The Department of Customer Service has recently made us aware of their desire to implement the capability of the phone system in Fines and Debt to record calls.  The Department is consulting with PSA over this and we are seeking your feedback in the matter.  Below is the information we have for you so far:

• Has the PSA been consulted on any planned introduction to the use of telephone recordings?

RNSW F&D is engaging with the PSA as a part of the change and communication strategy.

• What is the purpose of telephone recordings?

• • Training and Quality Assurance purposes
  • To assist with Ombudsman and Ministerial enquiries
  • To assist with processing customer feedback
• What information is the system collecting when recording telephone calls?

Audio of the interaction

• Is it intended to be used to collect information for safety reasons?

Safety reasons are not the primary objective however if there are instances of threatening calls, may be used for supporting staff further.

• Have HSRs been consulted on telephone calls?

No

• If safety is a reason for recording calls, why haven’t HSRs and workers been consulted as required under the WHS Act Section 49?  

There are no current HSR representatives, however, an EOI has been issued. Can do a retrospective consultation when representatives are appointed.

• How will calls be recorded?

All interactions within Genesys Cloud will be automatically recorded by the platform

The system checks whether the queue and the agent permissions allow for the recording to proceed. If so, the audio is retained for a period of 3 months in active storage and a further 3 months in cold storage (cold storage is an archive function i.e. A compressed storage option) after that 6 month period, the recordings are destroyed.

• What information will be collected from the recordings?

Audio of the call interaction and the transcription. Future information includes sentiment analysis and key word identification for call driver or specialised option analysis

• Who will have access to the recordings?

RNSW F&D grade 5/6 staff and above. Most leaders will only have access to the recordings of staff directly reporting to them.

• What security is there to secure the storage of employee information?

Refer to the Privacy Impact Assessment

• Will personal information be collected?

Refer to the Privacy Impact Assessment

• Will recordings monitor employee conduct?

In general, interaction recordings are not actively monitored. Employee conduct will be monitored if specifically detailed within an action plan or performance improvement plan that has been discussed and agreed upon with the staff member

• Why will employee conduct be monitored?

Where a staff member is not meeting capabilities and support is required, conduct will be monitored via recorded calls

• What policy and procedures will DCS apply to ensure adverse recordings will not utilised to carry out arbitrary disciplinary action?

Only when a complaint comes in or if it is part of identified performance management will calls be used for disciplinary action. Calls will not be used to look for issues. Policies utilised will be Positive and Productive workplace policy or Managing for improvement procedures

• Will this be disabled during private phone calls?

No, Staff should not use Genesys Cloud for personal calls. Staff are encouraged to use Microsoft Teams should a personal phone call be required as there is no call recording deployed within Teams.

• Will the Department provide an undertaking that call recordings will not do the same in private calls?

No, Staff should not use Genesys Cloud for personal calls. Staff are encouraged to use Microsoft Teams should a personal phone call be required as there is no call recording deployed within Teams.

• Can call recordings be deactivated by the employee?

Yes, employees will need to deactivate (pause) recordings when instructed by customers and when processing credit card payments only.

• What checks and balances are in place on the governance of the call recording system to ensure any information is only collected, accessed, or used for agreed purposes?

The permissions to grant access to these recordings are controlled by the DCS GTP Team. They have a separation of duties, separate to that of Revenue NSW. The application allows the audit of access to recordings to ensure that staff members are compliant in their use of information.

Additionally, Genesys keeps a record of the instances where call recording is accessed and listened to, including a timeline detailing the portion of the call listened to and the details of the person listening to the recording.

• Who in DCS will monitor governance?

Revenue NSW, F&D Operational Support Team in conjunction with the DCS Government Technology Platform (GTP) Team

• Will use of call recordings be audited and by who?

Yes, Revenue NSW, F&D Operational Support Team

• Will DCS be conducting auditing of call recordings covertly and how would this be permitted under Workplace Surveillance legislation?

No, DCS will not have access to the Revenue NSW interaction data. Revenue NSW may supply redacted interaction recording data to DCS for the purpose of assisting with technical issues/failures, however no staff or customer information is provided, and the purpose is purely ICT related.

• What will DCS do with this information?

See above

If you are affected by this and would like to provide feedback, please contact the Member Support Centre on and quote call number 189207.  Please provide any feedback by Thursday 18 August 2022 to enable us to incorporate it into our response.

If you know of non-members who may be affected by this, please share the bulletin and invite them to join so that they can also have a say in their employment conditions.