts of our workforce to deliver critical work within the department and other agencies
- Recovery – transitioned our workforce back to office locations and reviewed priorities.
- Coordinated and mobilised employees to support the state-wide response to COVID-19 through participation in the Employee Mobilisation Project, Community Recovery Ready Reserve, Public Information Capability and contact tracing training initiative.
- Developed the Disability Service Plan 2020–2021 to continue driving action to support and promote equitable economic, social and community participation for people with disability.
- Launched a refreshed Cultural Capability Action Plan 2019–2022 with actions that reflect the increased maturity of the department to embed cultural capability and deliver meaningful change.
- Raised awareness of key diversity and inclusion initiatives including NAIDOC Week, National Reconciliation Week, National Sorry Day, Multicultural Queensland Month, LGBTIQ+ Pride Month, Disability Action Week, International Women’s Day, Wear It Purple, and International Day of People with Disability.
- Delivered forums within DPC and across the Queensland public sector to equip employees with knowledge and learnings they can apply within their own roles.
- Continued to raise awareness of domestic and family violence in the workplace by providing information around support services, gender equality, and safe and respectful relationships.
- Delivered staff forums to provide our workforce with information on key priorities and projects as part of our commitment to building a high-performing and engaged workforce.
- Continued to build employee and leadership capability through learning and development offerings, including the delivery of the DPC Mentoring Program.
- Continued to deliver the Be Healthy, Be Safe, Be Well program designed to promote employee health, safety and wellbeing through key initiatives such as flu vaccinations, skin checks and health checks.
- Coordinated employees who supported the Queensland bushfire emergency and local government elections under the Community Recovery Ready Reserve program.
- Coordinated the 2020 Policy Futures Graduate Program which saw 35 graduates commence in policy roles within the Queensland public sector. In addition, a new website was launched to promote the program to attract a high-quality talent pool and to reaffirm the program’s commitment to inclusion and diversity.
Future directions for 2020–21
- Embed learnings and innovations into work practices as a result of key lessons learnt during the COVID-19 workplace response.
- Implement actions under the Strategic Workforce Plan 2020–2024 and Employee Engagement Calendar to support higher levels of performance, innovation, engagement and inclusion.
- Develop our three-year Disability Service Plan to align with the National Disability Strategy and State Disability Plan, supporting a shared approach to driving positive outcomes for people with disability.
- Roll-out the Leadership Competencies for Queensland including updating role descriptions, embedding competencies into performance development agreements, recruitment and selection processes, and aligning these to learning and development opportunities to empower our employees to lead at all levels.
- Redevelop the learning and development strategy to ensure our workforce remains high-performing, innovative and agile.
- Continue to build management capability, with a strong focus on good governance, through a suite of new tools and resources including a tailored new manager induction, manager toolkit and learning and development opportunities.
- Continue to prioritise employee health, safety and wellbeing through the Be Heathy, Be Safe, Be Well program.
- Coordinate the 2021 Policy Futures Graduate Program designed to build policy capability across the Queensland public sector.
- Use departmental data and Faethm software to manage potential impacts of automation on our workforce. As part of our approach, we will identify opportunities to reskill employees affected by digital disruption.
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 2019–20, 133 employees completed Code of Conduct training delivered through the department’s online learning management system. The program is included in DPC’s mandatory new starter induction program and all employees are required to undertake refresher training every three years.
Human Rights Act 2019
The Human Rights Act 2019 (the Act) took effect from 1 January 2020. To support the introduction of the Act and in accordance with section 97 of the Act, the following activities have been undertaken.
- Reviewed and updated internal policies and procedures including the DPC Complaints Management Policy and Procedure, which provide clear guidance on the internal human rights complaint process.
- Developed a departmental Human Rights Policy including a DPC-specific human rights decision-making framework and a step-by-step guide to help employees make decisions and take action in a way that is compatible with the Act.
- Conducted information sessions for employees and an internal forum with the Queensland Human Rights Commissioner. These sessions provided employees with an overview of the Act, what it means for the department, and how employees can act and make decisions in a way which respects the rights it protects.
- Coordinated the ‘Introduction to the Human Rights Act’ face-to-face training for employees and 2020 Policy Futures Graduates offered by the Department of Justice and Attorney-General (DJAG). Employees can also access the Human Rights Commission Public Entities and the Queensland Human Rights Act online training program through the department’s learning management system.
- Reviewed human resources policies and procedures to ensure human rights are embedded within recruitment processes.
- Updated the Queensland Cabinet Handbook, Legislation Handbook and associated templates to reflect the Act.
No human rights complaints were received by DPC in relation to DPC actions or activities between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2020.