Foreword by the Head of the State Service

When I gave my annual State of the Service address in December 2016, I said it was a great opportunity to reflect on the work the State Service does, and that it reminds me that no matter how great the challenges are ahead, we should have confidence as we look to the future. To be able to meet those future challenges we have to make sure that we are a responsive and agile State Service that is representative of the community we serve.

In the past 12 months I have witnessed the great work that is being done to build diversity and inclusion across the Service. Some of the ways that we have demonstrated our commitment in this area are detailed in this Report, such as the launch of the Whole-of-Government Graduate Recruitment Program in December last year, and in May this year our whole-of-government Diversity Inclusion Policy and Diversity and Inclusion Framework (the Policy and Framework).

A four-year funding commitment announced in the 2017-18 State Budget to support the Policy and Framework means that work has already begun on the development of a new schools-based traineeship program for students in regional areas, and we’ve also started consulting on an Aboriginal Employment Strategy.

In March, as part of our commitment to Gender Diversity in the State Service, Heads of Agencies and their Deputy Secretaries took part in training to help them identify and address unconscious bias in decision-making. We’ve also been working hard on improving the leadership skills of our officers and managers, and this year we launched the Manager Essentials Programwith participation from every agency across the Service. These initiatives will continue to be delivered through 2017-18 and are helping us towards our target of 40 per cent representation of women in leadership by 2020.

We strengthened our commitment to the health and wellbeing of employees this year when we negotiated a new Public Sector Union Wages Agreement that included a number of improved entitlements including additional leave for people experiencing domestic violence. In April we were joined by key unions to launch the Occupational Violence and Aggression Against State Service Employees awareness campaign to help keep employees safe in the workplace.

This Report also covers activities by the State Service Management Office undertaken on a whole-of-service basis, and includes information on the progress of a number of work priorities such as the examination of our Employment Framework, and the Empower Integration and Automation Program. It also reports on employment matters as required by the State Service Act 2000, including Code of Conduct and grievance matters, and the exercising of the Employer’s powers.

In 2017-18 we will continue to deliver on our commitments of improving diversity and inclusion as we implement the Policy and Framework, improve the way we work as we progress further with the examination of the Employment Framework and continue to support State Government priorities including the Population Strategy, the Safe Home, Safe Communities: Family Violence Action Plan, and the Active Ageing Plan 2017-2020.

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