Australian Government: Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority2008-09 Annual Report

ASADA Home Page | Annual Report Contents Page

Previous page | Next page

Management of human resources

People are vital to our performance, so we are committed to attracting, developing and retaining people of high calibre, skill and experience. We also place great importance on the diverse backgrounds and perspectives of our staff.

People who make a valued difference to ASADA and the work environment are recognised and appreciated for their contribution. The high value we place on the performance and capability of our people is reflected in our Strategic Plan, in which key business priorities for the year were to support and build dynamic, skilled and collaborative teams and to create a culture of shared leadership across the organisation.

Overview

At 30 June 2009 ASADA employed 62 staff (53 ongoing and nine non-ongoing) and had engaged 253 employees on a casual basis in the National Testing and National Education teams.

Tables 19 to 25 in appendix F show our employee profile.

Employment agreements

Since the introduction of the Australian Government Employment Bargaining Framework in the previous year, we have continued to comply with advice issued by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations to ensure that Australian Government policy is applied to our workplace arrangements.

Negotiation of a new collective agreement

During the first six months of the year, we continued negotiations with workplace representatives and the Community and Public Sector Union to negotiate ASADA’s first collective agreement. The process was completed in early 2009 and the ASADA Collective Agreement 2009–12 started on 13 April 2009. The collective agreement provides comprehensive and well-received conditions of employment, including a new salary structure commencing on 1 July 2009 reflecting the APS classification broad-banding arrangements. Salary bands are listed in table 23.

A major change negotiated between the parties was the removal of the agency bonus for employees covered by the collective agreement, as this bonus was incorporated into the pay increases set in the agreement.

Productivity initiatives in the collective agreement focus on continuing family-friendly employment practices and individual employment flexibility, ongoing review of performance management arrangements, and improving corporate and individual training opportunities to ensure a highly relevant and skilled workforce.

Workplace agreements

We supported our collective agreement and Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) with employment policies, procedures and guidelines providing staff with details about how their terms and conditions of employment are administered and applied. Both types of agreement provide staff with a competitive range of terms and conditions of employment, placing both groups of employees competitively in the APS labour market.

In line with government policy, no new AWAs were offered to new ongoing Senior Executive Service (SES) or non-SES employees during the reporting year. When the new collective agreement started on 13 April 2009, all five of the non-SES employees covered by an AWA converted to the collective agreement arrangements. There is still one SES employee covered by an existing AWA.

Section 24(1) Determinations

The commencement of the new collective agreement resulted in five employees converting their AWA to terms and conditions covered by the collective agreement and their remuneration set by a determination under Section 24(1) of the Public Service Act. We propose to limit the number of individual determinations to address only those instances where there is a difference between remuneration available under the collective agreement and remuneration available to the employee through an AWA or determination granted by ASADA or another agency. Table 24 includes the total employees at 30 June 2009 covered by Section 24(1) Determinations.

Non-salary benefits

Non-salary benefits we provided to our staff in 2008–09 included:

Performance Management System

Our Performance Management System was revised and a new system introduced from 1 July 2008. The Performance and Career Enrichment Scheme (PACES) is based on providing a clear link between employee effort and achievement of goals, allowing employees to see the relationship between what they do and the contribution they make to the achievement of ASADA goals.

All employees were required to participate in the scheme in 2008–09. Key features include:

All employees were required to include a key performance requirement covering APS Values and Code of Conduct. Supervisors and managers also included a further compulsory key performance requirement addressing supervisory and leadership proficiencies, as outlined in the APS Integrated Leadership System.

Agency performance payments

The Minister for Sport determines performance pay for the Chair, a designated Principal Executive Officeholder under the Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973, in accordance with parameters set by the Remuneration Tribunal.

The ASADA Certified Agreement 2006–09 provided for an ASADA-wide performance bonus for eligible employees. Payments made under this scheme were based on an assessment by the Chair and ASADA members (in consultation with the Workplace Relations Committee) of our overall performance during the financial year. The ASADA-wide bonus for 2007–08 was paid during the first quarter of the 2008–09 financial year.

Based on performance in the 2007–08 financial year, we made a total payment of $181,772 in performance-based bonus payments to 79 eligible employees. A summary of performance payments is provided in table 25.

The new collective agreement that started on 13 April 2009 removed the agency bonus previously paid to all employees covered by our existing collective agreement and absorbed it within the final salary increases that were negotiated.

Individual performance pay was incorporated into base salaries as part of the conversion arrangements of all non-SES AWA-covered employees to the conditions of the new collective agreement. The agency bonus was also incorporated into base salaries as part of the conversion arrangements.

Peer recognition

The collective agreement provides for a peer reward system, which supports our commitment to acknowledging and rewarding the outstanding performance of individuals and teams. The system gives staff the opportunity to recognise outstanding performance that demonstrates our core values.

During the reporting year, 15 peer rewards were presented. The rewards acknowledged:

Staff survey

The ASADA Employee Survey was sent to all ongoing and non-ongoing employees in mid-March 2009 (casual employees were not included). The survey has provided important data on employee attitudes to, and understanding of, a range of issues about working in the APS and ASADA, including work/life balance, leadership, job satisfaction, and recruitment and retention. The data from the survey has been vital in helping the Senior Management Group identify and evaluate important leadership and management issues for ASADA. This information has been assessed against the Australian Public Service Commission survey of APS employees, allowing for some ‘reality checking’ of agency information.

Reporting to the doping control station

Reporting to the doping control station

Workforce planning, staff turnover and retention

The process of forecasting workforce needs and determining the broad range of policies and processes that will create and sustain the workforce in line with ASADA’s Strategic Plan has been the focus of initial workforce planning activities.

We retain staff by offering broad-based positions adding job enrichment and the advantages of working in a small agency.

During the last financial year, 85 per cent of employees were employed on an ongoing basis and 15 per cent on a non-ongoing basis.

Staff turnover during 2008–09 was at a proportional rate of 24 per cent. Separations were predominantly at the Executive Level (EL), with the majority attributed to staff seeking employment opportunities at other agencies to enhance their skill sets. In a small agency individual departures have a significant impact on statistics and can have a major impact on workplace arrangements.

We anticipate that finalisation of our Workforce Plan, including a Succession Plan, in the coming year will help to reduce the burden associated with the separation of staff from small work groups.

Learning and development

We re-aligned our learning and development (L&D) programs during the year, placing an emphasis on business, leadership and individual development to meet future workplace requirements.

The introduction of a new Performance Management System provided an avenue for employees to list their L&D requirements at the beginning of the reporting year and to have them included in the L&D Program.

A major focus of our 2008–09 L&D Program was an emphasis on leadership development for APS5, APS6, EL1 and EL2 staff through the commencement of a 10 month leadership development program. This program is aligned with qualifications in Certificate IV in Government and the Diploma of Government. Participants attend workshops, complete assignments and complete work-related projects to cover the competencies required to be an effective leader within the public sector. The program content and assessments are contextualised to ASADA’s workplace, ensuring clear alignment with our vision and current business and strategic plans.

L&D programs attended by staff during 2008–09 included:

Workplace diversity

Our commitment to workplace diversity ensures a harmonious, safe and productive environment. To encourage diversity, we provide for:

Our network of workplace diversity harassment contact officers promotes diversity, communicates preventative strategies, and provides advice and support to employees who may be involved in an incident involving harassment or bullying behaviour.

Commonwealth Disability Strategy

In line with the Commonwealth Disability Strategy, we continue to promote diversity by supporting employees who have disabilities by providing adaptive technology, convenient parking spaces and flexible work arrangements.

Occupational health and safety

During 2008–09 we continued to manage OH&S for all staff through the development of policies and procedures and a framework for OH&S management. This included:

Ongoing recruitment and training of wardens, first aid officers, and health and safety officers took place to replace staff members who have vacated those positions. In recognition of the contribution of these officers, an increase to relevant allowances was negotiated in the collective agreement.

Flu vaccinations were made available to all staff, including casual employees. This is seen as a cost-effective measure to help staff maintain good health and to provide productivity through a reduced requirement for personal leave.

As part of the L&D Program, one-hour hot topic sessions were introduced to increase staff awareness of health and safety topics. These included:

We continue to place great importance on OH&S and recognise the benefits of maintaining a safe and healthy work environment for all our employees.

ASADA Staff sharing their experiences of the Beijing 2008 Olympics

ASADA Staff
sharing their experiences of the Beijing 2008 Olympics

 

Top of Page

ASADA Home Page | Annual Report Contents Page

Previous page | Next page