Our people

The Department of the Premier and Cabinet’s workforce provides a broad range of services to the Premier and Cabinet, government, and the community, and works closely with other agencies to deliver for the people of Queensland.

The Strategic Workforce Plan 2020–2024 supports a high-performing, accountable, innovative, and effective workforce that puts the people of Queensland first, underpinned by the public service values, which guide behaviour and the way staff do business.

In 2020–2021, the DPC workforce has continued to support the COVID-19 health response, with some areas mobilised within the department and across the Queensland public sector to meet emerging needs.

This has included the coordination of employees participating in Queensland Health’s contact tracing and deploying staff through the Community Recovery Ready Reserve to support the state’s natural disaster and COVID-19 response. Staff were also mobilised to assist the Victorian Government with their COVID-19 response in July and August 2020.

In addition, DPC has continued to coordinate employees who assist with the State Disaster Coordination Centre’s PIC — ensuring critical information reaches authorities and communities across Queensland when needed.

With the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in the workplace, we have supported employees and managers in returning to the workplace and formalised flexible work arrangements as part of Queensland’s economic recovery efforts.

Working for Queensland Survey

In 2020, the workforce participated in the annual Working for Queensland Survey designed to explore employee perceptions of the DPC workplace including employee engagement, job satisfaction and leadership.

DPC maintained a survey response rate of 93 per cent with results higher than the public sector average across all climate factors including:

• people and relationships: 91 per cent positive (14 per cent higher than the public sector average)
• my job: 84 per cent positive (6 per cent higher than the public sector average).
• leadership and engagement: 78 per cent positive (14 per cent higher than the public sector average).

The survey results highlight that employee development and organisational fairness are important to employees.

These action areas have identified opportunities for improvement and positive workplace change.

Workforce profile 2020–2021

The following is a snapshot of the department’s workforce profile for 2020–2021 based on June 2021 Minimum Obligatory Human Resources Information (MOHRI)¹ data.

The department:

• employed 405.80 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) including 45.57 FTEs in OQPC
• comprised a workforce in which 69.91 per cent were women and 68.49 per cent of all senior executive and senior officer roles were occupied by women
• has an average staff age of 42.37 years compared with the service-wide average of 44.63 years
• provided part-time work opportunities to 15.97 per cent of employees
• experienced an annual separation rate for permanent employees of 3.21 per cent compared with a sector rate of 4.86 per cent
• had no early retirement, redundancy or retrenchment packages paid during this period.

Notes:

1. MOHRI FTE data for fortnight ending 18 June 2021.

Key achievements for 2020–2021

• Coordinated the 2021 Policy Futures Graduate Program with a cohort of 25 graduates who were recruited for policy roles across the Queensland public sector. The cohort commenced in April 2021.
• Received White Ribbon Workplace Re-accreditation recognising DPC’s commitment in supporting employees affected by domestic and family violence, as well as promoting a safe and respectful workplace culture.
• Coordinated and mobilised employees to support the state-wide response to COVID-19 through participation in the Employee Mobilisation Project, Community Recovery Ready Reserve, PIC and contact tracing efforts.
• Engaged the workforce through the delivery of staff forums and new starter inductions to provide information on key priorities and projects to build a high-performing and engaged workforce.
• Delivered eleven speaker events within DPC and across the Queensland public sector to equip employees with knowledge and learnings they can apply within their own roles.
• Rolled out 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 physical and mental health checks.
• Developed resources and tools to assist staff in transitioning back to the workplace as part of COVID-19 economic recovery efforts including support to access flexible work arrangements.
• Implemented the Sectorwide Leadership Competencies for Queensland including updating role descriptions, embedding competencies into performance development agreements and recruitment and selection processes.
• Conducted an employee training needs analysis and implemented a range of learning and development initiatives to address key skills gaps.
• Delivered the management development program and introduced a manager induction program to continue to build management capability with a key focus on governance.
• Coordinated annual compliance training including domestic and family violence (Recognise, Respond, Refer), Code of Conduct, cyber security, fraud and corruption, preventing bullying and harassment, and cultural capability (Starting the Journey).
• Continued delivery and reporting on the Disability Service Plan 2020–2021, Cultural Capability Action Plan 2019–2022 and DPC’s contribution to the Queensland Government Reconciliation Action Plan, to drive positive outcomes for people with disability and Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This included the 24 establishment of a Diversity and Inclusion Consultative Committee chaired by a senior executive.
• Raised awareness of key diversity and inclusion initiatives including NAIDOC Week, National Reconciliation Week, National Sorry Day, Mabo Day, Multicultural Queensland Month, LGBTIQ+ Pride Month, Disability Action Week, International Women’s Day, Queensland Women’s Week, Wear It Purple, and International Day of People with Disability.
• Re-established the Agency Consultative Committee and continued to ensure mechanisms for the effective management of industrial relations activities.

Future directions for 2021–2022

• Implement actions under the Strategic Workforce Plan 2020–2024 through the employee engagement calendar and capability development program to support the Strategic Plan 2020–2021 principles of leadership, collaboration, agility, trust, innovation, and inclusion.
• Coordinate the 2022 Policy Futures Graduate Program designed to build policy capability across the Queensland public sector.
• Prioritise employee health, safety, and wellbeing through the Be Healthy, Be Safe, Be Well program by building employee and manager capability to foster a psychologically safe workplace culture. A psychologically safe workplace supports our Diversity and Inclusion program, as well as driving innovation.
• Drive a culture of diversity and inclusion through the delivery of actions under the Cultural Capability Action Plan 2019–2022, Queensland Government Reconciliation Action Plan, Queensland Government Multicultural Action Plan 2019–20 to 2021–22, Disability Service Plan 2021–2022, DPC White Ribbon Operational Plan 2021–2024 and Strategic Workforce Plan 2020–2024.
• Develop and implement the DPC Feedback Framework to build employee capability in giving, seeking, and receiving feedback in response to the employee training needs analysis.
• Introduce an employee and leaders’ development program to build a capability pipeline that prepares the workforce now and into the future. This will also include a review of the learning management system and offerings.
• Continue to build maturity around the awareness and prevention of domestic and family violence.
• Develop a recruitment and selection online toolkit including the repositioning of the employee induction program.

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 2020–2021, 431 employees (including Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel employees) completed Code of Conduct training, which was 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 the department’s Human Rights Policy including the department’s specific human rights decision-making framework and a step-by-step guide to help employees make decisions and act in a way that is compatible with the Act
  • conducted three tailored workshops for more than 50 policy officers within the department with a specific focus on rights identification, human rights impact assessments, certificates, and statements of compatibility with human rights principles
  • coordinated delivery of ‘Introduction to the Human Rights Act’ face-to-face training by the Queensland Human Rights Commission for the 2021 Policy Futures Graduates cohort and provided access to the Human Rights Commission Public Entities and the Queensland Human Rights Act online training program through the department’s learning management system.
  • delivered a virtual ‘Plate of Inspiration’ presentation to employees which provided a broad overview of the Act and the Human Rights Manager Toolkit, as well as the examination of various case studies.
  • reviewed human resources policies and procedures, role descriptions and guides to ensure human rights were embedded within human resource processes.
  • promoted Queensland Human Rights Month and International Human Rights Day to employees.
  • amended the Queensland Cabinet Handbook, Legislation Handbook, and associated templates to clarify requirements for certificates and statements of compatibility with human rights principles.
• No human rights complaints were received by the department in relation to DPC actions or activities between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2021.

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