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

RecruitmentA robust and dynamic approach to recruitment is therefore critical to secure a skilledworkforce able to deliver the diverse range of services provided by government. 384Since the ACTPS implemented the Attraction and Retention Framework separation rateshave halved representing a conservative saving of approximately $19.5 million in directrecruitment and indirect productivity costs. Although considerable improvements have beenmade to ACTPS recruitment practices the increased focus on leadership development andworkforce capability will be undermined if those practices are not further simplified andstreamlined. Recruitment practices must, of course, be undertaken in a fair and transparentmanner consistent with legislative requirements, but there is significant opportunity tocontinue to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of ACTPS practices.Facing similar issues to the ACTPS, the PSPC has recently completed a review ofrecruitment and retention, South Australia finding a “raft of practices that were unnecessarilyfragmented and costly, and ultimately inefficient and ineffective. These practices posedconsiderable risk to the public sector’s ongoing capacity to secure and retain criticalskills.” 385Similarly, the ANAO found that despite the exhortations of several reports and senior APSleaders over a number of years:...nearly half of all responding APS agencies (47 per cent) reported that they did not havepolicies, strategies and/or frameworks in place to support them to meet workforce capabilityrequirements over the next one to five years. The three audited agencies had not implementedworkforce planning processes that were able to identify capability gaps, and had not tailoredrecruitment initiatives in response to clearly identified skill shortages. The lack of matureworkforce planning processes impairs agencies’ capacity to address challenges arising fromthe changing workforce environment. In addition, none of the three audited agencies haddeveloped recruitment strategies that addressed both general and targeted recruitment. 386The recently released APSC State of the Service report 387 notes the average time to finaliserecruitment for non-executive jobs in the Commonwealth Public Service was three and a halfmonths compared to an ACT average of 56 days.In one sense it is comforting to know that the challenges facing the ACT are not unique andthat there are other sources of advice and inspiration on which it might draw. The ANAO andPSPC findings encapsulate the challenges and dilemmas facing the ACTPS. The findingsmade by the PSPC also resonate with those expressed by officials during this Review:There were five central areas highlighted for action. These were:384 Australian National Audit Office (2008) Management of Recruitment in the Australian Public Service. Audit Report No.312007-08. Commonwealth Government, Canberra, p.13.385 South Australian Performance Commission (2010) p.19.386 Australian National Audit Office (2008) p.18.387 See http://www.apsc.gov.au/stateoftheservice/0910/index.htmlCapability, Capacity and Effectiveness: 287