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Annual Report 06–07
Output 2: Child Support Agency—Management and accountability
People
Staffing statistics
At 30 June 2007, CSA employed 4,137 people (including employees on long-term leave) under the Public Service Act 1999. On average, 3,301 staff were employed over the year, 291 more than in 2005–06. The workforce included 97.4 per cent ongoing and 85.4 per cent full-time employees.
Detailed information on staffing is provided in Appendix 1
Donny Mara
Human resource management
Attracting and retaining staff
Recruitment activities during the year were promoted through CSA’s ‘Great place to work’ campaign. As CSA competes for a diverse and sophisticated workforce in a tight labour market, this campaign seeks to increase both the number of applications received and the retention of existing high-quality employees, by implementing communication activities to position CSA as an employer of choice.
Recent improvements to recruitment activities have impacted positively on the number of applicants registering their interest in working for CSA. For instance, the Casual Employment Register initiative has opened opportunities for targeting people who are not normally pursued by CSA recruitment campaigns.
Promoting a safe and supportive workplace
Appendix 7 provides details of Occupational Health and Safety performance in 2006–07.
Remuneration
Certified agreement
At 30 June 2007, 3,857 staff were employed under Balancing Performance and Wellbeing, the Child Support Agency Certified Agreement 2005–07.
Salary ranges for employees under the certified agreement are provided in Appendix 1. Under the terms of the current certified agreement, staff will be entitled to a 4 per cent salary increase from 1 July 2007.
The agreement also provides the following non-salary benefits:
- Flexbank, which provides for the accrual and storage of flex-time during CSA’s peak business season and the conversion of up to five days of accrued flex-time annually to cash;
- flexible working arrangements, including regular part-time agreements, regular-hours agreements, flex-time and time off in lieu;
- study support;
- an Employee Assistance Programme; and
- year-end close-down.
The certified agreement has a nominal expiry date of 15 December 2007. A new agreement is currently being negotiated with staff and representatives of the Community and Public Sector Union.
Australian Workplace Agreements
CSA offered Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) to all Senior Executive Service (SES) and Executive Level officers in 2006–07.
Offers of AWAs are made to officers as individual circumstances arise, particularly to recognise specialist skills and knowledge or to facilitate unique employment conditions not provided for under the certified agreement.
CSA AWAs link individual performance to the achievement of corporate objectives and to pay outcomes, including payment of performance bonuses.
The numbers of CSA staff covered by AWAs and their salary ranges are set out in Appendix 1.
Performance pay
In accordance with the SES and Executive Level Performance Management Schemes, CSA SES and Executive Level employees covered by an AWA may have been eligible for a performance bonus based on their individual performance assessment at the end of June 2007. SES employees who received a superior performance rating (4 out of 5) received up to 10 per cent of their annual base salary and those with an outstanding rating (5 out of 5) received up to 15 per cent of their annual base salary as performance pay. Executive Level employees who received a superior performance rating received up to 5 per cent of their annual base salary and those with an outstanding rating received up to 10 per cent of their annual base salary as performance pay.
The performance bonuses paid in 2006–07 for performance during the 2005–06 financial year are set out in Table 9.
| Level | Staff eligible | Staff paid | Amount paid ($) | Average ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EL 1 | 68 | 41 | 79,626 | 1,942 |
| EL 2 | 52 | 34 | 150,411 | 4,424 |
| SES Bands 1–3 | 11 | 9 | 102,665 | 11,407 |
| Total all eligible employees | 131 | 84 | 332,702 | 3,961 |
APS = Australian Public Service; EL = Executive Level; SES = Senior Executive Service
Note: Two payments were deferred salary payments of 6 per cent of salary. Range for SES classifications not disclosed to protect privacy.
Learning and development
As part of the organisational change in CSA in 2006–07, a core national learning and development structure was established. The structure includes strategies to ensure staff have the technical, customer interaction and leadership skills that they need to provide exceptional customer service. The endorsed training and development plan for CSA includes strategies to ensure a nationally consistent training outcome across a broad range of subject areas, including customer focus training and targeted technical training.
In 2006–07, CSA invested $2,755,003 in training activities delivered by external training providers. In addition, a range of learning programmes were developed internally to meet the special requirements of the CSA’s organisational changes. As well as customer service training, there was a national emphasis on training in core areas such as employee induction, fraud awareness, privacy and secrecy, finance and procurement, and project management.
To evaluate the overall outcomes of CSA’s learning and development activities, a range of input was sought from various parts of CSA to define the staff capability measure. In addition, each training programme was evaluated on completion, and the outcomes of these evaluations were reported to a reference group for review.
Workplace diversity
Under its Workplace Diversity Plan 2006–08, CSA worked to develop an inclusive and supportive workplace through a number of strategies and key performance indicators. For example, CSA applied the principles of reasonable adjustment and provided in-house rehabilitation case managers to support employees with disabilities. All formal communication and training in CSA used inclusive language and was delivered in formats accessible to the participants.
As an active participant in the DHS Indigenous Employment Taskforce, CSA sought to attract and retain Indigenous Australian employees to improve their employment and career opportunities and build the agency’s capability for achieving improved service delivery to Indigenous Australians.
CSA’s Indigenous Employment and Career Advancement Strategy 2005–08, which complements targeted recruitment programmes such as the Australian Public Service Commission Indigenous Graduate Programme, Indigenous Cadet Programme and Indigenous Trainee Programme, received a positive response. The number of Indigenous staff in CSA increased by 70 per cent, and the number of Indigenous staff in more senior positions increased by two people. The proportion of Indigenous employees in CSA rose from 0.8 per cent of all employees in June 2006, to 1.8 per cent at 30 June 2007. CSA is progressing well towards a target of 2.2 per cent Indigenous employees by June 2008.
Indigenous staff were involved in recruitment processes and leadership and management training, and CSA’s Indigenous Staff Network, which has improved retention by supporting Indigenous employees, grew to include Indigenous employees around the country. Training to promote awareness of Indigenous cultures is being delivered to all employees and more than 1,500 employees, (37 per cent) completed the training in 2006–07.