Chapter 6: The Values and workplace relations

Workplace consultation

The APS Values include the establishment of workplace relations in the APS that value communication, consultation, cooperation and input from employees on matters that affect their workplace. These are critical to achieving results and underpinning good working relationships.

The PS Act provides agency heads with all the rights, duties and powers of an employer in regard to APS employees in their agency. In addition to the setting of pay and conditions, this includes implementation of policies on employee consultation in their agency. Consultation practices amongst agencies, however, can be expected to vary given differences in agencies’ size and the nature of their business outcomes.

Employees’ perceptions of consultation

While meetings can be the bane of bureaucracies, they are also an essential part of the consultation process and, if properly managed, can support genuine and constructive staff engagement. The employee survey results suggest that the most common practice amongst agencies is to conduct regular meetings at the section/team/unit level, with fewer agencies conducting regular meetings at higher levels.

Just over one-third of employees reported attending meetings at the branch/group/division/office level on a regular basis (i.e. monthly or more often) and 5% reported this type of meeting as being ‘not applicable’ to their circumstances. Sixteen per cent of respondents to the employee survey indicated that they do not attend this level of meeting and a further 43% indicated that they attend these meetings on an ad-hoc basis.

Employees reported attending lower-level meetings (i.e. at the section/unit/team level) on a more regular basis. Of the APS and EL employees who answered the question, almost three-quarters reported attending staff meetings of this kind on a regular basis (i.e. monthly or more often). Only 2% reported that they do not attend such staff meetings and a further 23% indicated that they attend these meetings on an ad-hoc basis (just 1% reported it as being ‘not applicable’). Of the agency-specific results available for 21 large agencies, the range of results was considerable. For example, the proportion of respondents who attended such meetings on a regular basis ranged from 36% to 93% of employees. The proportion who reported not attending meetings of this kind ranged from 0% to 8%. The range for ad-hoc meetings was 7% to 44%. The large agencies with the highest reporting of attendance at regular meetings at the section/unit/team level were CRS, Health, DEH and CSA.

Almost half of employees (46%) indicated that they were satisfied with their overall say in decisions that impact on their work, however, 28% reported being dissatisfied. Employees’ satisfaction levels do appear to be strongly correlated to attendance at regular staff meetings. Figure 6.6 shows that employees who attend regular staff meetings at the section/unit/team level are significantly more likely to be satisfied with their overall say in decisions that affect their work.

Employees’ level of satisfaction with their overall say in decisions was also correlated with a number of other factors, including:

• attendance at regular staff meetings at the branch/group/division/office level (similar to the correlation shown in Figure 6.6 above)
• attendance at meetings held by staff representatives to discuss issues affecting staff (again, similar to the correlation shown in Figure 6.6 above)
• perceptions of their supervisor’s ability to manage people (employees satisfied with their overall say in decisions are much more likely to consider that their supervisor is highly effective at managing people and vice versa)
• overall job satisfaction (employees satisfied with their overall say in decisions are much more likely to have a high overall job satisfaction rating and vice versa).

Agencies’ policies on workplace consultation

The agency survey asked agencies about policies in place requiring regular staff meetings in their agency (at the section/unit/team level and the branch/group/division/office level). Almost one-third of agencies reported that they currently do not have policies in place on this issue. Large agencies were more likely than small and medium agencies to report that they currently do not have such policies in place (41% of large agencies compared with 31% of medium agencies and 24% of small agencies). This result does not necessarily mean that regular staff meetings are not occurring in these agencies. However, when analysed in conjunction with the results of the employee survey, there does appear to be cause for concern about the degree to which workplace consultation is occurring in some APS agencies.

The survey results show that the extent to which agencies regularly consult their employees on day-to-day workplace issues varies widely. They also show that employees who regularly attend staff meetings are more likely to feel that they have a say in decision-making processes in their workplace and that this is linked to employee job satisfaction. This data suggest that regular staff meetings may have a positive impact on how employees view their ability to contribute to decision making processes within their agencies.

The wide-ranging results of large agencies, as well as the fact that 16% of employees reported having never attended a staff meeting at the branch/group/division/office level, indicate that some agencies should be devoting more effort to encouraging consultation in the workplace.