Embedding the APS Values: Case studies and other supporting material

Please note: These documents are for reference purposes only and are no longer considered by the APS Commission to be current. They may contain good practice advice and/or advice on the transitional arrangements between the 1922 and 1999 Public Service Acts.

globe Useful references

Case study 25:
Department of Transport and Regional Services:
Certified agreement and flexible work practices

Background

The Department of Transport and Regional Services (DOTARS) Certified Agreement 2002-04 is designed to reflect its organisational culture and ethos.

Partly as the result of staff surveys, one of the aims of the agreement is to implement mechanisms that enable people to balance their work and personal lives.

Description

The certified agreement includes in its preamble a commitment to be ethical in the practical application of the provisions of the Public Service Act 1999, the APS Values, the Code of Conduct and the department's values.

The preamble sets out eight objectives for the agreement and describes how these objectives are to be achieved. Many of the principles contained in those APS Values that relate to workplace relationships, such as equity, diversity, communication, consultation, cooperation, fairness and flexibility, are referred to.

The agreement recognises that over and above the need to balance work, family and other caring responsibilities, workplace arrangements need to be sufficiently flexible so as not to interfere unduly with the general interests and responsibilities of employees outside work.

Although the fundamental conditions to support genuinely flexible working arrangements, such as part-time and home-based work, extended bandwidth, flexible working hours and annual leave at half pay, had been in place in the department for some years, they had not been widely used. Through the agreement, these conditions of employment are given more prominence and complement other initiatives, such as new leave provisions.

The agreement encourages employees to consider options that include: working more hours over fewer days, setting an individual bandwidth pattern, employee-funded breaks that are similar to purchased leave, job sharing, and employee sharing where an employee can undertake two part-time jobs within the department provided they do not exceed normal working hours. There is a focus on enabling staff to use flexible work practices.

An increased number of staff now work from home, do part-time work, or job share. This enables staff to undertake, for example, post-graduate study or a phased approach to retirement.

The agreement also introduces 25 days a year of personal circumstances leave that combines sick, family, and emergency leave and also incorporates bereavement, new parent and ceremonial leave, and other approved purposes. It is intended that personal circumstances leave will help employees better balance the competing demands of work and personal life and that requests will be interpreted broadly to cater most effectively for the wide diversity of individual circumstances, backgrounds, commitments and working styles.

Key APS Values

The APS provides a fair, flexible, safe and rewarding workplace. (s. 10(1)(j) of the PS Act)

The APS provides a workplace that is free from discrimination and recognises and utilises the diversity of the Australian community it serves. (s. 10(1)(c) of the PS Act)

The APS promotes equity in employment. (s. 10(1)(l) of the PS Act)

For more information please contact:

STEWART THOMAS
PHONE 02 6274 8179
stewart.thomas@dotars.gov.au