A supportive work environment that encourages excellence
The Department has committed to a significant reform agenda in 2005–06 which relies on staff working together as teams and having the appropriate supports in place for the future.
The Department fosters a culture of continuous improvement and has undertaken a number of initiatives throughout the year which are designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the way we go about our business.
Our staff
A continued focus on developing our people and organisational capability resulted in some significant achievements in 2005–06, as well as the commencement of a number of new initiatives. The key driver has been the need to support implementation of Reshaping of Public Housing in NSW.
Workforce planning
In an increasingly competitive labour market and with an ageing population, labour and skills shortages are likely to have significant impacts for the Department.
The Department has made substantial progress in workforce planning that is integrated and aligned with the business planning process, and which supports the development of appropriate people and organisation strategies to meet predicted future staffing needs.
Certificate IV in Social Housing
The Department has in place a Program for Certificate IV in Social Housing qualifications, which has replaced the former qualification in Property Management.
Progressively, the Program has been offered to the trainee intakes with 40 staff currently undertaking the two-year traineeship.
The Program emphasises client needs and community building, and has been well
received by trainees who advised that it has helped them to perform better in their role as client service officers.
Project management and change
In early 2006 the Department formed the Project Management and Change Unit (PMCU). This Unit is responsible for building the Department of Housing’s project management capability (for non-construction projects) by developing the best-practice project and change frameworks, methodologies and tools.
Training
The Department’s Learning and Development Council signed off on a comprehensive Learning and Development Strategy and Training Plan. While these encompass a variety of approaches, their key objective is to enhance the overall capability and professionalism of staff in the Department.
The primary focus will be on frontline staff who are expected to take up over 80 percent of the allocated training in core business and operational skills, good business practice, leadership capabilities and generic skills as well as professional
development scholarships which are on offer.
Staffing trends
Employment of EEO target groups is consistent with previous years. Women and Aboriginal people again were a higher proportion than the benchmarked targets.
A range of diversity strategies contributed to the Departments success including:
- a focus on the spokeswomen program
- introduction of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander buddy program
- introduction of a Diversity Policy
- development and implementation of a departmental Aboriginal Development and Employment Strategy
- an annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gathering
- an effective Aboriginal Reference Group
- introduction of a formal exit interview process.
Aboriginal mentoring program
The Department’s mentoring program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff celebrated the anniversary of its first year in March 2006. The program has been highly successful in meeting its objectives in its inaugural year, with 80 per cent of the participants able to achieve their personal career development goals.
Aboriginal Reference Group
The Department’s Aboriginal Reference Group (ARG) exists to:
- promote improved client service delivery for Aboriginal people throughout NSW by representing issues affecting their communities
- act as a key advisory group to the Executive Team in developing Aboriginal service delivery and workforce strategies
- facilitate the annual State gathering for Aboriginal staff and implement service delivery and workforce strategies flowing from the gathering.
The Executive Director, Organisational Improvement, and Deputy Director- General, Operations, are co-sponsors of the ARG, which meets quarterly.
Occupational health and safety
Improvements in occupational health and safety performance continued in 2005–06. With the endorsement and participation of the Executive, key strategies and achievements included:
- completion of an independent audit of workplace risk which resulted in the development of a Client Initiated Violence Risk Control Plan
- development of a three-year Occupational health and Safety and Injury Management and Improvement Plan, implementation of which will be regularly reviewed against targets
- review and standardisation of guidelines for office accommodation to support risk minimisation strategies.
To continue the improvement of occupational health and safety throughout the Department for 2006–07, future strategies will include:
- a review of the effectiveness of consultation and communication
- review of reporting systems
- improving occupational health and safety and injury management training
- clearer assignment of accountability in performance agreements and position descriptions, particularly for senior executive and managers.
Anti-bullying
In consultation with the Public Sector Association and staff, the Department launched a comprehensive campaign for prevention of bullying in the workplace. Extensive promotion of the ‘Know it and say no to it’ slogan encapsulates the focus of the campaign.
New policy and guidelines which clearly describe what constitutes bullying were distributed along with details of appropriate action to be taken by managers to prevent and deal with workplace bullying.
Staff are also encouraged to seek the support of nominated officers and training was provided for team champions across the state.
Management reforms
Business assurance
The Department of Housing takes any and all allegations of inappropriate and corrupt behaviour with the utmost seriousness. The Department operates an 1800 fraud line through the Housing Contact Centre.
Public access to the line is encouraged to bring forward instances of suspected corrupt behaviour, misconduct or fraudulent activity. In all, 235 allegations from all sources were investigated or actioned in 2005–06.
As required under section 11 of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988, all instances of suspected corrupt behaviour were reported to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
A total of 15 internal audits were completed during 2005–06 through a program set out in the Department’s Internal Audit Plan and ad hoc reviews in response to risk assessment activities.
An enterprise-wide risk assessment was also undertaken this year as the basis for development of the 2006–07 Internal Audit Plan.
The unit will be maintaining its regular meetings with the ICAC, to continue proactive management of corruption and fraud prevention, as well as ongoing liaison with the Police on issues of fraudulent activity.
A further focus will be on communicating the Department’s corruption prevention program through a series of focussed training sessions for staff and clients.
Risk Management and Audit Committee
The Risk Management and Audit Committee (RMAC) monitors risk management processes and systems of internal audit and control. The committee meets four times a year and provides advice to the Department’s Executive.
Corruption prevention training
The Department continues to develop a strong culture of ethical work practices to enhance corruption resistance through the provision of mandatory code of conduct training and related information resources.
The Department’s Code of Conduct and Ethics training program forms a part of induction training for new staff. During 2005–06 the Department:
- delivered 29 code of conduct training sessions in 13 locations across the State to around 450 staff
- developed and delivered further training for staff nominated to receive disclosures under the Protected Disclosures Act 1994. Representatives of the NSW Ombudsman’s Office and the Independent Commission Against Corruption jointly conducted the first session with subsequent training delivered by staff from the Department’s Business Assurance Unit
- supplemented the Code of Conduct training program with the development and delivery of an information package and training session for line managers to promote corruption prevention in their workplaces.
Renewal of Insurance Program
Over the past three years, the Department has succeeded in reducing insurance costs from $23.5 million in 2003–04 to $10.5 million in 2005–06. This figure excludes WorkCover premiums and represents total savings of approximately 55 per cent.
Savings were achieved in property and liability premiums through prudent risk management and direct negotiations by the Director, Contracting and Procurement with Australian and international underwriters.
In 2003, the Department established a specialist Insurance Unit. The Unit focuses on a practical approach to the management of insurable risks and minimising costs to the Department. This is achieved through structured claims management processes, analysis and evaluation of risk reporting, and proactive risk mitigation strategies.
Law 9000
In June 2006, the Department’s Legal Services Branch became the first public sector legal team in Australia to be certified to ‘Law 9000’. An internationally recognised quality certification, Law 9000 is founded upon ISO 9001 standards and best practice criteria specific to legal service providers.
To date, only 25 legal practices have been certified in Australia under the new standard, which requires a compliance audit every six months.
This certification provides the Legal Branch with high quality, independent assessments that it is meeting best practice benchmarks, with a focus on client satisfaction.
IT strategy
Infrastructure upgrade
In 2005–06 the Department began a major review of its information technology network. This has resulted in an upgrade of the Wide Area Network (WAN) to deliver an additional 1100 per cent capacity. The Department’s infrastructure ‘refresh’ will continue through 2006–07, which will see the completion of the Local Area Network.
This will provide an upgrade to all Department desktop computers, printers and local servers, along with an improvement in the standard operating environment to Windows XP/Microsoft Office 2003.
Project Eden
The Department also continued to plan for Project Eden in 2005–06, which is an upgrade to the Integrated Housing System, one of the core business information technology systems of the Department.
During the year, Expressions of Interest were sought and detailed requirements were developed for the tender phase to begin in 2006–07. The scope of this project is to provide enhanced information technology for the management of assets, tenancies, applicants and client relationships.