workforce management plan - ashfield · pdf filean effective workforce strategy will ensure...

ASHFIELD COUNCIL

Workforce Management Plan

2012/13 – 2015/16

Ashfield Council Resourcing Strategy - Workforce Management Plan 2012/13-15/16

Contents Page Section 1: Background 3

Introduction

Methodology

Section 2: Who We Are Now 4

Current Structure

Job Families

Our People Values

Safety

Engaging With Our People

Our People – Equity In Diversity

Generation

Age

Gender

Ethnicity

Residence

Section 3: Who We Want To Be 11

Training and Development

Workforce Positions

Succession Planning

Primary Strategies

Section 4: Our Challenges 13

Business Continuity and Sustainability

Resourcing Long Term Service Demand

Industry Competitiveness

Looking After Our People

Section 5: The Workforce Plan Snapshot 15

Section 6: The 4-year Workforce Delivery Plan 16


Section 1: Background Introduction Workforce planning is an important part of Council’s integrated planning and reporting framework. Council’s Workforce Management Plan forms part of the Resourcing Strategy, helping to resource the organisation to deliver the community’s priorities and aspirations, as expressed in the Community Strategic Plan. Simply put, workforce planning it is about having the right people in the right places with the right skills doing the right jobs at the right time. The Plan enables Council to plan future workforce needs in order to deliver services it provides, focuses on the medium- and long-term requirements and provides a framework for dealing with immediate challenges in a consistent way. Council has a long history of providing a stable and skilled employment base to support the Ashfield community, and aims to show leadership in contributing to the economic and social fabric of the local community. Methodology An effective workforce strategy will ensure Council has the people best able to inform its strategic direction, develop innovative approaches to complex issues, develop and maintain partnerships, deliver appropriate services effectively and efficiently, and engage productively with the local community in implementing the Community Plan and reporting back on its achievements. Workforce planning is a continual process which will be reviewed on a continuous basis. The workforce analysis and planning that has been undertaken for this Plan includes: - the critical analysis of the data available of our current workforce, including a review of our

workforce profiles, employee statistics, and the internal and external environment - the identification of the threats and opportunities this analysis provides as a backdrop to the mid-

term objectives of Ashfield Council - the review of the current skill gaps of job families against Council’s medium term objectives and

future legislative and technology changes - the identification of succession-plans within departments - the identification of contemporary workforce strategies to counter identified threats and to

maximise the identified opportunities

Workforce Management Plan

Workforce Strategies

Workforce Strategy

Workforce Analysis & Planning

Who We Are Now

Who We Want To Be

Road blocks and

Opportunities

Building Bridges

Capacity Capability

Culture

Forecasting What will hold us back

– and move us forward

Future Workforce

Current Workforce

Organisational Development

Adapted From Hounslow and Roberts (2009)


Section 2: Who We Are Now Ashfield Council is a diverse mix of people and professions, offering its 42,000 strong community a large range of essential and localised services. Our 215 people are full-time, part-time, and casual across 175 full-time-equivalent permanent, temporary and contracting roles, representing the 14 diverse job families identified across Council. These people speak over 15 languages between them, representative of the multi-cultural community we serve, and the age of our people range from 20 years to 74 years of age. These people live as close as down the street, to as far away as Penrith and Gosford. Our diversity is our strength – we are representative of our customers and so relate well to our community. It is our diversity that also brings our biggest workforce challenges – challenges in the integration of our strategic and operational priorities, in the training of our diverse workforce, and in the ability to implement workforce strategies within our limited financial and human resources that provide the maximum return to the business of Council. Our size is our strength – being a smaller metropolitan Council we can respond quickly when necessary to changing and competing service demands, and as an organisation we are a family of employees who look after each other. This size, though, also brings challenges in ensuring we always have the right number of staff at all times to deliver our services, and attracting, retaining and developing these staff against a backdrop of significant financial restrictions in an increasingly tighter employment market. Current Structure Council delivers services to the community through three Directorates and the General Manager’s Office. Key activities within each area are:

General Manager's Office Executive and Council Support

Corporate and Community Services

Community Services and Programs Communications and Events Business Relations Customer Service Human Resources Financial Services Internal Audit Corporate Services Information Technology

Planning and Environment Services

Strategic Planning Sustainability Development Assessment Regulatory Services

Works and Infrastructure

Infrastructure Operations Waste Services Aquatic Services Civil Works Parks and Trees


Job Families Local Government is unique in that it provides for, and requires, a diverse range of professions within one organisation. This presents many challenges strategically and operationally, especially in terms of integration. As part of the planning process these professions have been grouped as ‘job families’. These include: • Corporate Professionals • Librarians • Accountants • Labourers • Planners • Compliance Staff • Community Development Staff • Lifeguards • Administrative staff • Skilled Trades staff • Rangers and Compliance staff • Engineers • Customer Relations Staff • Plant Operators Skill shortages identified by industry bodies include the job families of Planners, Accountants and Engineers. Some professions do not necessarily have a skill shortage but the more sought-after people want to contract their skills to Council rather than seek permanent employment. Current examples are senior Strategic Planners and experienced Environmental Health Officers.

Our People Values Our values shape the organisational decisions we make and influence the type of workplace we have. Values are the basis of how we deal with our customers and our colleagues and how we approach our work. We will listen, respect, encourage and support each other, and recognise the success of

others. We will treat our staff with honesty and respect, and will encourage our staff to learn, train

and expand their abilities and skills. We will seek honest, loyal and committed employees. We will provide a pleasant, safe and healthy working environment with high quality systems

and processes. We will put a high priority on a safe working environment for staff, visitors and community

members. We will recognise the importance of a family friendly workplace. We will give clear direction to staff, delegate responsibility wherever possible, and give clear

feedback to staff on their performance. We will fairly and equitably remunerate staff based on their overall performance and

consistent within applicable industrial awards and agreements. We will promote EEO and affirmative action policies and programs where appropriately

possible.

Safety Council understands and embraces a safety-culture as key to its continuing success. Council’s Safe At Work program was established to drive a work-culture where safety is the priority. Council is committed to a safe place for employees, contractors, volunteers, suppliers, customers, visitors and the Community. Staff prepare regular Hazard Identification and Risk Assessments of their workplace.


Engaging With Our People Council has conducted an extensive review of data, and undertaken discussions and held surveys and interviews with Program and Senior Managers to evaluate current and future business and industrial issues that may challenge or drive their ability to deliver the required set of programs and services in the short- and medium- term. The extensive engagement process undertaken to build the 4 year Council Plan Program ensured that workforce considerations informed and were informed by the development of the strategies and actions for the medium term. Council has also conducted an employee opinion survey, and held focus groups with general staff, managers and the Executive to ensure all issues of importance to current staff would be considered during the planning of workforce strategies. The outcomes from this engagement process has in particular shaped specific workforce strategies around succession planning within departments, identifying at-risk job families, identifying internal and external threats to our workforce’s current and future ability to deliver against Council’s goals, and identifying flexible workplace practices to maximise our placement as an employer of choice. Our People – Equity in diversity Council is made up of 215 permanent, temporary and casual workers, and is also supported by volunteers. This combination allows Council to provide a flexible workforce to deliver the needs of the community. These staff are employed in trades, operational and administrative areas, and as supervisors and professionals, and as managers and executive. This breakdown is provided in Figure 1.

Figure1: Employment-Type Distribution

Employment Type

Trades, Administrative and OperationalSupervisors and Professionals

Managers and Executive

62%

8%

30%


The employment-status distribution of these people, and then further broken down by gender, is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Employment-Status Distribution x Gender The majority of these individuals (81%) are permanent full-time and part-time employees. Casuals are used on a short term basis for filling short-term vacancies and assisting with seasonal demands. Volunteers provide valuable services in the Library, Community and Environmental areas. Generation Council acknowledges different drivers and motivators exist for the different generations of people Council employs. Whilst in a study titled The Workforce Crisis, Tamara Erickson (2006) examined 10 work expectations of baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y, and found no significant differences in their underlying values as people - and therefore suggesting that many of the recent public stereotypes attaching to these cohorts in the population are likely to be flawed – there are some observable differences that relate to the workforce. It is widely recognized that Generation X (born 1965-1980) are not driven by employer loyalty and work to fund their lifestyle. Like Generation Y (born 1980 plus), they are technology savvy and inspirational. Generation Y are in turn motivated by opportunities for learning, recognition and feedback, grasp of technology, mobility and a desire to pursue a work/life balance. Baby Boomers (born 1945-1964) are loyal, traditionally work long hours and value knowledge. Understanding these generational drivers impact on how Council attracts, retains and motivates talent. Using the generational separators, Council’s permanent and temporary workers are spread across these identifiers, and then further broken down by gender, as follows in figure 3:

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Full-Time Part-Time Casual

Num

ber O

f Sta

ff

Employment Status By Gender

Male

Female

Figure 3: Generational Identifier By Gender

An analysis of this distribution shows that Council is proportionally slightly over‐represented by baby‐boomers, and is under‐represented by Generation Y. Age An analysis of our people’s age distribution (figure 4) across Council shows that 35% of our staff are aged under 40 years, and a further 40% are aged between 40 and 54. Further, 12% of our staff are likely to retire in the next 5 years, and another 13% likely to retire in between 5‐9 years, therefore it is important that our workforce strategies enable knowledge‐capturing, and allow for succession planning and phased retirement options.

Figure 4: Age Distribution By Employment Type


0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Baby Boomers Generation X Generation Y

Number Of Staff

Generational Identifier by Gender

Male

Female

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

20‐39 40‐54 55‐59 60‐65 >65

Num

ber Of Staff

Age Distribution By Employment Type

Managers and Executive

Supervisors and Professionals

Trades, Administrative and Operational


Gender Council is proud to have appointed its first female, current, General Manager in 2010. Council’s Executive team has a 50% gender distribution, and Council’s supervisory and management team is close to gender-balance with women making up 48% of the group. Council’s full gender-distribution across employment-status, employment-type, and supervisory and management positions is (as extracted from Council EEO Plan 2011/12-14/15) shown in figure 5:

Figure 5: Gender Distribution Across Employment Type and Status An further analysis of the employment area distribution by gender (figure 6) shows that over 70% of administrative and professional positions are held by women, while only 12% of operational and trades positions are held by women.

Figure 6: Employment Type x Gender

Group of employees

Women

Men

Total

Women as a % - Current

Women as a % - Target

Total employees

101

124

225

45%

50%

Full time

49

103

152

32%

-

Part-Time

27

2

29

92%

-

Casual

29

14

43

67%

-

Administrative

57

11

68

83%

50%

Trades & Labour

7

86

93

7%

25%

Grade 6 – 7

22

24

46

48%

50%

Grade 8 and above

9

9

18

50%

50%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Administrative and Professional Trades and Operational

# O

f Sta

ff

Employment Type By GenderCasual - Female Part Time - Female Full-time - Female

Casual - Male Part-Time - Male Full-time - Male


Ethnicity Similar to the wider Ashfield community which has 42% of its residents born overseas, Council staff is made up of a rich diversity of people from various cultural and religious backgrounds. Languages spoken by our people include Cantonese, Mandarin, Arabic, Greek and Italian. This enables Council to reflect, interact and respond to our local community. Residence Approximately one-third of our people live within the Ashfield Local Government Area (figure 7). Another third travel to work from other areas within the inner-west. 30% of our people travel between 10 and 25 kilometres to work, and the remaining 9% travel more than 25 kilometres to and from work each day, living as far as the south-coast, northern beaches, mid-north coast and Penrith regions.

Figure 7: Distance Travelled To Work By Staff

01020304050

Between 0-2 kilometres







Distance Travelled To Work

# Of Staff


Section 3: Who We Want To Be Over the period 2010-11 dedicated Manager and Executive structured Workforce Planning interviews were conducted. The data from these interviews have helped shape this Plan. In particular, succession planning, skill-gap identification, and identification of workplace priorities in the effort to retain and attract specific professional groups, have been synthesised from these interviews. In turn, this data has been cross-referenced with the data collected during the planning workshops conducted with staff that were called on to build the Council Plan 2012-16. Staff in these workshops were asked to specifically consider how the impact of the objectives and actions identified for the Council Plan would impact on Council in the areas of future staffing numbers, skills and development. Data collected from this section has been assessed against our challenges and emerging workforce priorities, and integrated where appropriate into our four year Council Plan. Areas Identified For Development And Training 18 strategies and actions for staff Training and Development have been drawn from these interviews and workshops. These include: Social Media and community engagement skills Cultural Competence development Revenue generation skills Shared purchasing skills Volunteer management skill development Project management skills Managing and Building Team Performance and Mentoring skills

These identified needs are summarised in Attachment (xx) and are incorporated into the 4 Year Program of Actions. Changes in Workforce Positions There are a number of potential trainee positions that have been identified. These trainee positions would be dependent on funding being available in the forms of grants or other assisted sources, or on positions being able to be re-designed through natural attrition. A Project Officer position to support cross-Directorate projects has been identified as a potential resource that could be designed if the opportunity presented through natural attrition. The detailed changes are summarised in Attachment 1 and are incorporated into the 4 Year Program of Actions.


Succession Planning Managers and Executive have identified “critical” and “important” positions within their areas that may be difficult to fill over the 4 years if they became vacant. These difficulties may be due to industry shortages, current inflated market salaries, and/or because they are positions that Council has little scope to promote into from within. These positions have been identified and succession plan development actions are incorporated into the 4 Year Program of Actions. Primary Workforce Strategies 5 primary Workforce Strategies have been identified through these interviews and workshops: Deliver a performance management system, and supporting salary system, that is a business

excellence model and industry leader

Deliver organisational development through Business Excellence modelling and an integrated leadership program

Resource the current stronger need for supporting Community Events through non-traditional approaches

Develop a shared staffing model of an SSROC or other Councils casuals-pool, to off-set the current and forecasted shortage of engineers and job families as identified.

Continue to develop and review flexible work practices

These strategies are incorporated into the 4 Year Program of Actions.


Section 4: Our Challenges The Council Plan over the next 4 years seeks to maintain the current suite of services and service levels. However, increasingly communities are expecting more services from their government, including local government. With this in mind, from a Workforce Management Plan perspective, the following challenges have been identified: Business Continuity and Sustainability Ashfield Council has challenges that are unique to organisations of its size, in that a position may deliver against a variety of services that in larger organisations are delivered by several positions or departments. Consequently, an absence – either planned or unplanned – can disrupt the service delivery against a number of areas. This is particularly true at our management and professional levels. As Council experiences natural attrition, it will be vital to stay alert for opportunities to recast and realign services under revised business models. Strategies over the 4 years will be built around flexible and innovative business models, such as:

developing shared labour pools with other Councils, multi-skilling groups to deliver a team-service Identification of core staff profile and at-risk services Identification of succession plans for critical roles Identification of contingency plans for critical functions

Resourcing Long Term Service Demand All Councils are regularly required to respond to changing and competing service demands, either as required by the local community, broader developing social expectations, or through new legislation such the Integrated Planning and Reporting framework. Skills necessary to respond to our community’s needs today and in the future have also been identified, and potential future shortfalls have been identified against the job families of Strategic Planners, Development Assessors, Engineers, Arborists and Rating staff. These gaps are also a common industry challenge and so along with the entire Local Government industry, Ashfield is facing long-term challenges. Strategies over the 4 years will be focussed on: reviewing the capability and staffing levels in line with changes to service levels in the

Council Plan ensuring training and development is responsive and effective actively participating in industry engagement and collaboration investigating alternate models of service delivery, such as shared service models


Industry Competitiveness Staff are covered under the NSW Local Government Award which provides for wage increases over future years. The core competition issues facing Ashfield Council are twofold. Ashfield Council’s current salary policy pitches are at the 25% percentile of the salary market within Local Government which means for many positions such as Development Assessors we run the risk of only attracting a pool of relatively inexperienced staff. This also provides challenges for being able to retain our talented staff. Secondly Local Government as an industry faces current and future competition from boom industries, such as mining in Western Australia and in Queensland which is a current drain on NSW’s professional labour pool of engineers. Whilst our Council – like many - is able to promote its value-proposition of a family-friendly workplace offering flexible hours and other competitive work/life balance benefits to compensate for lower wages compared to other levels of government and private industry, it is increasingly falling behind the market in monetary increases. Growing competition within Local Government and the private sector means that workforce strategies must provide for Councils to work together as an industry in order to stay competitive, and must focus on: ensuring benefits available to staff both appeal to our target audience and are

communicated effectively to maximise return on investment. development Employer of Choice principles and align flexible and innovative job structuring

practices around these principles including job share and teleworking Alignment of marketing, branding and reputation against Employer Of Choice principles

Looking After Our People Ashfield Council has low turnover rates by industry standards and currently continues to attract qualified staff when recruiting, albeit from increasingly shrinking application pools. It will be vital to synthesize our people’s reasons for coming, and then staying, with Ashfield Council to ensure we consciously build on these attraction and retention blocks, and then build on these to keep our diverse workforce safe, skilled and engaged. Strategies over the 4 years will be geared towards analysing; induction surveys, engagement surveys, and exit surveys

to maximise our attraction and retention advantage. Resources will also focus on: implementing new Work Health Safety strategies implementing the EEO Diversity strategy staff social networking and information re-shoring the staff communication framework building organisational resilience through increasing the emotional intelligence skill base and

interpersonal skill base undertaking a values project providing professional development in areas of coaching and mentoring developing strong leadership throughout the organisation.


Section 5: The Workforce Management Plan Snapshot

Our Challenges • Ensuring we have the right number of staff required

to deliver our services

• Keeping the business going in the short term when people in key positions are absent

• Looking after our people – keeping our diverse workforce safe, skilled and engaged

• Our ongoing ability to respond to changing and competing service demands

• Attracting and retaining high calibre people

• Managing increased staffing costs against a backdrop of significant financial restrictions

• Managing salary market competitiveness in an increasingly tighter employment market.

Our Profile • Our diverse workforce

o 215 staff

o 14 job families represented

o 15 languages spoken by staff

o Age range 20-74

Our Strengths • Our commitment to Work Health and Safety

• Our commitment to developing our staff

• Our diverse workforce

Workforce Management Strategic Priorities

• Brand and promote Ashfield Council as an attractive employment choice for talented people

• Deliver a financially sustainable performance management system, and supporting salary system, that is a business excellence model and industry leader

• Deliver organisation development through Business Excellence modelling and an integrated leadership program

• Ensure innovative and flexible work practices appeal to their targeted audience

• Engage and collaborate with other Councils to increase industry competitiveness

• Provide for the smooth integration of new Work Health and Safety legislation into Council’s diverse practices

• Continue to develop policies and practices that strengthen our ability to effectively relate to our diverse internal and external community

Undertake a values project

Key Performance Indicators • Ashfield Council promotes Employer Of Choice

principles

• Performance Management System is viewed as fair and promotes professional development

• Salary System is financially sustainable and supports good people attraction and retention


Section 6: The 4-year Workforce Delivery Plan

DELIVERY PROGRAM

2012/

13

2013/

14

2014/

15

2015/

16

RESPONSIBILITY

Business Continuity

Identify core staff profile and at-risk services • EMG

Identify contingency plans for critical functions • Managers/EMG

Identify succession plans for identified critical roles • • • • Managers/MHR

Identify labour pools of casual staff, and with other councils • Managers/MHR

Explore opportunities for secondments with other Councils • • MHR

Multi-skill individuals and groups to deliver a team service • • Managers/MHR

Resourcing Long Term Service Demand

Review capability and staffing levels in line with changes to service levels in Council Plan

• EMG

Deliver 4 year development and training plan • • • • MHR

Undertake Industry engagement and collaboration on shared models • • • • Managers

Promote networking and other professional development opportunities • • • • EMG

Provide a professional development program that keeps staff engaged with emerging industry practices and trends

• • • • MHR

Industry Competitiveness

Develop Employer Of Choice Principles - including flexibility and innovation

in structuring positions (job-share, teleworking, phased retirement etc) •

EMG/ Managers/MHR

Base marketing, branding and reputation on Employer of Choice Principles • • MHR

Deliver a salary system that is a business excellence model and industry leader

• • EMG/MHR

Deliver a performance management system that is a business excellence model and industry leader

• • EMG/MHR

Looking After Our People

Implement Safe at Work strategy • • • • Managers /MHR

Implement the 4 year EEO and Diversity Plan • • • • EMG/MHR

Remodel internal communication framework • • • • Managers/EMG

Promote social club, staff newsletter and staff activities • • • • MHR

Build organisational resilience through increased emotional intelligence skill training

• • • • EMG/MHR

Undertake a Values development project • Managers

Continue professional development with a focus on mentoring and coaching

• • EMG/MHR

Develop and implement a leadership development model • • • EMG/MHR

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