Human resource management

Staffing

The ALRC has one office in Sydney and all staff are located at this office. On 30 June 2013, the ALRC’s full-time equivalent staffing level was 13.6 FTE. This figure does not include Commissioners (1.8 FTE).

Table 8: Staffing profile, as at 30 June 2013

ALRC Classification

Men

Women

Full-time

Part-time

Total

Executive Director

(SES-equivalent)

 

1

 

1

 

1

EL2/PLO

($124,789–132,389)

1

 

 

1

1

 

EL1/SLO

($92,854–121,155)

1

3

 

4

 

 

4

 

APS 5–6/LO

($69,810–88,432)

1

5

 

5

 

1

6

 

APS 3–4

($55,108–67,777)

1

 

2

 

1

 

2

 

3

 

APS 1–2

($38,652–53,502)

 

 

 

 

 

Total

4

11

11

4

15

Staff retention and turnover

During 2012–13, two ongoing employees resigned from the ALRC, and one ongoing employee took 12 months maternity leave.

 

Table 9: ALRC staff 2012–13

Staff member

Position

Full-time/Part-time

Corporate Support

Sabina Wynn

Executive Director

Full-time

Maria Zacharia

Finance Manager

Full-time

Dimitra Zinonos

Finance Assistant

Part-time

Greg Diggs

Payroll Officer

Part-time

Tina O’Brien

Executive Assistant/Project Coordinator

Full-time

Trisha Manning

Office Services Coordinator

Full-time

Communications and Information

Marie Claire Muir

Online Communications Manager

Full-time

Carolyn Kearney (resigned in August 2012)

Librarian

Part-time

Legal Team

Bruce Alston

Principal Legal Officer

Part-time

Justine Clarke

Senior Legal Officer

Full-time

Jared Boorer

Senior Legal Officer

Full-time

Sara Peel (maternity leave Nov 2012)

Legal Officer

Full-time

Robyn Gilbert

Legal Officer

Part-time

Krista Lee-Jones (resigned in April 2013)

Legal Officer

Full-time

Khanh Hoang

Legal Officer

Full-time

Amanda Alford

Legal Officer

Full-time

Julie MacKenzie

Legal Officer

Full-time

Employment conditions

All employees are covered by the ALRC Enterprise Agreement 2011–14. This Agreement is designed to ensure the ALRC values and develops its employees through:

  • ensuring health and wellbeing, including:

  • providing flexible conditions and working arrangements that assist employees in balancing their work and personal responsibilities;

  • providing a safe and healthy workplace; and

  • promoting a work environment that upholds and supports policies relating to staff development, anti-discrimination, consultative workplace relations, and workplace diversity.

  • supporting a responsive organisation able to meet future challenges by:

  • providing remuneration that is competitive and fair;

  • promoting arrangements that increase productivity;

  • maintaining a strong performance and merit-based culture that encourages both individual and collegial achievements and contributions, and improves overall organisational performance;

  • being consultative and encouraging open communication; and

  • encouraging responsible and accountable practices across the organisation.

  • facilitating productive workplace relations and collective bargaining in good faith with ALRC employees and their representatives that will assist the ALRC to identify and realise productivity improvements.

The ALRC is committed to providing a flexible working environment, while maintaining the high quality of its work. The ALRC acknowledges that employees have to balance their working life with other commitments, including family, carer and community responsibilities. This is recognised through various provisions in the Agreement including, but not limited to, forms of leave, flexible work arrangements and a ‘work from home’ policy.

Performance rewards and bonuses

The ALRC Enterprise Agreement 2011–14 makes provision for an annual increase of 3% and includes a salary scale, with each pay point in the scale representing a 3% increase in salary. The performance appraisal provisions of the Agreement allow for performance to be rewarded through a mixture of movement up the salary scale and one-off bonuses, as summarised below.

Table 10: Performance rewards and bonuses

Performance rating

Outcome

Exceeding performance

2 pay point increase

Meets all performance expectations

1 pay point increase

Meets most performance expectations

Remain on current pay point

Does not meet performance expectations

Remain on current pay point or go down one or more pay points in accordance with procedures in Clause 20, ‘Managing Underperformance’

An employee who is at the maximum salary point for a classification will be eligible for a bonus of up to 2% of his or her annual salary, based on a performance appraisal. If rated as meeting all performance expectations, the bonus will be 1%. If rated as exceeding, the bonus will be 2%. If rated as meeting most, or not meeting performance expectations, there will be no bonus awarded.

During 2012–13, four employees were awarded a performance bonus, amounting to a total bonus payment for the year of $7,151.51.

  • 1 x SES Band 1—$3,006.47
  • 2 x EL1—$3,499.54
  • 1 x APS 4—$645.50

Further details of total remuneration expenditure in 2012–13 are provided in the financial statements.

Staff development

The performance appraisal process is the main mechanism for determining professional development needs of employees, but the ALRC also considers requests for education and training as they arise. The ALRC budgets for professional development at a whole-of-organisation level as well as for individual employees. Where appropriate, the ALRC organises tailored training for groups of employees with similar needs. In addition, the ALRC considers attendance at relevant conferences and professional seminars to contribute to the professional development of staff.

The following professional development opportunities were taken up by corporate staff during 2012–13:

  • Fringe Benefits Tax Seminar, 4 March 2013, Sydney

  • Meridian Payroll training, 4 and 11 March 2013, Sydney

  • Reconciliation Australia RAP Learning Circle, 10 April 2013, Sydney

  • Cost-effective approaches for Government Marketing & Communications, 16 April 2013, Sydney

  • Cultivating Wisdom in Leadership, 5–10 May 2013, Melbourne

  • Micropay general ledger training, 13 May 2013 Sydney

  • End of year Meridian Payroll training, 18 June 2013, Sydney

Legal officers attended the following conferences and seminars:

  • National Employment Services Association National Conference, August 2012, Sydney

  • 20th Annual Colloquium of Superannuation Researchers, UNSW, 12–13 July 2012, Sydney

  • Annual Labour Law Conference, 13 August 2012, Sydney

  • National Leaders Conference, CPSU, 28–29 August 2012, Sydney

  • Copyright and the Digital Economy, so many issues, so little time, Copyright Society of Australia, 5 November 2012, Sydney

  • Quarterly OHS Update Series, Norton Rose, 9 November 2012, Sydney

  • Desperately seeking certainty for Certain Purposes: s200AB and other copyright exceptions, Communications Law Centre, UTS and the UTS Faculty of Law Academic Roundtable, 12 November 2012, Sydney

  • Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…Fair Use or Fair Dealing in Australia, UTS Faculty of Law, Communications Law Centre UTS and Norton Rose, 13 November 2012, Sydney

  • Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention Legal Service Conference, 23 November 2012, Melbourne

  • The future of digital, ARIA, 26 November 2012, Sydney

  • Justice Connections Symposium, 30 November 2012, Canberra

  • Privacy in the 21st Century Symposium, December 2012, Sydney

  • Launch of AHRC ‘Investing in care: Recognising and valuing those who care’ report, 30 January 2013, Sydney

  • Evidence Based Policy Workshop, Crawford School ANU, 3 June 2013, Sydney

  • Privacy Reform and Compliance Forum, 12–13 June 2013, Sydney

  • Family Law Council, 13 June 2013, Sydney

  • Native Title Law: Focus on ILUAs and RTN agreements, 14 June 2013, Sydney

Study leave

Study leave is available for all ongoing employees (full-time and part-time). Study assistance provided by the ALRC is in the form of granting up to five days unpaid leave per academic year (part-time staff will be granted a pro rata amount) to facilitate an employee’s study, Two employees sought approval for study leave in 2012–13.

Workplace diversity

During 2012–13, the ALRC developed its Workplace Diversity Statement committing the ALRC to foster a diverse workforce and ensure that its recruitment processes are fair and accessible including a commitment to attract and recruit people from diverse backgrounds and, wherever possible, to participate in whole-of-APS recruitment programs.

The ALRC also has an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy and Reasonable Adjustment Guidelines. The EEO Policy is a statement of the ALRC’s commitment to the goals of equal opportunity and affirmative action in employment, and aims to provide a work environment for staff, contractors and interns that fosters fairness, equity and respect for social and cultural diversity, and that is free from unlawful discrimination, harassment or vilification. The EEO Policy also sets out procedures to ensure concerns and complaints are dealt with in a prompt and appropriate manner.

The Reasonable Adjustment Guidelines are designed to assist in fulfilling the ALRC’s responsibilities for providing a workplace that allows employees, contractors and interns with disability to compete for vacancies and pursue careers effectively. The Guidelines require management to consider whether it is necessary and reasonable to make an adjustment to remove a barrier to enable a person with disability to achieve equal opportunity, equal participation or equal performance at work.

A breakdown of staff by gender and classification is provided in Table 8.

Work health & safety

The ALRC recognises its responsibility to provide a healthy and safe workplace for employees and to provide them with easily accessible information on work health and safety matters and to prevent, where possible, any injury or illness potentially caused by workplace conditions.

The ALRC’s Health and Safety Management Arrangements (HSMAs) and Work Health and Safety Policy (WHS Policy) provide the framework for ensuring the health, safety and welfare of all its employees (‘workers’ for the purposes of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth)). The ALRC has updated these arrangements and policies to ensure alignment and compliance with the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) and the Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011 (Cth).

The ALRC has a commitment to consult with employees and their representatives on work health and safety issues and to work together to ensure a safe work environment. The ALRC, so far as is reasonably practicable, consults with employees who are, or are likely to be, directly affected by a matter relating to work health or safety. The ALRC shares relevant information about health, safety and welfare with employees and ensures that they are given the opportunity to express their views and to contribute in a timely fashion to the resolution of work health, safety and welfare issues. The ALRC held an all-staff meeting on 11 December 2012 to inform employees of the new requirements under the WHS Act and the revised HSMAs and WHS policies and sought feedback on WHS issues. The ALRC’s officers, have attended training with regards to their due diligence obligations and the changes to the Act,.

The ALRC supports the use of a risk management approach to work health and safety. The ALRC identifies any potential risks to the health and safety of ALRC employees and puts in place strategies to minimise any potential hazards or risks. WHS policies are accessible to workers on the ALRC intranet and new employees are provided with information on work health and safety as part of the induction process.

The ALRC has a Work Health and Safety Committee (WHASC), that meets, at least, twice a year. ALRC employees and management have a responsibility to report any situation that could constitute a hazard to the health, safety or welfare of any ALRC employee. Any accident or injury that occurs while an employee is undertaking ALRC work—regardless of where it is being undertaken—must be reported immediately to the WHASC. There were no accidents nor any dangerous occurrences during 2012–13 that required giving of notice under the WHS Act.

All ALRC employees have undertaken emergency training. Fire Warden training is also undertaken on a regular basis as part of our tenancy requirements.

The ALRC conducts an annual health and safety audit and this was completed in November 2012. During 2012–13, there were no WHS issues reported.

As a workplace health initiative under the Enterprise Agreement, the ALRC provides free and voluntary influenza vaccinations to staff each year. In 2012–13, eight employees took advantage of a free vaccination. The ALRC also offers a reimbursement of up to $150 per annum for activities that contribute to employees health and well-being. In addition, all employees have access to a free and confidential counseling service that provides up to three free sessions of counseling per year, for each staff member. In 2012–13, four sessions of counseling were accessed.