Our People
A key initiative for WATC is building capacity to ensure we have a workforce and work environment capable of delivering on current strategic and operational business goals, while also preparing for future developments.
People Development
Acknowledged by clients and stakeholders, WATC’s people possess a high level of professional experience, technical skill and capability. We build upon this capability, through supporting our people with learning and development opportunities. WATC is currently supporting 13 people to complete postgraduate tertiary study by providing 100% funding for their tuition fees. Furthermore, continuation of the leadership development program, Leading Self, focussed on emotional intelligence, behavioural preferences and mindfulness, while Leading Others focussed on coaching others. People now have a common understanding of leadership and the competencies required to be a leader, with an increase in accountability and collaboration.
Recognition of this professional development support was reflected in the high enablement results of this year’s engagement survey. Due to a change to Korn Ferry for provision of the engagement survey, WATC was able to measure both engagement and enablement scores this year. This also provided an opportunity to view employee engagement through a different lens to discover new ideas and focus areas, with the goal of increasing employee engagement and enhancing employee and organisational performance.
There was also a change to individual performance plans, with an adaptation of performance management processes to increase the focus on quality conversations. Quality conversations will enable more positive relationships between people and higher levels of clarity of behavioural and deliverable expectations.
Workforce
Recruitment procedures are reviewed before each process is undertaken to look for improvements in advertising. This resulted in an increase in diversity of applications, with more than 44% of new starters in 2017/18 being female.
| Staff Profile | 2017/18 | 2016/17 |
| Workforce | 70 | 65 |
| Full-time permanent | 60 | 58 |
| Full-time contract | 4 | 0 |
| Part-time measured on a FTE basis | 2.275 | 3.375 |
| On Secondment | 2 | 0 |
Occupational Safety, Health and Injury Management
WATC continues to maintain our excellent Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) system and culture, with strong organisational-wide support and commitment from the Board through to individuals. This included a 100% completion of OSH training by our people in 2017/18.
The OSH Committee is WATC’s formal mechanism for OSH consultation and comprises safety representatives, management representatives and at least one executive member, currently WATC Chief Operating Officer, Ross Moulton. The Committee met three times during 2017/18, with a focus on continuous improvement of WATC’s OSH system and culture.
As the frequency of OSH audits has changed to be every two years, no audit was conducted this year. However, the two minor improvements that were recommended by the 2016/17 OSH audit were resolved.
In accordance with the reporting requirements of Treasurer’s Instruction 903 (13), there were no lost time injuries, as outlined in the table below. No other workers’ compensation claims were made.
| Actual Results | Results Against Target | |||
| Measure | 2015/161 | 2017/18 | Target | Comment on result |
| Number of fatalities | 0 | 0 | 0 | Achieved |
| Lost time injury and/or disease incidence rate | 1.62 | 0 | 0 | Achieved |
| Lost time injury and/or disease severity rate | 0 | 0 | 0 | Achieved |
| Percentage of injured workers returned to work: | ||||
| (i) within 13 weeks | 100% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| (ii) within 26 weeks | 100% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Percentage of managers and supervisors trained in occupational safety, health and injury management responsibilities | 100% | 100% | ≥80% | All of our people completed online OSH training in 2017/18 |
1 This indicator examines a three-year trend and, as such, the comparison base is two years prior to the current reporting year.