DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE

Finance's performance management framework requires all staff and management to work together to identify development needs and opportunities on a regular basis. This includes the development of individual capabilities against the five organisational behaviours. In some areas, professionally prepared personal development plans are created for staff.

In 2000–01 Finance spent an average of $1,910 per employee on externally provided conferences and development programmes. This expenditure does not reflect the full amount of investment made in developing Finance employees as it excludes study assistance, HECS and other financial support provided directly to employees and attendance at other development forums.

This figure equates to expenditure of three per cent of annual Departmental employee costs. It compares favourably with figures quoted in Mercer Cullen Egan Dell's Corporate Benchmark Monitor for expenditure in the broader public sector ($1,022 per employee per year) and the general employment market ($1,296 per employee per year).

While supporting development through external training, Finance also provides a significant portion of its training and development internally, through seminars, participation in special projects and task forces, temporary placements in other parts of the Department and on-the-job training.

Finance's Management Board established the Leadership Development Committee (LDC) in August 2000 to maintain a focus on leadership development. The LDC established a Future Leaders Programme (FLP) in November 2000 to further encourage the development of high performing, high potential people within the Department. There are currently 21 people participating in this programme.

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The Finance Scholarship was announced on 11 October 2000, and is another element in our continuing commitment to excellence and innovation in our HR management. Under the scholarship, a select number of high performing employees will receive assistance for postgraduate studies in Australia or overseas. Applicants are required to have a record of high achievement within the Department, a demonstrated commitment to Finance and to have been accepted for postgraduate study.

The Department assists the successful applicants by providing a loan to the students to cover a significant portion of their study costs. Scholarship holders who continue to work for the Department for at least five years after completing their studies will have an agreed amount of their loan progressively repaid by Finance.

The inaugural recipient of the Finance scholarship commenced a Master of Business Administration at Rochester University, New York, in August 2001.

Finance also encourages employees to seek out opportunities to enhance their skills and broaden the diversity of their experience through transfers within Finance, or secondments and exchanges within the public and private sectors. Over the last 12 months, a number of Finance employees have participated in external exchange programmes with, or temporary transfers to other organisations, and participated in national and international study tours.

Performance Management

Finance's performance management system applies to both SES and non-SES staff across the Department. It helps develop our overall capability and encourages the pursuit of excellence at all levels. Finance's organisational behaviours form the basis of all employee performance agreements, in which all staff have a clear outline of their contribution to Finance's outputs, activities and targets, and their own development needs. Referring to their performance agreement, employees can readily relate their work to that of their Business Group, through business plans, and the work of the Department as a whole. Staff and managers participate in mandatory two-way performance feedback sessions twice a year. End of year performance pay is part of the Finance performance management system, and is available to all staff.

This system is now in its fourth year, and the results have shown that the overall performance of the organisation has improved each year. In 2000–01, approximately 64 per cent of staff were rated as competent, 35 per cent rated as superior and one per cent rated as borderline; for the first time, no one was rated as unsatisfactory. The average rating for non-SES staff has continued to rise.

STAFF PERFORMANCE RATING 1997–98 to 2000–01