The People and Culture Strategy identifies priority actions that will improve employee experiences by equipping, supporting and empowering our workforce to continue our work of driving system transformation.
While each priority action has been aligned with the pillar that best fits its core purpose, the actions and the pillars they support operate in a holistic manner, whereby they are mutually reinforcing and overlap in their desired outcome.
Employee wellbeing, psychological and cultural safety are valued equally with productivity.
Our organisational values are consistently demonstrated and we strive to create an inclusive workplace culture, free from any type of discrimination.
We will:
- develop and execute an implementation plan for our organisational values (Values Agreement) to make the values visible and to embed them in behaviours, actions, systems and processes for all employees, including those in formal leadership positions
- implement Family Safety Victoria’s Family Violence Staff Support Policy and Guides
- develop a wellbeing action plan including mechanisms for strengths-based feedback, positive team rituals, and recognition and appreciation
- facilitate internal dialogue to better understand what ‘lived experience’ means and how Family Safety Victoria works with the lived experiences of our employees
- establish programs of work to increase and support employee diversity and inclusion, including
- support and promotion of existing departmental networks and programs, e.g. Pride Network, Enablers Network, Women of Colour, Wirrigirri Reconciliation program
- the internal implementation of the department’s Aboriginal Cultural Safety Framework
- the internal application of Everybody Matters: Inclusion and Equity Statement
- promote and support Family Safety Victoria’s participation in existing departmental employment pathways for people with diverse backgrounds, e.g. CareerSeekers, YES Traineeship, CareerTrackers, and Stepping Into programs
Our people are given opportunities to grow and demonstrate leadership at every level and to work autonomously within their role.
People feel informed and involved in decision-making and able to contribute more of their skills and knowledge to make a difference.
We will:
- develop a Leadership Charter as part of our Values Agreement that outlines the behaviours that can be expected of those in leadership positions in Family Safety Victoria, that encourage our leaders to demonstrate our values, to be authentic, humble, open, passionate, committed, and to embrace innovation
- based on the department’s capability framework, develop assessment tools for leaders and managers to appraise the current strengths and learning needs within their teams, and to evaluate themes across Family Safety Victoria
- build stronger feedback channels for Family Safety Victoria employees to the Senior Leadership and Executive Management Teams via the People and Culture Advisory Group (PCAG), in order that PCAG be a genuine voice for staff
We have a culture of trust, collegiality and shared purpose, where people are encouraged and supported to collaborate and connect across organisational structures and where communication and information flow freely.
We have the ability and systems to work flexibly and adaptably across teams and projects as our priorities shift.
We will:
- refine Family Safety Victoria’s internal communication plan to ensure agreed principles and practices for communicating across a range of channels and working environments, with a focus on ensuring staff are connected with their leaders and one another, feel informed and part of a collaborative, open and supportive working culture.
- make improvements to the offboarding, exit and re-boarding procedures when employees leave Family Safety Victoria or return from extended absences
- provide opportunities for people to re-connect socially after extended periods apart during remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic
- pilot debriefing models that provide a culturally safe space for staff to share with and to listen to colleagues within and across teams
- restart the ‘Design and Develop’ workshops in an online format to enable work groups to share early prototypes of their work and seek feedback from across the organisation
- continue to build the organisation’s capability for collaborative and agile working within and outside of Family Safety Victoria, including a pilot of a prototype ‘Collaborative Project Response’, the establishment of a project dashboard, and mechanisms to encourage cross-organisation functional teams
- provide more platforms for Family Safety Victoria managers to collaborate and share information across branches, units, and locations, including monthly manager meetings, online collaboration platforms, and peer support networking opportunities
Our employees are given opportunities to reconnect to the organisation’s vision, purpose and the impact of their work by hearing and sharing the stories from leaders, colleagues, working partners, and clients; they are energised by the authenticity, passion and commitment of Family Safety Victoria’s leadership.
We will:
- provide more opportunities to continually reconnect employees with our purpose and the impact of our work, where employees can share and be inspired by the stories of their leaders, colleagues, working partners and community members, such as external speaker events, a ‘living library’ for internal story-telling, spotlighting case studies on the Intranet, an online platform for sharing articles or media
- provide more platforms for staff recognition, such as awards for demonstrating organisational values or stories of achievement on the Intranet
Every employee, regardless of tenure or employment arrangement, is given opportunities to learn critical skills, experience professional growth and to engage in reciprocal skill-sharing with colleagues. We encourage a learning mindset and recognise mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow.
We will:
- build the capability of our leaders and managers to create and foster positive and healthy teams and to support individuals and teams through change, including:
- delivering organisational resources and support to develop skills in human resources management, e.g. lunch and learns, process flow-charts, procedural guides, explanatory links to departmental systems and resources
- the continued rollout of the department’s Leading with Respect and Home Safely Every Day training programs
- capability development opportunities for managers, such as a pilot of the prototype ‘Development Circles’ focussed on peer learning of leadership, or the development of a supervision framework
- continue to improve how leaders and managers conduct performance and development plan discussions to ensure all employees are provided with clear pathways for performance and career growth
- explore mechanisms to build a feedback and learning culture, including two-way feedback between managers and employees and encouraging mechanisms for pre- and post-project risk and lessons analysis
- build the capability of our leaders and managers to create and foster positive and healthy teams and to support individuals and teams through change, including:
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