JCC and RJCC Update - Feb 2020 (PDF version)

1. Joint Consultative Committee
   3 February 2020

Meeting with the Secretary

This was the PSA’s first opportunity to meet with the new Department Secretary since their appointment. The Secretary indicated a genuine willingness to work with the unions and hoped for an opportunity to have more of a strategic discussion as to the objectives of the Department.

In a welcome step forward for the PSA, one of the areas that the Secretary indicated of great importance is better accessibility, training and understanding as to how it really works in practice across the board in DCS for Flexible Working Arrangements.

Contingent labour

With the Machinery of Government changes, it has become a standing item for the JCC to report on contingent labour. Since the introduction of MoG changes in 2018 the Department’s use of contingent labour has declined from 26 per cent to six per cent.

Transparency re: EMPA and associated leadership opportunities

This was an issue that had been raised at previous JCCs as to a concern about the transparency for staff seeking to participate in the Executive Masters Public Administration Program.

The concern was mostly around a lack of feedback to staff who had not been successful. The Director – Leadership presented to the JCC and informed the committee that P&C has now put out a lot more information about the program and the specific criteria required while acknowledging that it was exceedingly competitive and each cluster only has a limited number of places.

They were also working with leaders to provide better feedback to those applicants who have not been successful.

MoG communications – Consultation

A discussion was had with the Deputy Secretary Government and Corporate Services and the Chief People Officer, People and Culture around communications to staff acknowledging the significant amount of change that has occurred since the MoG changes started.

From a PSA perspective this has been a mixed-bag. Unfortunately, we know that for those members who have not been easily placed into a new structure the support and communication provided has been minimal to non-existent.

This situation has not been assisted by having Corporate Services, in particular the People and Culture area undergo substantial change management at the same time that other areas that rely upon support from this area were also undergoing significant change.

2. Restructure Joint Consultative Committee
   6 February 2020

In response to the large number of Restructure Management Plans (RMPs) and realignments that are required by the MoG changes for the creation of the DCS, the RJCC established fortnightly meetings to assist with the ongoing consultation around these changes. The current update to members on these are as follows:

• Office of the Secretary RMP Final RMP announced 14 November 2019. Stage 1 and 2 complete, currently at stages 3 and 4.
• People and Culture RMP Final RMP announce 18 November 2019. Stages 1 -3 complete. Currently at stage 4.
• SIRA Realignment It was reported to the RJCC that there have been no changes since the last meeting and with the last main update being that the final RMP had been announced on 28 November 2019.

The PSA raised concerns about the possible lack of transparency as we are aware that discussions in SIRA on the proposed realignment for the Strategy and Governance are underway which has not been raised with the PSA through the RJCC.

The PSA has requested that the Department look into this and where necessary provide a detailed update and appropriate consultation periods.

• BRD Realignment The consultation period has been extended to 11 February 2020 with the ‘soft’ launch of BRD commencing from 1 February 2020.

The PSA is still waiting on a response to a number of issues that it has raised with the Department, notably – Automotive Inspectors, SafeWork NSW Inspectors – MOSI team changes, Reporting Lines and changes to the Country Offices.

While it is apparent that consultation is occurring at senior levels of the organisation this does not appear to be occurring at non-management levels and causes a high level of angst across the membership

The Department will argue that since there are no losses of roles in the BRD realignment it does not require the same level of consultation as would be expected through an RMP process that is in line with the Agency Change Management Guidelines and Managing Excess Employees Policy.

The PSA does not support this position and works with delegates and members alike to raise issues of concern for the Departments attention and response.

• Governance, Risk and Performance Final RMP announced 28 November 2019. Stages 1 & 2 completed and currently at stage 3.
• Digital Middle Office Consultation closed 06 December 2019. Stages 1 & 2 complete – currently at stage 3 and 4.
• Reviewable Decisions Consultation closed on 22 January 2020 and is currently being reviewed. Following further consultation with members the PSA has made an additional request that for the newly created temporary Clerk Grade 7/8 roles that the Department look to rotate them by way of a Temporary Assignment Allowance for the current 4 x Clerk Grade 5/6 staff in that area.
• Revenue Digital – Revenue NSW Revenue Digital RMP was released to staff on 31st January. Consultation period is from 3rd Feb – 24th Feb. To date 67 questions have been submitted to the Department. Discussions were had as to the Premier’s commitment that there will be no regional job losses and how that was to work with the current draft RMP which will still require staff to go through a suitability assessment for their role. Weekly Town Halls have been scheduled and staff are encouraged to submit constructive questions. Answers to question themes will be provided in an FAQ.
• Customer Engagement Integration (CEI) The Department has commenced its roadshows to meet with those staff whose roles have been identified as frontline customer service functions to be moved to Service NSW.

This will require moving staff from their current industrial instrument being the Crown Employees Public Sector – Salaries Award 2019 onto the Service NSW Salaries and Conditions Employees Award 2018.

The mechanism that the Department has opted to use to achieve this is a ‘Transition Management Plan’, and a similar process has recently been undertaken for the transfer of staff from Service NSW Corporate Services to the DCS Corporate Services.

The PSA as of 6 February 2020 has now been provided with a draft copy of the TMP for the CEI and a copy of that draft can be accessed HERE.

In a significant improvement to the Corporate Services TMP, the PSA is pleased to see that full salary maintenance is being offered, that is staff who transfer across onto a lower remunerated role than their current role will be maintained indefinitely at the higher rate and will receive yearly salary increases, this is a significant win for members!

The PSA has sought legal advice in response now to both the Corporate Services TMP and the proposed CEI TMP.

The PSA understands there are a large number of concerns and the Department reported that through the town hall/roadshow meeting process that they had already received 58 distinct questions.  The PSA will provide further and more detailed communications to members on these issues as the information becomes available.

The consultation process for CEI and TMP has now been extended through to the 25 February 2020.

 

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