WWCC Workforce Resourcing Strategy 2022-2026

Acknowledgement of Country

Wagga Wagga City Council yali gulbali-yanhi ngurambang Wiradyuri. Walumaldhaany-galang bala mayiny Wiradyuri. Yindyamali-yanhimudyiganggalangbubalumbambal-bubalugirbam-bu. Yindyamali-yanhi bagaraygan ngurambang-guwal-i yandu murun. wigi Wagga Wagga-dha. Ngiyanhi gulbali-bu yindyamali-bu guwiinyguliyalagu buyaa-bu giilaang-galam-bu. Ngiyanhi gulbali-bu yindyamali-bu guwiinyguliyalagu dhaagun-bu bila-galang-bu nganha Wiradyuri-giyalang bala burrambin-bunurranurrabu. Gulbali-yanhi Wiradyuri mayiny bagaraygan-guwal-bu bala yarruwala-bu waluwin-bu walanbam-bu dhirrangal-bu.

Wagga Wagga City Council acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land, the Wiradjuri/Wiradyuri people, and pays respect to Elders past, present and future and extends our respect to all First Nations Peoples in Wagga Wagga.

We recognise and respect their cultural heritage, beliefs and continuing connection with the land and rivers. We also recognise the resilience, strength and pride of the Wiradjuri/Wiradyuri and First Nations communities.

Photo: Matt Beaver

Executive summary

With unprecedented investment, construction and development activity throughout the region drawing on traditional skills base of local government, the pressure for already stretched and areas of skill shortage means workforce planning must be forward thinking and applicable to a changing approach for service delivery.

Council’s Workforce Resourcing Strategy 2022-2026 focuses on culture, capabilities and leadership required across our organisation to deliver the objectives of the Community Strategic Plan 2040 (Draft CSP 2040).

Specifically, it examines how we can enable our employees to deliver outcomes and programs of work that have been developed in consultation with our community while addressing current and future opportunities and issues that could impact on planning and delivery.

Our workforce resourcing strategy is built upon six strategies which align and further support the objectives detailed within the Community Strategic Plan. These objectives flow through to Council's Delivery Program 2022-2026 and Operational Plan 2022/23.

These include:

1. Develop and implement a resourcing strategy to support the delivery of the Community Strategic Plan.

2. Facilitate a culture that empowers our people to demonstrate positive leadership.

3. Establish an engaged, diverse and inclusive workforce that makes people feel more connected to each other and to the vision and purpose of the organisation.

4. Invest in the capabilities of our people to ensure they are appropriately skilled to deliver positive outcomes for our community.

5. Develop and implement strategies and plans to support our people to embrace a values-based organisational culture.

6. Ensure the safety, health and wellbeing of our people.

The Workforce Resourcing Strategy 2022-2026 also partners with various plans that further drive workforce initiatives including Council’s Corporate Training Plan; All Abilities Inclusion Action Plan; Equal Employment Opportunity Management Plan; Health & Wellbeing Strategy; and Reconciliation Action Plan.

Wagga Wagga City Council serves more than 66,000 residents every day. This is possible due to the contributions of our people undertaking diverse roles across the organisation to deliver high quality services for the communities in which we live.

Council’s Mission, Vision and Values

Our Mission

Contribute to a vibrant growing community by providing excellence in leadership, and delivery of ‘best value’ infrastructure and services, supporting quality living in an improving sustainable environment.

Our Vision

To be acclaimed by our community for our passion, professionalism and performance.

Our Values

Trust, Respect, Innovation and Teamwork.

Legislative framework

Integrated Planning & Reporting Framework

Integrated Planning and Reporting (IP&R) is the planning and reporting framework the Wagga Wagga City Council uses to work towards achieving the community’s vision. Under NSW Government legislation, councils must prepare a number of plans that provide details on how a council intends to deliver works and services in the short and long term. This is based on the community’s priorities, which have been identified through consultation and engagement, as well as the resources available to council in delivering these items. The framework ensures councils illustrate their various plans together, to understand how they interact in planning for the future.

The framework opens the way for Wagga Wagga City Council and our community to have important discussions about funding priorities, service levels and shaping local identity and to plan in partnership for a more sustainable future. As illustrated, the plans are designed to flow so that the broader objectives in a high-level plan are translated into specific targets, actions and measures.

Our organisation structure

Chief Financial

Strategy & Projects

Project Management

Office

Plain Management

City

General Manager

Thompson

Chief Operating Officer

Governance & Risk

Services Sewer & Stormwater Operations

Traffic & Transport Operations Parks & Strategic Operations Asset Management

Plant, Fleet, Workshop, Buildings & Stores Subdivisions

Our strategies in focus

Strategy 1

Develop and implement a resourcing strategy to support the delivery of the Community Strategic Plan

A key focus for Council’s Workforce Resourcing Strategy 2022-2026, is to improve the way we undertake workforce planning and development across the organisation. Our high-level resourcing strategy will be further supported by divisional area workforce plans developed in collaboration with each business unit to assess current and future deliverables, current and future workforce requirements, and resourcing needs.

The resourcing plans will consider information already obtained through Council’s business planning process along with:

• Foreseeable changes likely to impact on workforce requirements

• Ability to deliver services with current resourcing

• Impacts in the event additional resourcing is not available

• Critical positions and succession planning including opportunities for trainees, apprentices, cadets and graduates

• Staff movements i.e. staff separations and retirements

• Emerging leaders

Why

• To be proactive in workforce planning and development to meet the current and future needs of the community

• To adopt a systematic review process that identifies trends and emerging issues

• To develop meaningful and useable information that informs decision making and planning. What challenges are we meeting?

• Preparing and planning for changing workforce environments i.e. restructures, staff separations and retirements etc.

• Managing our ageing workforce.

• Knowledge and skills are maintained and transferred i.e. critical roles, staff separations and retirements etc.

• Mitigate the number of established roles that sit vacant within the organisation and ensure temporary and casual arrangements are in accordance with legislative requirements.

Outcomes

• Skills shortages are predicted and planned for.

• Operational and Delivery Plan objectives are met.

• Workforce resourcing considered from the beginning.

Strategy

Leaders at Council

up 20% of our permanent workforce (Figure 1). Of this percentage, 37% are female and 63% are male. With such a large proportion of our workforce responsible for leading, mentoring, and coaching others, the importance of building capability in our current leaders and identifying and nurturing our emerging leaders, is vital for the overall success of our organisation.

Management

Figure 1: Leadership Positions

Information obtained from recent staff exit surveys indicates varying degrees of satisfaction with leadership across the organisation. Overall, staff were generally satisfied with the performance of their supervisor/manager, however, areas for improvement were highlighted for building team culture; role development; reward and recognition; and providing feedback.

A key focus of this strategy is growing leadership and management capabilities, with current and emerging leaders at all levels, so we can create, implement and support a continued high-performance culture. The development and implementation of Council’s Leadership and Culture Framework aims to facilitate this.

Why

What challenges are we meeting?

To build capable and people focused leaders.

To empower our leaders to make considered decisions and be accountable for their, and their team’s, performance.

To create career paths for our emerging leaders.

• A lack of leadership skills and accountability.

• Managing poor conduct and performance.

Opportunities for career development and advancement.

Leaders manage the performance of their staff and are held accountable for their actions/inactions.

• Leaders have the skills, knowledge and attitude to deliver on our strategic and community priorities.

• High performing employees identified as emerging leaders, are successful for leadership roles building organisational capability.

Strategy 3

Establish an engaged, diverse and inclusive workforce that makes people feel more connected to each other and to the vision and purpose of the organisation.

workforce is one of Council’s greatest assets and investments. Over 37% of Council’s total operating expenditure budget is assigned to meet workforce costs. As of 14 June 2022, Council had a total of 729 employees (Figure 2), an increase of 17.8% since 2017, notably within our casual workforce.

Total Workforce

2: Council’s Total Workforce as at 14 June 2022

workforce (Figure 3) and little to no movement in the number of trainees, apprentices, graduates and cadets employed by Council (currently less than 3% of

2013, we have seen an increase in the average age

We also continue to face challenges regarding the perception of local

total

knowledge of what Council does and available

As a result, implementing initiatives to attract and retain talented and skilled employees along with creating entry level programs and opportunities have never been more important.

Why

• To recruit, attract and retain talented individuals who align with Council’s values, vision and purpose.

• To position Council as an attractive place to work.

• To fill, and succession plan, for critical/hard to fill and specialist roles. What challenges are we meeting?

• Managing our ageing workforce.

• Retaining and engaging talent i.e. competition for resources.

• Perception of local government and limited knowledge of what Council does i.e. be proud of who you work for! Outcomes

• People strategies that attract, retain and engage talent.

• Workforce is reflective of our community.

• Vacancies filled with appropriately skilled people

• Career paths and entry level opportunities are available.

strategies in focus

Strategy 4

Training and development of our staff is central to the success of Council’s Workforce Resourcing Strategy. By enhancing our learning culture, our staff learn, develop and grow their careers while building the future capabilities required to deliver on the community’s strategic priorities. Without this investment, we simply cannot:

• Succession plan for future resourcing gaps.

• Develop staff to fulfil their roles.

• Attract or retain talented individuals.

• Develop and enhance leadership capabilities.

• Ensure the safety of our working environment.

Information obtained from recent staff exit surveys outlined that 100% of staff either ‘Strongly Agree’ or ‘Agree’ that their training needs were met during their employment either through on-the-job training or formal training.

The 2021 Culture Survey, determined that staff who recorded higher levels of education, also reported higher belief in their ability to perform their role. Conversely, issues of poor access to training and development opportunities were noted by staff who had not completed higher levels of education. Therefore, it was recommended that Council provide greater training and development opportunities to improve staff performance and subsequently create positive working environments.

Our strategy focuses on ensuring Council’s Corporate Training Plan aligns to the needs of our workforce along with ensuring staff are skilled, trained and competent to deliver positive outcomes for our community and to undertake their role safely.

Why

• To build a capable and skilled workforce.

• To improve productivity and performance.

• To recruit, attract and retain talented individuals and invest in our emerging leaders.

What challenges are we meeting?

Outcomes

• Skills and knowledge gaps.

• Retaining and engaging talent i.e. competition for resources.

• Risk management by ensuring our workforce is able to meet the needs of our community.

• Increased productivity and performance.

• Improved organisation culture and a fostered learning culture.

• A safer and more skilled workforce.

• A more adaptable and flexible workforce.

Invest in the capabilities of our people to ensure they are appropriately skilled to deliver positive outcomes for our community.

Strategy 5

In 2021, 43.6% of Council’s total workforce participated in our Culture Survey. Of those staff, 77.4% recorded an overall satisfaction with their job and working for Council. This is a positive and upwards trend following the 2018 Culture Survey (59% overall staff satisfaction).

One of the key focus areas of the survey, was gaining an understanding of our organisational culture i.e. the personality of our organisation, and the shared values and beliefs that guide how we approach our work and interact with each other.

The leading descriptors of our culture profile by staff were Hierarchy Culture (i.e. clear organisation structure, centralised decision-making, and standardised rules and procedures governing what people do), and Clan Culture (i.e. organisation is perceived as an extended family, and teamwork, participation and consensus are valued). Comparably, staff viewed creativity, innovation, and continuous improvement as our weakest descriptor.

Other areas of the survey also indicated that we need to focus on areas such as staff recognition, training and development, and engagement with our long-term staff (i.e. staff employed for over 10 years).

This information will be used to inform key strategies and plans of work to respond to these highlighted areas. The implementation of future Culture Surveys will then inform the success of these actions.

Why

• To provide mechanisms for leadership to ‘hear’ staff feedback.

• To foster cross-organisational collaboration.

• To understand how effectively Council may respond to changes in the external environment i.e. improving our capacity for change.

• To improve organisational culture and enhance staff connection to our purpose, vision and values.

What challenges are we meeting?

• Perception of inflexibility and a lack of innovation and creativity in our operations.

• Perception of a lack of reward and recognition by staff.

• Breaking down of a silo mentality across directorates. Outcomes

• A cohesive and collaborative organisation.

• Staff are empowered to take appropriate risks and implement new and innovative ideas.

• Staff feel valued and recognised for their contributions.

• An agile, high-performance, values-based culture through common goals and understanding.

Develop and implement strategies and plans to support our people to embrace a values-based organisational culture.

focus

Strategy 6

Ensure the safety, health and wellbeing of our people.

Council is responsible for the safety, health, and wellbeing of over 729 staff, in addition to our Councillors, contractors, volunteers, labour hire workers, and work placement students. We are serious about improving safety, reducing workplace risk and creating better and safer working conditions for our workers and anyone that uses or visits any of Council’s sites.

Our Work Health and Safety Management System (WHSMS) is a fundamental part of our organisation's risk management strategy. It provides a high-level understanding of the important safety issues that can affect it either positively or negatively and how we manage work health and safety responsibilities towards workers, contractors and visitors to our sites. Our WHSMS places a strong focus on our organisation’s context and continuous improvement through a framework of consultation, responsibilities andthe management systems to be implemented.

Following a WHSMS external audit in 2021, Council has identified focus areas along with specific objectives and actions we will undertake to achieve the implementation of ISO45001 into Council’s WHSMS and continuously improve safety. These focus areas include:

• Aligning Council’s Work Health and Safety (WHS) Management Systems with ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Standard.

• Investing in the Wellbeing and Psychosocial Health of our workers.

• Contribute to the reduction of musculoskeletal (Hazardous Manual Handling) injuries over the next 12 months.

• Ensure that the WHSMS is applied to the activities that the Council manages.

Why

What challenges are we meeting?

• To protect our workforce and others.

• To comply with legal requirements.

• To facilitate continual improvement.

• Aligning Council’s Work Health and Safety (WHS) Management Systems with ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Standard.

• Investing in the Wellbeing and Psychosocial Health of our workers to improve physical, mental, general, and financial health and wellbeing.

• Reducing harm to workers related to musculoskeletal (Hazardous Manual Handling) injuries.

• Ensuring that the WHSMS is applied to the activities that Council manages.

Outcomes

• Strengthen the capabilities of Council’s Work Health and Safety Management System in line with ISO45001.

• Improve the information and resources available to Council’s workers in relation to well-being and psychological health and safety.

• Reduce the risk of workers sustaining musculoskeletal injuries from manual handing activities and slips, trips and falls.

• Council to achieve its intended goals for the WHSMS which is dependent on the WHSMS being fully applied across Council work areas and facilities.

Workforce Resourcing Strategy 2022 – 2026

Community Strategic Plan 2040 Objectives:

• Wagga Wagga has strong community leadership and a shared vision for the future.

• Wagga Wagga City Council leads through engaged civic governance and is recognised and distinguished by its ethical decision making, efficient management, innovation and quality customer service.

• Our community feel safe.

Strategy Outcomes Actions

1. Develop and implement a resourcing strategy to support the delivery of the Community Strategy Plan

2. Facilitate a culture that empowers our people to demonstrate positive leadership.

• Skills shortages are predicted and planned for.

• Operational and Delivery Plan objectives are met.

• Workforce resourcing considered from the beginning.

• Leaders manage the performance of their staff and are held accountable for their actions/inactions.

• Leaders have the skills, knowledge and attitude to deliver on our strategic and community priorities.

• High performing employees identified as emerging leaders, are successful for leadership roles building organisational capability.

1.1 Develop and implement divisional area workforce plans.

1.2 Implement systematic reviews of divisional area workforce plans to identify trends and emerging issues.

23/24 24/25 25/26

a a a

a a

a a

People & Safety Division

2.1 Develop and implement Council’s Leadership and Culture Framework. a a a People & Safety Division

Strategy Outcomes Actions

3.

Establish an engaged, diverse and inclusive workforce that makes people feel more connected to each other and to the vision and purpose of the organisation.

• People strategies that attract, retain and engage talent.

• Workforce is reflective of our community.

• Vacancies filled with appropriately skilled people

• Career paths and entry level opportunities are available.

3.1 Develop and implement a traineeship, apprenticeship (including school-based traineeships), cadet and graduate program.

3.2 Review Council’s onboarding and induction program to engage and support a diverse, skilled and knowledgeable workforce.

3.3 Implement and support the initiatives from the Equal Employment Opportunity Management Plan, Reconciliation Action Plan, First Nations Employment & Retention Strategy and Disability Inclusion Action Plan.

3.4 Review and update Council’s Position Descriptions including a review of licence, ticket and qualification requirements across all Council positions.

3.5 Develop a framework for the management of Council’s casual employees and labour hire engagements in accordance with legislative requirements.

3.6 Review advertising and promotional activities to promote careers at Council and attract and engage skilled staff.

3.7 Review and update Council’s Volunteer and Work Experience Programs.

3.8 Investigate best proactive flexible work arrangements and strategies.

a a a a a a

a a a a a a a a

4. Invest in the capabilities of our people to ensure they are appropriately skilled to deliver positive outcomes for our community.

• Increased productivity and performance.

• Improved organisation culture and a fostered learning culture.

• A safer and more skilled workforce.

• A more adaptable and flexible workforce.

4.1 Develop and implement Council’s Corporate Training Plan aligned with the Individual Performance Development Program.

4.2 Develop and implement Council’s Compliance Training Framework.

4.3 Develop and implement Council’s Plant and Machinery Training, Induction and Competency Framework.

a a

a a a

a a a a a

a a

a a a a a

People & Safety Division

a People & Safety Division

Strategy Outcomes Actions

5. Develop and implement strategies and plans to support our people to embrace a valuesbased organisational culture.

• A cohesive and collaborative organisation.

• Staff are empowered to take appropriate risks and implement new and innovative ideas.

• Staff feel valued and recognised for their contributions.

• An agile, highperformance, valuesbased culture through common goals and understanding.

5.1 Conduct Organisational Culture Survey and implement actions to support alignment with Council’s values-based organisational culture.

5.2 Review and update Council’s Individual Performance Development Program.

5.3 Develop and implement a Reward and Recognition Framework.

a a

a a a

a a

a People & Safety Division

6. Ensure the safety, health and wellbeing of our people.

• Strengthen the capabilities of Council’s Work Health and Safety Management System in line with ISO45001.

• Improve the information and resources available to Council’s workers in relation to well-being and psychological health and safety.

• Reduce the risk of workers sustaining musculoskeletal injuries from manual handing activities and slips, trips and falls.

• Council to achieve its intended goals for the WHSMS which is dependent on the WHSMS being fully applied across Council work areas and facilities.

6.1 Develop and implement Council’s Health & Wellbeing Strategy 2021 to 2024.

6.2 Aligning Council’s Work Health and Safety (WHS) Management Systems with ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Standard.

6.3 Develop and implement the APHIRM program with the aim of reducing musculoskeletal injuries in the workplace.

6.4 Implement the actions and activities detailed within Council’s Work Health and Safety (WHS) Action Plan.

a

a a

a a a a

a a a a

a a

People & Safety Division

Appendix 1: Our current workforce

Workforce budget

Wagga Wagga City Council’s total operating expenditure budget for the 2021/2022 financial year is $131.2 million, with the workforce budget component totalling $49.3M. The table below shows that the majority of the $49.3M is funded from general purpose rate revenue, with the remaining funded from either grants, recovered from projects, or separate Council business function reserves.

Workforce budget by funding source:

Funding Source 2021/22

Original Budget

General Purpose Rate Revenue $34,613,796

$7,183,578

Grant Funding $3,802,159

Project Cost Recovery $3,226,886

Borrowings $462,895 $49,289,314

Total workforce

*Note: As at 14 June 2022

• Council’s total workforce represents 2.3% of the total labour force within the Wagga Wagga Local Government Area.

Total workforce comprises of 729 employees including:

418 permanent (full time and part time)

245 casual

temporary

trainees, apprentices, cadets and graduates

Type

Council’s workforce

also supported by the valuable contributions of our

across multiple service areas.

Permanent workforce

• Council’s full time equivalent (FTE)

currently

across five directorates.

Our permanent workforce (418 employees)

Directorate FTE

of

full time and 37 part time employees.

Employment Type Female Male Total

Full time

Permanent workforce age

*Note:

at 14 June

• The average age of our permanent workforce

years, ranging from 22 – 76 years.

aged over 50 years, with 63 employees aged over 60 years.

Approximately 40% of our permanent workforce

Age Female Male Total

Permanent workforce gender

Leadership positions

Separations

The voluntary separation rate (i.e. initiated by the employee), for permanent employees at Council during 2020/2021 was 10.65%. This rate excludes casual and temporary employees. The separation rate for new employees (i.e. employees with less than one year of service), was 1.53%.

57 Employees 52.93 FTE / 497.03 FTE 10.65% Turnover Rate

8 Employees 7.6 FTE / 497.03 FTE 1.53% New Employee Turnover Rate (< 1 year of service)

37 Employees 33.92 FTE / 496.06 FTE 6.84% Turnover Rate

11 Employees 10.8 FTE / 496.06 FTE 2.18% New Employee Turnover Rate (< 1 year of service)

55 Employees 45.82 FTE / 464.11 FTE 9.87% Turnover Rate

8 Employees 7.56 FTE / 464.11 FTE 1.63% New Employee Turnover Rate (< 1 year of service)

45 Employees 35.85 FTE /455.09 FTE 7.88% Turnover Rate

4 Employees 4.0 FTE / 455.09 FTE 0.88% New Employee Turnover Rate (< 1 year of service)

51 Employees 43.85 FTE /452.13 FTE 11.28% Turnover Rate

9 Employees 7.06 FTE / 452.13 FTE 1.56% New Employee Turnover Rate (< 1 year of service)

*Note: Turnover rate is based on Council’s full time equivalent (FTE) as 1 December each year.

Exit survey data collated over the last 12 months, provides a summary of the main reasons employees are leaving Council. Career Progression was identified as the leading reason (50% of employees), followed equally by Management Decisions, Relationship with Supervisor, Improved Work Life Balance and Better Flexible Working Arrangements as the second most prevalent reasons.

Attraction

Data collected during employee onboarding processes over the last 12 months, determined 70% of new employees applied for a position at Council due to the Position Itself, followed by 18% for Career Progression/Opportunity, and 6% for Training and Development Opportunities and Looking for a New Challenge.

Reasons

at council

Engagement

Council continues to recognise the importance of undertaking consultation and engagement with our workforce. In 2021, Council collaborated with CERM PI (University of South Australia), to conduct a culture survey focused on:

• Organisational culture - shared values and beliefs that guide how we approach our work and interact with each other.

• Climate of the organisation – our thoughts and feelings about Council.

• Overall satisfaction of staff – the extent we are happy with our jobs and work environment.

Responses also provided insight into our organisation’s resilience; optimism; psychological climate; and organisational citizenship behaviours (i.e. employee’s willingness to go beyond their position descriptions).

From the 43.6% of Council employees who participated in the survey, 77.4% of those staff recorded an overall satisfaction with their job and working for Council.

Whilst the overall climate of Council was seen generally positively, it was noted that recognition was viewed more negatively by staff as a whole. Other areas of improvement included learning and development opportunities (for employees who recorded lower levels of education), and consultation and engagement particularly with staff who have served for 10 years or more.

• “I enjoy working for WWCC and overall, have been extremely satisfied with my job over the past years.’’

• “Love my job at WWCC and the people are fantastic, great place to work…”

• “Coming into the organisation from a previous employer has been a breath of fresh air. Staff have been welcoming, supportive and professional. Council's cultural stance on key issues (such as equality and bullying) has been a welcome relief and I feel like I am working with adults who have their employees and the broader community's best intentions at heart. There are always negatives, but I feel these are outweighed by the positives - and this speaks to the quality of staff more than anything.”

Length of service

The average length of service period in Council’s permanent workforce

of the permanent workforce

of

Length of Service

less than

years.

years

service with

Diversity and inclusion

below table demonstrates the existing diversity groups within Council’s total workforce, noting it is not a mandatory requirement to disclose this information and staff may elect not to do so.

acknowledges there are many factors influencing whether employees self-report diversity data and that this can contribute to under-reporting. Council continues to encourage employees to self-identify as being a part of a diversity group, in order to build a more accurate picture of the workforce.

Female Employees Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employees

Culturally or Linguistically Diverse Employees

Employees with a Disability

Council has recently undertaken a review of its Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy and is in the process of reviewing the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Management Plan along with developing a First Nations Employment and Retention Strategy. The First Nations Employment and Retention Strategy is an initiative from the objectives of Council’s Reconciliation Action Plan, developed in consultation with First Nations staff and community members, and focused on what initiatives we can implement across Council that further support First Nations people in relation to employment opportunities, training and development, and career development.