Art Gallery of NSW: PSA Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting for PSA members at the Art Gallery of NSW occurred on Thursday 5 December 2024. The meeting was called to deal with re-election of delegates and a number of issues to be addressed at the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) meeting on 9 December 2024.
JCC key matters for discussion
- PaTH/myworkzone update Issues are ongoing across all Cultural Institutions. Members have been advised to raise problems via ServiceNow ticket with the Department of Communities and Justice Shared Services. If they have any difficulties, members should contact the People and Culture (P&C) team. The PSA indicated that in 2025 the union will be raising the unsatisfactory operation of Shared Services across the Public Sector with the Treasurer for the Government to rectify. Your union’s preference is for the insourcing of these functions.
- People dashboards A report was presented dealing with total-employee headcount, leave management and recruitment for July to September. Some staff have current unused recreation leave balances of more than six weeks, which is above the threshold. The Christmas vacation period should see this reduced. If balances are too high, as per award provision, negotiations are to occur with staff members to access recreation leave at a mutually convenient time.
- Risk & Safety Report This was held over to the next meeting.
- Award increase and backpay The Gallery advised on a timeline for paying backpay for the 2024 salary increase.As P&C continue to have very limited visibility and reporting, all staff need to carefully check their payslips. Contact a P&C team member for any assistance.
- PMES 2024 results For a presentation on the survey results, click HERE
- Time off in lieu of overtime change of procedure Advice has been provided in a recent all-staff email. The system now auto pays out after three months and managers have been advised to provide time for staff to take the leave. If requested, this can be extended to six months to accommodate department peak periods. Managers need to raise a ServiceNow form to do so. Instructions have been provided to managers. There continues to be myworkzone issues with the system auto paying out even before the three-month mark, with tickets escalated and P&C awaiting a response and resolution.
Role Description Review
The PSA sought further details about process, timeline and assessments for updating position descriptions. These include the new behavioural and physical capabilities. The PSA was advised there will be a Gallery-wide role description, title and grading review. Details, as provided to managers, are this is not a role regrading exercise, and instead the aim is to:
- Review for consistency of gradings across similar positions across different divisions
- Ensure capability levels are more consistent across gradings
- Ensure key accountabilities are current and reflect what the Gallery requires of the role, not what it may have morphed into over time
- Ensure the role description deliverables are clear and assist in us meeting our strategic objectives
- Review for consistency in position naming conventions across grades
- Ensure essential criteria is actually essential and not a “nice to have”
- Ensure the use of basic language without acronyms, jargon or specific “Art Gallery speak”
- Simplify the key accountabilities where possible using broader language and requirements to allow for growth of the role and the incumbent, without defining a rigid task list format
- P&C is reviewing Gallery-wide and comparing to other Cultural Institutions and the public sector generally.
The process is:
- Managers are asked to review role descriptions and send any changes back to P&C.
- P&C will add inherent physical and behavioural requirements and update.
- The Role Description is sent back to the Manager to consult with staff. P&C can assist with the meetings or the managers can do so in a team meeting.
- Staff have two weeks to provide feedback.
- Feedback reviewed and changes considered.
- RD’s finalised and staff advised.
Due to the workload of the summer shows and staff commencing end-of-year breaks, the process is not yet completed. Aim is to finish at the end of January and, where there are any issues to consider or of concern, these will be provided to Executive by end February. The PSA has requested an extension to the consultation period due to Christmas period and workload for staff on duty during this period. Your union will consider implication of the inherent physical and behavioural requirements and report to delegates and members.
- Ad hoc requests to working from home/flexible working policy The Gallery reported at recent all-staff meeting. This is dependent on the role, with extraordinary circumstances only. Ideally requests need a manager’s approval 12 hours before start of the working time and it is not to be used as an alternative for child care. These rare occurrences don’t need a formal working from home arrangement but must have email approval from manager.
- Per diems policy regarding advance payment of per diems instead of reimbursements The Gallery seeks more information, as this is a finance matter. Government guidelines and Treasury instructions are reimbursements only. If credit cards are insufficient, the staff member should discuss with their manager and Finance to find out why the credit limit is not being remedied quickly enough. This could be a Shared Services issue or the new system as no longer managed by the Finance Department.
The next JCC meeting dates will be advised in early 2025. If members have any concerns in relation to the issues outlined in this Bulletin contact your local PSA delegate or PSA or call 1800 772 679.
Your Delegates
PSA Senior Industrial officer
Greg Shaw
PSA Organiser
Claudia Bianchi