Building Better Governance

Part Three—Departmental Case Studies

Department of Employment and Workplace Relations

How a large, geographically dispersed department covering a range of subject matters has structured its governance committees to provide flexibility as well as strong leadership, direction and accountability.

The department

The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) provides the Government with high quality advice, programmes and services to achieve three outcomes: efficient and effective labour market assistance; higher productivity, higher pay workplaces; and increased workforce participation.

The department has a staff of 3 600 located in the national office in Canberra, in offices in all state and territory capital cities and in a number of regional centres.

The challenge

As a large agency, the challenge for DEWR was to set up a governance committee structure that provided leadership and direction to its management and staff while at the same time providing appropriate flexibility to deal with new functions and policy directions as they arise.

The system

The department has developed a robust governance system, in particular through its committee structure. Overall direction comes from the Secretary, ensuring strong leadership and coordination of governance issues within the department.

The highest level governance committee is ‘Management Board’, comprising the Secretary, all Deputy Secretaries, the Group Manager Corporate, Chief Financial Officer, and Group Manager State Office Network. The General Counsel has observer status on Management Board, and offers legal advice, but does not participate in decision making.

The role of Management Board is to provide active and visible strategic leadership to the department, and its focus is on broad trends and issues of importance to the department.

The Secretary chairs weekly Management Board meetings. All areas within the department may submit papers, and regular reports are provided by areas such as human resources, finance, audit, ethics, security and property. Trends and systemic matters relating to code of conduct and harassment issues are also considered by Management Board to ensure that departmental policies are appropriately applied.

Management Board has a strong supporting structure of sub-committees (such as Audit, Ethics, Information Technology, and People and Leadership) which are typically chaired by Deputy Secretaries (SES Band 3) or Group Managers (SES Band 2). There is also the Remuneration Sub-Committee, chaired by the Secretary, which meets fortnightly to consider remuneration matters relating to staff (in particular, new Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), modifications to existing AWAs and indicative performance pay ratings). This attention to detail ensures a consistent approach to agreement-making and performance outcomes across the department, as well as ensuring that the process is open and ‘above board’.

Departmental management follows a principles-based approach to set the culture and ethos of the department, establishing parameters and guidelines on issues and policies. Managers are expected to take responsibility for managing risks, and in pursuit of that expectation, they are provided with a clear outline of departmental policies and programmes and an understanding of departmental direction and objectives.

What was done

The department is structured according to its three outcomes, with a Deputy Secretary responsible for each outcome. This clear alignment of outcomes and responsibilities is an important element of any good governance structure.

The department has established a process of setting up ‘oversight committees’ to deal with new, often complex, work following machinery of government changes or new policy initiatives. It has developed a model to ensure good governance practices are adhered to in addressing specific issues such as the Workplace Relations policy and legislative development, and Welfare to Work initiatives.

For example, the Welfare to Work committee met weekly to develop strategies to deal with new issues facing the department such as the developing relationship with Centrelink. Committee members worked through cases, examining relevant policy and legal issues, programme management, and people management issues. Members were able to learn from each other and to share information to ensure effective and speedy implementation of the programme.

The oversight committees are formal but temporary, ceasing to operate once a matter is dealt with (after which time the residual work falls under the normal committee structure). While topic-specific, they bring together relevant people from various areas in the department that have an interest in a particular matter.

Monitoring

DEWR undertakes ongoing monitoring of the suitability of its governance structures. As a result, in 2006 the Group Manager State Office Network became a member of Management Board. That position was added to ensure that the department’s very significant and high profile state and regional network was made an integral part of the departmental governance structure.

Overall, DEWR believes that its committee structures have worked well. There have been some minor modifications and adjustments over time to ensure the currency and appropriateness of the governance structure.

Benefits

The oversight committees not only produce better outcomes because of the involvement of all key areas, but also help to establish networks across the department that might not otherwise have existed. As a result, ongoing working relationships are established, which further assists in breaking down any ‘silo’ mentality (always a challenge in large agencies) and creates a feeling of cohesion in the department.

Key messages

The Secretary plays a crucial role in setting the direction of the department and its governance arrangements, in particular the establishment and operation of committees.
A strong committee structure provides overall guidance for managers and helps them to understand the department’s framework, objectives and intended outcomes.
The use of ‘oversight committees’ in addition to the formal ‘standing’ committee structure can be particularly effective in a large department which is geographically dispersed and covers a range of distinct but often inter-related policy areas.

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