The Public Service Association (PSA) industrial staff and PSA delegates attended the recent DCCEEW JCC with senior DCCEWW management where the following items we discussed.

• Towards One – the Secretary of the Department provided an update of Towards One, which effectively is Phase II of the Functional Review. At this stage it is in its infancy, with a focus on Corporate Servies, but the PSA has been advised that the review will look at all Divisions of the DCCEEW. The Department has given assurances that the PSA (members included) and staff will be consulted and appropriate ‘Change Management Plans’ will be provided.Additionally, the PSA Industrial Officer and Departmental PSA Delectate Chairperson have been included in a fortnightly update on the Towards One review. The PSA will advise members in the future of any appropriate issues.

• Change to work email– PSA raised concerns about the proposed change of emails to the ‘dcceew’ address and the PSA specifically raised:
  • Real and perceived financial costs, in a time that members are staff are been asked to apply fiscal restraint.
  • Tt will be confusing with the Federal DCCEEW.
  • Why change the address when ‘environment’ has been in play or over 10 years and served the Department and our clientele well.
  • It will be a major administrative and workload issue that will require staff to spend many, many hours changing contact emails, passwords etc.
  • It will be confusing to our clientele, including the community at large, and many will lose contact with staff, which will affect jobs and services provided.
  • It will greatly affect accessibility to many of our systems and databases that rely on our emails; many of these systems and databases require a third body to execute the change and may takes days / weeks to enable staff access; and some will require an external agency to change the programming of their system (e.g. Planning Portal).The Secretary indicated that it was about uniting us under one domain / name, and it is not costly or confusing. The PSA disagreed with this stance.

• Flexible Work Agreements – the Secretary indicated the Flexible Work Policy is now in full swing within the Department, with most staff applying for Flexible Work Agreements via the Portal to their managers.The Department advised that this may be going smoothly for most staff, however the PSA understands Delegates are still receiving concerns about the policy from members and queried the Department, notably:

• • What is happening during the transitional period for offices that lack staff space / resources to permit staff back to the office – effectively members /staff still need to negotiate an agreement but managers can be more flexible during the 6 month transitional period.

• • What is the PSA advice with respect to staff which have been employed on the basis they could work from home or from an alternate location.
  • PSA is checking legal advice, but ask members to contact PSA Membership Service / Delegates if there is an issue.

• • What is the advice for staff whose nearest office (to which they have been advised is their workplace) is within a Division they have no direct contact with.
  • Members need to contact PSA Membership Service / Delegates if there is an issue.

• Return to Work Office Space – unclear how/why the specific days nominated in the Portal are being tracked?
• Is this being analysed for office/desk space requirements? What is the outcome of this analysis? Concerns that (i) staff are working in spaces not designed for their work, such as an office lunchrooms, (ii) appropriate facilities, such as changing rooms or showers are not available, and (iii) lack of personal lockers.The Department will advise at next JCC how they will rectify these issues.

• Travel allowance –appears within the larger DCCEEW, including the BCT that some managers not applying the travel allowance provision correctly in accordance with the award (as per Clause 26 Travel Compensation of Crown Employees (Public Service Conditions of Employment) Award 2009). Some staff have been told that they are not allowed to claim allowances, which is an IR offence under the Award.This advice also fails to convey the Departmental policy (as per DPIE Travel Policy issued 13 June 2023) correctly, which actually states ‘Unless specified in an employee’s award or enterprise agreement, the Department will reimburse employees for actual expenses only, rather than pay per diems’, clearly indicating that if the employees award states otherwise then per diems applies, which applies to most DCCEEW and BCT staff). PSA and Department to meet and recommend that a general bulletin to members and staff bee sent to all managers outlining the correct process.
• Ongoing MyWorkZone Issues – members are still experiencing issues on MyWorkZone, such as flexisheet authorisations, incorrect accrual of long service leave, inability to defer leave leading, extended travel time etc.

The Department advised working through all issues, but recommends members / staff with specific issues to log a CS Connects or contact a PSA delegate for them to get HR to address the issue.

• PMES – The PSA raised concerns that the Department is focusing on PMES results that did not necessarily score poorly (e.g. driving, summer safety and aggressive clientele) rather than deal with issues that staff / members indicated were major issues, such as lack of consulting with staff / members on major issues (.e.g. functional review, communication change management plans etc), poorly handling change, poor wellbeing / burnout, inconsistent recruitment practices, unnecessary administrative work, poor senior management and  poor customer service / engagement. PSA requested that the Department reconsider their priorities, or members will become disenchanted with respect to undertaking the yearly PMES survey.

PSA Departmental Committee Members

Steve Lewer

Daniel Cain

Catherine Ellis

Shahadat Chowdhury

Peter Roberts

Mary Ann Hamilton

James Gillespie

Samantha Altmann

Erika Roper

Molly Zarb