APS HR Professional News

It’s fast approaching one year since the launch of the APS HR Professional Stream. Behind the scenes, fifteen senior HR leaders from across the APS have been working to build the HR capability of the future, while navigating a year that has made incredible demands of our existing HR capabilities.

The coronavirus has brought with it a range of new challenges for HR professionals – but one of the more surprising ones is the consequences of staff presenteeism at an all-time high. Whether it’s delaying travel because of the restrictions, or an increase in workloads brought about by the crisis and the government’s response, people just simply aren’t taking holidays.

With COVID-19 restrictions starting to ease in some parts of the country, many workplaces have begun to consider how and when to transition staff back to the office. But getting staff back is arguably more complex than it was to leave in the first place.

At  the beginning of this year, few could have imagined we’d end up hoarding toilet paper and spending months in our houses.

Or that entire industries could almost completely dry up.

No-one had heard of social distancing, and the idea of walking in a wide arc around neighbours on the footpath would have been deemed insulting.

Meet Chris and Seamus, two of the APS’s newest recruits and members of our first ever HR Professional Stream graduate program. Both have different backgrounds, and have had quite different experiences across 2020. One thing they have in common? A passion for HR and excitement for what the future holds.

According to a recent Australian HR Institute (AHRI) study on COVID-19’s impact to human resources:

• 2 out of 3 HR leaders feel they can’t catch up on their work and wished they had more hours in the day
• 90.3% of HR practitioners feel tired for no reason, for at least some of the time
• these signs are often indicative of mental stress.

A new 6-episode podcast series showcases the work of public sector employees who have successfully completed their AHRI HR certifications.

Find out what their experience was like, what they learnt and what they would do differently.

Each podcast is presented in a Q&A style and is an opportunity to deep dive into a different capstone project and hear practical advice you may be able to apply in your own agency.

In early March, when COVID-19 began developing into a serious issue in Australia, HR professionals across the nation were faced with rapidly transforming workplaces to respond to this unprecedented public health crisis.

The last few months have seen the APS transform in ways we would never have thought possible – and HR has been at the heart of that change. We’ve helped our agencies innovate and adapt so we can continue serving Australians, and that’s meant work looks pretty different right now – whether it’s holding virtual meetings, making space in a lift or even working from home.

Kim Terrell is accustomed to working in high-performing teams: he was part of the Australian swim team for 5 years in the 1980s and went to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, as well as winning ten national titles and holding six Australian records.