Workforce planning resources

APS Workforce Planning

The Government’s APS Reform Agenda and Delivering for Australians highlighted the need to build an integrated strategic approach to workforce management. The need to strengthen workforce planning capability to plan and develop the capabilities the APS needs for the future is becoming increasingly more critical.

Centre of Excellence for APS Workforce Planning Capability

The Centre of Excellence for APS Workforce Planning Capability supports the implementation of Delivering for Tomorrow: APS Workforce Strategy 2025 through building and deploying strategic workforce planning capability within the APS.  

Through the Centre the Australian Public Service Commission has built a long-term, evidence-based program of work to create the APS workforce planning ecosystem. The program focuses on support for agencies to have modern, data-driven workforce management practices integrated as a key component of business planning. The Centre of Excellence builds workforce planning capability through policy advice and frameworks, tools and resources, capability development offerings, leadership and peer support/coaching via the Workforce Planning Community of Practice.

Strategic Workforce Planning in the APS

Strategic workforce planning is the ongoing process of identifying an organisation’s current and future workforce needs against strategy and deliverables, and planning for and mitigating workforce risks arising from identified workforce gaps.  

The APSC has developed three foundational tools to assist in workforce planning across the APS:

• The APS Workforce Planning Guide provides the framework and key principles of evidence-based, business linked, agile and flexible workforce planning within the APS. 
• The APS Job Family Framework enables APS agencies to segment and understand their workforce from an occupational / job role point of view, to be able to conduct occupational-based workforce planning. It enables agencies to better link their workforce to the Australian labour market
• The APS Strategic Workforce Analysis and Reporting Guide establishes a consistent approach to workforce reporting across the APS, and provides a common understanding of a discrete set of workforce metrics that are aligned to reporting at a whole-of-APS level. The Guide has been undergoing a comprehensive review over 2021-2022 to align with, and ensure it supports, the Realising Success section of the APS Workforce Strategy. An alpha version for consultation was made available from mid-2022.

Relevant resources for APS workforce planning and workforce strategy practitioners are hosted through a dedicated hub in GovTEAMS. APS employees in those roles are encouraged to join the APS Workforce Planning Community of Practice on GovTEAMS to gain access to this hub.

The APS Workforce Planning Hub  provides tools to build workforce planning capability and conduct workforce planning exercises in APS agencies. The hub hosts the latest learning and planning resources, case studies, labour market information, APS labour force insights and various APS and external reports and publications to support workforce planning within the APS.

Visit the APS Workforce Planning Community of Practice GovTEAMS site for more details on how to join the community.  

For all enquiries regarding the APS workforce planning tools and the Workforce Planning Community of Practice, email the APSC Workforce Planning team at APSWFP@apsc.gov.au  

Further resources

The APS Statistical Bulletin and the APS Employment Data Releases present a summary of employment under the Public Service Act 1999. Each Statistical Bulletin provides current data and data from at least the previous 15 years. 

The State of the Service Report (SOSR) is an annual report tabled to Parliament on the state of the Australian Public Service (APS). The SOSR looks at information on how the capability and capacity of the APS has contributed to meeting strategic goals and addressing the Government’s priorities. It includes research and analysis on workforce trends and current topics of interest about the APS. SOSR data is informed by the APS Employee Database (APSED), APS employee census and the APS agency survey.