Governing the City State - Chief Minister and Treasury Directorate ...

Unions expressed frustration to the Review at the lack of progress on undertakings madeduring successive collective agreement negotiations. The Review has concluded that thesefrustrations would be resolved if resources were able to be more efficiently utilised andreallocated from tactical multiple enterprise agreement negotiations to a single multi-yearagreement for general clerical staff.A long term goal of a single agreement for general clerical staff will foster simplicity,efficiency and agility and free up resources to focus on strategic improvements to theemployment framework.Classifications and Workforce CapabilitiesA further complexity to the employment framework is the sheer volume of classifications –more than 230 across the ACTPS. During 2010-11 and 2011-12 the proposed ChiefMinister’s Department will jointly undertake a review of the classification structure in theACTPS with nominated union representatives to develop a simpler classification structurewhich will:• promote greater consistency across government in classifying positions and improvingwage equity between positions having equivalent work level standards and work valuerequirements;• clarify and update the legislative framework for the ACTPS classification structure toaccommodate the changing needs of a modern public sector workforce, including a singlesalary spine;• rationalise and simplify the ACTPS classification structure to improve administrativeefficiency and facilitate mobility, with a view to ensuring that the assets of the Service areused effectively and responsively; and• facilitate recruitment by making the competencies, qualifications and remuneration levelsfor ACTPS vacancies more accessible to potential applicants and by removing outdatedstructural barriers to mobility.The Review endorses a focused effort to enhance the employment framework and the limbsthat underpin it. Critically and in tandem with the classification review, workforcecapabilities across ACTPS general classification levels or bands must be established (knowncurrently within the ACTPS as work level standards). Crucial to a robust Service that is ableto harness the capabilities of its workforce is an understanding of, and recruiting to, thosecore technical and non-technical capabilities.Other jurisdictions have invested considerably in the development and articulation of nontechnicalworkforce capabilities at all levels across the Service. In its recently completedreport to the South Australian Government, the Public Sector Performance Commission(PSPC) outlined its action plan to relaunch sector-wide performance management withspecific emphasis on ensuring benefits to individuals, line managers and agencies. The PSPCwill specify the process of performance management but more importantly it will be based onthe expectation that all public sector employees understand their minimum performanceCapability, Capacity and Effectiveness: 284