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Media release - Managing and sustaining the APS workforce

The Commissioner

Lynelle Briggs
Lynelle Briggs is the Public Service Commissioner. She has held this position since November 2004.

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Issued 10 October 2005

The Australian Government’s Management Advisory Committee (MAC) today released its latest report, Managing and Sustaining the APS workforce.

The report canvasses workforce factors—workforce ageing, labour market constraint and changing career patterns—that have major implications for the Australian Public Service’s ongoing capacity to deliver the high quality policy, programmes and services that the government and the Australian community expect of a professional public service.

Dr Peter Shergold, Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, said of the public service ‘we need to position ourselves to succeed in a war for talent’.

‘New recruits to the public service now have tertiary qualifications. They are attracted by the opportunity to contribute to the development of complex public policy. But they have different attitudes and expectations. I sense that they are prepared to vote with their feet if their work experience does not measure up to their expectations’ Dr Shergold warned.

A picture of a public service that is significantly different to that of only 15 or 20 years ago emerges from the report. According to the Public Service Commissioner, Ms Lynelle Briggs, people used to enter the public service at the base level for what they expected to be a ‘career for life’.

‘They advanced largely on the basis of seniority and were protected from external competition. Twenty years ago about 60 per cent of all APS jobs were in the 1-4 classification range, compared to only about 40 per cent now. The public service is very different now, so we shouldn’t be surprised that the workforce strategies that worked for us in the past aren’t serving us well now’ Ms Briggs added.

Agencies now have much greater flexibility to modify and develop their workforce in response to changing business requirements. The report shows, however, that emerging demographic trends and changing career patterns and expectations require systematic workforce planning in all agencies, and a sharpened processes for recruiting and retaining staff from outside the APS, especially graduates and other younger employees.

Areas where the report suggests reforms include: employment arrangements, the use of e-recruitment systems, learning and development, graduate recruitment and training, and workforce diversity.

The report includes ‘actions’ that will help Australian Government agencies respond to the challenges identified, including skill shortages, a more mobile and better educated workforce, evolving career expectations and demands for more flexible working arrangements.

A statement to the Senior Executive Service of the APS, titled One APS—One SES, was also issued today. It sets out their critical leadership role as the APS confronts the challenges set out in Managing and sustaining the APS workforce.

The report will be officially launched at the Australian War Memorial on Tuesday, 11 October, 2005. Dr Peter Shergold and Ms Lynelle Briggs will speak at the launch.

For more information please contact the Commission on 02 6202 3524.

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