Annual Report 2008-2009 - Department of Transport

Statement of Compliance with Public Sector Standards and
Code of Ethics
The Department is committed to ensuring the highest standards of
probity and accountability in all our interactions. As public servants we
are ultimately working for the people of Western Australia, who expect us
to act with integrity and to look after their interests. This places us in a
unique position of trust, requiring standards of ethical behaviour that reflect
community expectations.
During this period, we developed and implemented a department-wide
training program to support the Department’s Misconduct Management
Framework and the Premiers’ requirement that all public sector employees
participate in Accountable and Ethical Decision Making Workshops.
This program captures both new and existing employees through corporate
induction and targeted training. It aims to reinforce ethical principles
through awareness and education initiatives.
Corporate induction is compulsory for all new employees and runs over
two days. Since November 2008 it has included a session on Accountable
and Ethical Decision Making. Based on the Department of the Premier and
Cabinet training package, this contains interactive sessions on real life
scenarios faced by our staff in their day-to-day work.
Our Executive Management Committee, along with senior management
classified at Level 8 and above, undertook the training in May 2009. A series
of workshops are scheduled for the remainder of 2009 for all other staff.
Since its implementation in November 2008, 425 of our employees have
participated in Ethical and Accountable Decision Making Workshops either
at corporate induction or stand-alone workshops.
We continued to review our human resource management policies and
procedures to ensure we meet our legislative and governance responsibilities
in regards to managing people.
In 2009, we completed an extensive review of policies and procedures related
to appropriate workplace behaviour. This included equal employment
opportunity complaints procedure, grievance mechanism, eliminating
Disclosures and Legal Compliance
harassment in the workplace and harassment grievance mechanism. The
result is a streamlined policy which clearly defines what is unacceptable
and/or unlawful behaviour in the workplace, outlines employee and
employer rights and responsibilities, and provides a process and options
for the resolution of employee grievances. The policy was endorsed by our
Executive Management Committee in April 2009.
In conjunction with this policy review, we implemented an initiative to
ensure our employees have an understanding of equal opportunity law,
its application, legal implications and the impact of potentially unlawful
behaviour of harassment and bullying. In this period, 439 of our employees
have attended workshops which address the issues of discrimination,
victimisation, harassment and bullying, culture and behaviour and individual
and organisational roles and responsibilities.
During the last financial year, we reviewed our performance management
system. We simplified the process and placed specific emphasis on open
and honest discussion between managers and employees regarding not
only outcomes, but acceptable and ethical workplace behaviour. The review
has resulted in a 40 per cent increase in the number of employees having
participated in a Performance Development Review discussion. We also
provide detailed progress reports regarding our performance management
system in our quarterly People Management Key Performance Indicators.
From 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009, there were three requests for review under
the Recruitment and Selection Standard and one request for review under
the Grievance Standard. All requests were seen through to completion prior
to 30 June 2008, and the Office of Public Sector Standards found one breach
of the Grievance Standard in respect of those requests.
Eric Lumsden PSM
Director General
Department for Planning and Infrastructure
10 September 2009
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