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People and performance

This page provides access to a range of resources about people management and organisational performance that have been published by the Australian Public Service Commission. The resources cover several topics, including:

Diversity

Ability at Work: Tapping the talent of people with disability
This toolkit has been developed to assist agencies in their efforts to improve the way that they attract and retain people with disability.

APS Employment and Capability Strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employees
The employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees within the Australian Public Service provides an important contribution to achieving Government policy development, service delivery, employment and equity outcomes.

Census Report: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander APS Employees
This report is part of a program of research to inform current and future approaches to improving attraction, development and retention of Indigenous Australians to the Australian Public Service (APS). Its findings are based largely on a survey (the Census Survey) of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander APS employees conducted in November 2005.

Employment of people with disability in the APS
Providing a work environment which attracts applicants with disability and supports the career aspirations of successful applicants makes good business sense. It allows agencies to tap a pool of increasingly qualified applicants and encourages a supportive and flexible workplace that is attractive to all applicants.

Guidelines on workplace diversity
Guidelines on Workplace Diversity is designed to assist agencies meet their legal obligation to develop a workplace diversity program and to help them embed the principles of workplace diversity in their culture and their management systems. These Guidelines cover the legal framework for workplace diversity in the Australian Public Service and offer suggestions about how to establish and implement an effective workplace diversity program.

Leadership

Integrated Leadership System
The Integrated Leadership System (ILS) has been developed to provide a common language for leadership development in the APS. The ILS provides capability development guidance for individuals and agencies in the form of descriptions and behaviours for all levels in the APS. It contains practical tools for individuals and agencies to chart leadership development.

One APS—One SES
This statement by MAC, sets out the challenges facing the APS in a devolved and contestable environment, and describes the leadership role that is required of the SES to meet them.

SES speech and media resources
This page brings together links to speeches and other presentations on a range of themes of interest to the SES. Major themes include: leadership, capability and performance; challenges and organisational change; public sector governance, client service and stakeholder engagement.

Senior Executive Leadership Capability (SELC) Framework
This Framework seeks to establish a shared understanding of the critical success factors for performance in APS leadership roles. The Framework identifies the five core criteria for high performance by senior executives. Each of the criteria heads a group of inter-related capabilities. The Framework does not describe the functions or responsibilities of particular senior executive roles.

Performance

Organisational

Building business capability through workforce planning
Workforce planning is about achieving sustained organisational performance and accountability through the development of a capable workforce. This guide is intended to enable you to make the critical decisions and identify the key strategies that will assist your agency to deliver business outcomes now and into the future.

Connecting Government: Whole of Government Responses to Australia’s Priority Challenges (MAC 4)
The APS needs to coordinate policy, programmes services across portfolios and jurisdictions. MAC identified a number of imperatives for the APS that make whole of government work increasingly important including pressures to offer sophisticated whole of government policy advice that comprehends a range of stakeholders’ views; to respond to complex policy challenges and intractable social issues; and to integrate service delivery.

Managing succession within the APS
Succession management is a strategic, systematic and deliberate activity to ensure an organisation’s future capability to fill vacancies, without ‘patronage or favouritism... [and] within the Framework of the merit principle and the APS Values.’ It specifically focuses on ensuring the availability and sustainability of a supply of capable staff who are ready to assume key or critical roles, if selected through normal APS competitive selection processes.

Note for file: Record keeping (MAC 8)
Recordkeeping has always been important to the APS, as one of the keys to good government. However, the Management Advisory Committee believes that a sharper focus on effective recordkeeping is timely.

Organisational Renewal
APS agencies face increased competition for new entrants to the labour market, and an increasing challenge to retain skilled people. The participation of mature-aged workers needs to be maximised, by encouraging older workers to remain in the workforce longer, including scope for more phased retirement. Interesting work and flexible working arrangements are critical to retaining older and younger employees.

Reducing red tape in the APS
Unnecessarily burdensome and prescriptive administrative requirements can increase the cost of doing our business. They may divert resources away from the delivery of important services to the Australian public, lower workplace productivity and reduce job satisfaction levels. This report is about reducing the Australian Public Service’s internal processes and, equally important, finding ways to help stop them being replaced or reintroduced in the future.

People

Counselling for better work performance
This document is intended to provide managers with an outline of their responsibilities, and advice about work performance counselling. (co-issued with Comcare)

Fostering an attendance culture: A guide for APS agencies
Supporting employees with genuine illness and caring responsibilities underpins the APS as a model employer. However, absenteeism is a significant issue that has the potential to reduce productivity and damage the credibility of the APS.

Managing and Sustaining the APS Workforce
This report canvasses the workforce issues confronting the Australian Public Service and outlines a series of strategic and dynamic approaches to managing and sustaining the APS workforce that agencies should begin to put in place

Performance Management
This booklet provides advice and guidance on performance management. It sets out the basic requirements of the legislation and policy framework which agencies must observe and around which they should establish appropriate agency-specific performance management arrangements.

Performance management in the APS: A strategic framework
This MAC report provides:

Sharpening the focus: Managing performance in the APS
This guide has been prepared to assist agencies to reflect upon, review and refine their performance management approaches and systems.

Turned up and tuned in
Turned Up and Tuned In has been developed as a practical resource for managers in managing workplace absence. It is designed to complement agencies’ own policies and procedures

Recruiting to the APS

Conditions of engagement
This booklet covers the conditions of engagement that may be imposed, excluding probation, when engaging APS employees. (note: probation is covered in a separate publication)

Get it Right- a recruitment kit for managers
Get it Right has been designed to assist APS line managers achieve quality recruitment and selection decisions. Developed in consultation with HR areas and line managers from across the APS Get it Right explores recruitment within the APS legal framework, seeks to increase awareness of effective recruitment techniques, dispels many recruitment and selection 'urban myths' and highlights three key principles for effective recruitment - define, attract, select.

Ongoing employment: recruitment and related issues
This booklet provides general advice on non-SES, ongoing recruitment and selection issues.

Probation
This booklet provides advice and guidance to Agency Heads, human resource practitioners and agency staff more generally on matters that should be considered in relation to engaging an employee on probation.

Values and conduct

APS Values and Code of Conduct in Practice: Guide to official conduct for APS employees and Agency Heads
This publication assists APS employees to understand the practical application of the APS Values and Code of Conduct. It also assists Agency Heads to establish policies and procedures that promote the APS Values and ensure compliance with the Code

Embedding the APS Values
Under the Public Service Act 1999 Agency Heads have all the powers of employers, and it is the APS Values (and the Code of Conduct) which provide the broader framework for the APS as a whole. The arrangement provides the flexibility necessary for the Service to be able to meet different responsibilities and to address change effectively and innovatively. It relies, however, on agencies and employees understanding clearly the APS Values, and their shared roles and responsibilities as part of the institution that is the APS. The APS Values are in law. All APS employees are bound to uphold them. Agency Heads and members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) are also required to promote them.

Handling misconduct
This good practice guide has been developed to assist human resource practitioners in agencies to review and improve their guidance material and procedures for reporting and dealing with suspected breaches of the Code. Actions that are suspected breaches, or determined to be breaches of the Code, are referred to as suspected misconduct or misconduct in this guide.

Respect: Promoting a culture free from harassment and bullying in the APS
Australian Public Service leaders need to foster a positive workplace environment where people treat each other and the community with respect, and where harassment and bullying are unacceptable. Good practice and summary guides have been developed to provide practical guidance for managers and employees.

Supporting Ministers, Upholding the Values
The guide examines broad good practice principles associated with establishing the roles and responsibilities that define interactions between Australian public servants and Ministers and their advisers. It also identifies particular issues that present challenges to APS staff from time to time that might call for more specific guidance at the agency level.

Whole of government

Australian Government use of information and communication technology
Increasingly, information and communications technology plays an important role in determining the quality and accessibility of services. The development of effective whole-of-government approaches to ICT is critical to achieving further significant gains in the delivery of government services.

Connecting Government: Whole of government responses to Australia's priority challenges
For some years now, public servants have been exhorted to work in a whole of government fashion.  They have been told that policy development needs to be 'joined up'; policy delivery should be 'seamless'; and 'departmentalism' should be eschewed. The achievement of optimal outcomes in policy development, programme management and service delivery will often require public servants to work collaboratively across agencies and portfolios.

Implementing Machinery of Government Changes: A good practice guide
This publication has been designed to provide practical guidance to help agencies implement machinery of government changes. It has been developed jointly by the Australian Public Service Commission, the Department of Finance and Administration, and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, in consultation with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the National Archives of Australia.