Managing VAGO

44
Annual Report 2008–09
Industrial relations
VAGO continues to maintain positive
industrial relations outcomes with no disputes
lodged either internally or with the Australian
Industrial Relations Commission. During the
year, there was no lost time due to industrial
disputes.
Certified agreement
All non-executive employees are employed
under the Victorian Public Service Agreement
2006, 2009 Extended and Varied Version.
All of VAGO’s policies have been reviewed
and all amendments incorporated to include
any changes as a result of the extended
agreement.
Code of conduct
Our code of conduct, which incorporates the
Victorian public service’s code of conduct for
employees in the Victorian public sector, is
applicable to all staff.
Upon commencement with the office, all staff
are given a copy of and required to sign their
agreement to abide by the ‘Code of Conduct
for Victorian Public Sector Employees of
Special Bodies’.
Merit and equity
We maintain the following programs and
policies to ensure that our workplace remains
free from discrimination:
• a merit and equity policy to promote and
support diversity throughout VAGO
• an employee assistance program that
gives staff professional and confidential
counselling on work-related or personal
problems that affect their work
• a code of conduct to help staff
understand the behavioural standards
they must meet as officers of the public
service
• staff induction training, with information
on anti-discrimination laws, expected
behaviours and the complaints process.
Occupational health and safety
Occupational health and safety (OH&S)
management has been updated to
emphasise individual health, including a
specifically designed strategy to identify
and manage hazards associated with
psychological health. Activities in 2008–09
included:
• continuing OH&S workplace inspections
of all areas of the workplace in addition to
off-site agency workplaces as necessary,
•
•
to identify hazards and agree on solutions
to remove or minimise them
free flu vaccination program
implementing the OH&S Committee
and appropriate health and safety
representative training for key OH&S
Committee members.
Environment Management
Committee
The Environment Management Committee
(EMC) aims to improve, monitor and report
the environmental performance of the office.
Meetings have been held on a monthly
basis throughout 2008–09 and committee
members have worked hard, both in these
meetings and individually, to achieve the aims
of the EMC and VAGO.
The main activity of the EMC in 2008–09,
which was also part of VAGO’s commitment
to the ResourceSmart program, was
developing an Environmental Action Plan,
to assist in achieving VAGO’s environmental
targets and in meeting whole-of-government
environmental goals, targets and objectives.
This document is a blueprint which breaks
down the targets into manageable steps and
assigns responsibility, resources (both staff
and financial) and a timescale to achieve
each step. The Senior Management Group
approved the Environmental Action Plan and
it was submitted to Sustainability Victoria’s
ResourceSmart group in June 2009.
Throughout 2008–09 the EMC engaged in a
number of activities to promote environmental
awareness and empower staff members to
assist in achieving VAGO’s environmental
targets. These included:
• regular presentations at the monthly Staff
Communications Meetings, for example,
think before you print, reduction in energy
consumption, etc.
• participation in environment events, for
example, Earth Hour
• ensuring signage is around the office to
promote environmental awareness
• change agent training for the EMC
members
• updating the environment policy to
include references to external parties
and extend the policy beyond the office
environment at VAGO.
The main tasks for the EMC in 2009–10 will
be the implementation of the Environmental
Action Plan and looking for new opportunities
that may arise, which have not yet been
identified or included in our current plan.