Attraction, recruitment and retention

The challenge the APS faces in attracting and retaining skilled and talented employees has been well-documented.¹ The cumulative effects of wider demographic changes, including the ageing of the labour force and the sustained strength of the economy, have resulted in acute shortages for some skills and increasing competition for others.

A range of strategies for agencies to adopt in addressing these issues was included in MAC’s report, Managing and Sustaining the APS Workforce (2005). ² This chapter looks at agencies’ progress in the areas identified in the MAC report. It examines agencies’ workforce planning activities and then moves on to issues of attraction and recruitment. Information on agencies’ approaches are presented as well as employees’ views on the attributes of their agency that attracted them to their current job, and the length and complexity of recruitment processes.

The second half of the chapter examines agencies’ retention strategies and employees’ intentions about staying or leaving their agency. Some innovative initiatives, at both the APS-wide and agency level are outlined, and recent trends in APS remuneration are explored.

1 See, for example, Management Advisory Committee 2003, Organisational Renewal, and 2005, Managing and Sustaining the APS Workforce, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, <http://www.apsc.gov.au/mac>

2 Management Advisory Committee 2005, Managing and Sustaining the APS Workforce, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, <http://www.apsc.gov.au/mac>