Employee skills and qualifications

We are fortunate to have employees with a great diversity of skills, knowledge and experience. This ranges from research knowledge in multiple disciplines – including social science, psychology, family law, child and adolescent development, criminology, demography, economics, statistics and survey design – to management skills such as commercial contract negotiation, project management, financial and human resource management, information technology and communications. This diversity of knowledge and expertise exemplifies one of the benefits of working in a small organisation. These skills are known and, as such, can be used across a number of facets of our operations.

Figures 2 and 3 show, respectively, the highest qualifications gained by our employees overall and by those employed in the research area.

Figure 2: Employee qualifications as at 30 June 2019

Figure 3: Research employee qualifications as at 30 June 2019

Workforce planning

In 2018/19, we continued to develop our capacity to plan and respond to changing workforce needs. Building capacity and other workforce issues, including increasing the diversity of our workforce, will continue to be an area of focus in 2019/20.

Learning and development

The primary focus of learning and development activities is to ensure that we have the organisational capability to meet operational objectives, both now and in the future.

During the year, staff development covered a range of topics including leadership, research and analysis tools, privacy, interpersonal skills and wellbeing. The effectiveness of the training provided was evaluated after each course and in the performance reviews conducted between managers and individuals.

We also continue to provide professional development opportunities for employees via professional memberships, attendance at conferences and support for formal study.

Recruitment

Our recruitment in 2018/19 focused on specialist research positions, including key positions in knowledge translation, data analysis and management, and longitudinal studies. Our vacancies were advertised via online channels including the APS Jobs site and our social media pages.

Staff engagement, participation and development

We recognise the vital contribution our people make to the achievement of our purpose and the importance of staff being engaged with their work, participating in the workplace, and developing professionally.

AIFS ranked in the top 10 agencies in the Australian Public Service in 2018 in the categories of staff wellbeing, engagement and innovation (Source: APS Employee Census). These results are evidence of the large amount of work undertaken to respond to staff concerns. Successful initiatives include:

• building management capability
• improved internal communication
• a more coordinated approach to change management
• a focus on wellbeing initiatives.

In 2018/19 AIFS was shortlisted as a finalist in the IPAA ‘Public Sector Innovation’ Awards 2019 in the category of Culture and Capability in recognition of our internal culture transformation.

AIFS is now a better place to work, with 81% of staff reporting that they would recommend AIFS as a good place to work (up from 36% in 2016).

AIFS Values

In 2018/19 we worked to embed our AIFS Values and Behaviours, which along with the APS Values, help to shape our culture and guide us towards achieving our purpose. AIFS’ five values and behaviours are:

Champions of our work and each other – We want everyone’s boat to rise: we take collective pride in each other’s work and success.

Excellence for impact – We are committed to producing excellent work that makes a difference for families.

Fearless and curious explorers – We value experimentation, creativity and ongoing learnings.

Honest and respectful conversations – We are authentic and have meaningful conversations including the tough ones.

Seeing the lighter side – We value collegiality, humour and fun.

Workplace Relations Committee

The Workplace Relations Committee provides a forum for management and employees to discuss matters relating to the Enterprise Agreement as well as the workplace in general. The committee comprises management and employee representatives. The Committee’s work in 2018/19 focused on staff consultation on policies supporting the 2017 Enterprise Agreement, which commenced in June 2017.

Health and Safety Committee

The Health and Safety Committee was established to represent staff and facilitate consultation and discussion between management and employees regarding health and safety matters in the workplace. Committee meetings are held at least quarterly and provide an effective forum for staff to raise particular health and safety issues as well as the planning and promotion of health and safety practices and principles in the workplace.

Statistics on staffing

As at 30 June 2019, there were 104 staff – 22 males and 82 females – employed at the Institute under the Public Service Act 1999, excluding the Director.

Tables 8 and 9 present profiles of our staff by gender and type of employment at 30 June 2019 and 30 June 2018 respectively. As Table 8 indicates, at 30 June 2019 we had 32% of staff in ongoing positions and 68% of staff in non-ongoing positions. This represents an increase in non-ongoing staff of 11 percentage points compared to the previous year, reflecting rapid growth stemming from the commencement of new projects. Table 10 describes staff by classification level, gender and type of employment as at 30 June 2019.

Table 8: Staffing overview – Actual ongoing and non-ongoing full-time and part-time staff, by gender, at 30 June 2019

Note: Excludes employees engaged to provide services to us on an irregular/intermittent (casual) basis.

Table 9: Staffing overview – Actual ongoing and non-ongoing full-time and part-time staff, by gender, at 30 June 2018

Note: Excludes employees engaged to provide services to us on an irregular/intermittent (casual) basis.

Table 10: Staffing overview: Actual ongoing and non-ongoing staff, by classification level and gender, at 30 June 2019

Note: Eleven employees on higher duties were counted at the higher duties level. Excludes employees engaged to provide services to us on an irregular/intermittent (casual) basis.

Employees who identify as Indigenous

As at 30 June 2019 we had no ongoing or non-ongoing employees who identified as Indigenous, the same as at 30 June 2018.

Individual and collective agreements

Details of the number of staff covered by our Enterprise Agreement or a Section 24(1) determination at 30 June 2019 are shown in Table 11.

Performance pay

No employees were eligible for performance pay in 2018/19.

Table 11: Number of staff covered by different employment agreements, at 30 June 2019

Note: Two EL 2 employees covered by the Enterprise Agreement have been provided with Section 24(1) determinations to supplement the provisions of the Enterprise Agreement. The number of staff excludes employees engaged to provide services to us on an irregular/intermittent (casual) basis.

Table 12: Remuneration of key management personnel

Notes: 1. Short-term benefits; 2. Post-employment benefits; 3. Other long-term benefits.