Our People
WATC is building capacity to ensure we have a workforce and work environment capable of delivering on current strategic and operational business goals, whilst also preparing for future developments.
Resilience and Adaptability During COVID-19
In dealing with COVID-19 lockdowns, and during our office refurbishment, our people showed resilience and adaptability in being able to successfully transition between working from home, temporary office accommodation, and back into our office. This meant everyone embracing new technology to enable remote collaboration and managers adjusting their approach to accommodate people working remotely. During this time, we increased our focus on employee wellbeing and mental health, regularly checking in with each other and providing tips, information and support to assist staff in dealing with the changes and challenges, and to keep everyone connected.
Improving Engagement
Our 2020–21 staff engagement survey pointed to steady improvements in staff engagement, with an employee engagement score of 60 per cent, up 4 per cent from 2018–19 and moving closer to our target of 65 per cent. Work continues on applying a strategic approach to further improve employee engagement.
At the start of the year, we reviewed and refined our values to create a values based capability framework. This framework assists and guides understanding of our corporate expectations and required behavioural standards. A key focus has been encouraging and developing leadership – of self, others and the organisation – in delivering our vision and objectives through our values based competencies and continuous improvement.
With the assistance of debt funding from WATC, the Shire of Broome is revitalising its Chinatown precinct.
Workforce
During the year, we increased our staff numbers from 75 to 79. Staff turnover for 2020–21 remained low at 3.9 per cent. In conjunction with the Department of Treasury graduate program, two graduates spent six months with us to gain exposure to our unique roles and functions.
We also implemented new employment contracts that better align with our employment and business practices and with current workplace conventions and terminology. A number of staff that were previously classified as ‘full-time temporary’ were offered permanent contracts, increasing the number of our ‘full-time permanent’ staff.
| Staff Profile | 2020–21 | 2019–20 |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Staff at 30 June | 79 | 75 |
| Full-Time Permanent | 68 | 56 |
| Full-Time Temporary | 2 | 12 |
| Part-Time Measured on a Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Basis | 5.74 | 3.77 |
| On Secondment | 2 | 2 |
A major project this year was implementing a new framework to compare WATC remuneration with award pay and conditions with new requirements in the Banking, Finance and Insurance Award, introduced by the Fair Work Commission. The new framework provides assurance that our people are renumerated fairly when compared against the award.
Celebrating 35 Years of WATC
Having been created by an Act of Parliament, WATC came into existence on 1 July 1986. To celebrate our 35-year anniversary, past and present directors and staff gathered together at WATC’s office to reconnect over afternoon tea and reflect on our 35-year journey.
Annual Performance on Occupational Safety, Health and Injury Management
We held four Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) committee meetings during 2020–21, attended by our staff safety representatives and management representatives. Regular monthly workplace inspections were performed, with identified issues reported and managed. Our new OSH policy has been approved by the Board (previously it was approved by the CEO). We complied with all OSH, workers’ compensation and injury management legislation.
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 workers’ compensation claims were made.
| Measures | Actual Results | Targets | Comments on Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–19¹(Base year) | 2019-20(Prior Year) | 2020–21(Current Year) | |||
| Number of Fatalities | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Achieved |
| Lost Time Injury and/or Disease (LTI/D) Incidence Rate | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Achieved |
| Lost Time Injury and/or Disease S(LTI/D) Severity Rate | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Achieved |
| Percentage of Injured Workers Returning to Work Within 13 Weeks | n/a | n/a | n/a | ≥80% | n/a |
| Percentage of Injured Workers Returning to Work Within 26 Weeks | n/a | n/a | n/a | ≥80% | n/a |
| Percentage of Managers and Supervisors Trained in Occupational Safety, Health and Injury Management Responsibilities | 89% | 91% | 91% | ≥80% | Achieved |
1 The performance reporting examines a three-year trend and, as such, the comparison base year is to be two years prior to the current reporting year.
n/a: not applicable
Looking Forward
- As part of our succession planning, we will be focusing on targeted knowledge transfer and providing associated development and learning opportunities for staff.
- We will continue building on the values based capability framework and developing a technical capability framework to enhance our performance planning and review processes.
- We will be looking to enhance our diversity and inclusion initiatives.
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