Our people

The core public service values—customers first, ideas into action, unleash potential, be courageous and empower people—continued to underpin the activities and aspirations of our workforce.

This year, as in past years, DPC staff embraced the opportunity to voice their opinions in the annual Employee Opinion Survey with staff participation rates, engagement and employee satisfaction once again exceeding Queensland public sector averages. In the spirit of empowering people and putting ideas into action, employee opinions and perceptions provided a central plank for the development and implementation of strategic, business and action planning during the year.

DPC’s workforce 2016–17

The following is a snapshot of DPC’s workforce profile:

• employed 652.49 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs), including 50.34 FTEs in the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel, 124.6 FTEs in Arts Queensland and 70.84 FTEs in the Corporate Administration Agency
• comprised a workforce in which 66.57 per cent were women and 61.33 per cent of all senior executive and senior officer roles were occupied by women
• maintained a workforce with an average age of 42.09 years compared with the service-wide average of 44.20 years
• provided part-time work opportunities with participation by 15.38 per cent of our staff
• contributed five FTEs to deliver corporate services to our client agencies and to the Public Service Commission
• experienced an annual separation rate for permanent staff of 4.51 per cent
• no early retirement, redundancy or retrenchment packages were paid during this period.

Key achievements 2016–17

• Focused on employee performance through the implementation of an online performance management system for senior officer staff and below. The new performance system integrates with the department’s existing online learning management system and supports employee performance and development using the 70:20:10 learning framework, a combination of experiential (70 per cent), social (20 per cent) and formal learning (10 per cent) activities.
• Introduced a 12-month management program to build the managerial capability of current and future managers. This program adopts the 70:20:10 learning framework and combines foundational programs with other activities designed to challenge and inspire innovative thinking and workforce practices.
• Demonstrated our commitment to stopping violence against women through our participation in the White Ribbon Australia workplace accreditation program. Under this program the department is working with 12 other Queensland Government agencies to build safer and more respectful workplaces and achieve accreditation on 25 November 2017.
• Reviewed our induction and onboarding processes to foster positive working relationships and better support new starters to transition and assimilate into their roles and connect with our vision and culture. The review incorporated the introduction of quarterly face to face inductions with the executive management team, an onboarding survey and tools to support managers and teams induct new starters.
• Consolidated the rollout of all mandatory training programs under a three-year forward program to strengthen our commitment to good governance and ensure high levels of integrity and accountability across the department.
• Launched the 2016–17 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Capability Action Plan. The plan has seen promising and tangible work towards developing a more culturally responsive organisation, which includes a suite of cultural capability training, with several programs delivered to departmental staff throughout the year. Highlights included:
  • the presentation by prominent Indigenous business people Wayne Denning, founder of Carbon Media and Terri Waller, founder of SevGen at the July 2016 Speakers series, sharing their knowledge and personal experiences with DPC staff
  • raising awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural capability through internal communication and the Policy Futures graduate program. This program has realised the appointment of four Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander graduates who will be onboarded as part of the 2018 program, supporting the goal of building cultural capability to improve economic participation.
• Delivered elements of the DPC Leadership Roadmap, which was designed to strengthen connections, conversations and collaboration for DPC’s leaders.
• Responded to Queenslanders impacted by ex‑Tropical Cyclone Debbie with 74 DPC employees volunteering to support response and recovery efforts. Nine employees worked at the State Disaster Coordination Centre assisting with logistics and communications, while 46 of our 65 recovery volunteers provided frontline support across the state in affected regions from the Whitsunday Coast to the South East corner through the community recovery ready reserve program.
• Coordinated the Policy Futures graduates program that drives whole-of-government policy capability development. Thirty-one graduates commenced in February 2017.
• Developed a 2016–17 Corporate Social Responsibility Plan DPC Gives. The plan outlines our objectives for developing partnerships with not-for profit and non‑government organisations and improving employee wellbeing.
• Actively supported the department’s Health and Wellbeing Committee and delivered a health and wellbeing program designed to engage employees and create a safer and healthier working environment by providing practical support to help improve employee health, morale and motivation.

Future directions for 2017–18

• Build a more inclusive and diverse workforce and culture reflective of the broader community we serve.
• Develop and implement a new recruitment and selection framework that supports the attraction and retention of people from diverse backgrounds.
• Continue to build employee capability with a focus on maximising DPC’s capacity to work more flexibly.

Public Sector Ethics Act 1994

DPC continued to support the principles identified under the Public Sector Ethics Act 1994 by delivering Code of Conduct training to 122 employees during 2016–17. The training focused on integrity and accountability and was delivered online through the department’s learning management systems.

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