NSW Government Sector Placement Strategy

The NSW Government is committed to keeping valued employees in circumstances where

responsibility for delivery of public services is transferring to non-government organisations

but their specific roles are not subject to transfer agreements with the new provider(s).

Objective

In the specific context of the service delivery changes described above, the objective of the

strategy is to keep valued employees, whose roles will cease (but will not be subject to

transition) due to a decision to shift service provision to non-government organisations, by

finding and placing them in new roles within their own or another agency, according to their

experience and proven capability.

In keeping with this commitment, the broad aims of this strategy are:

to retain valued experience and demonstrated capabilities within the government sector

to minimise personal impact on affected staff

to reduce recruitment and redundancy costs

to maintain or increase employee engagement in the sector

The strategy consists of a coordinated workforce planning method to be applied

collaboratively by the relevant agencies in pursuit of these aims.

Context of reforms

NSW Government service delivery is undergoing significant change

The public sector is currently undergoing significant change through service delivery reforms

such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and a strategic commissioning

program. This is resulting in a shift of some areas of service delivery from the government

sector to non-government organisations. A consequence is that significant numbers of public

sector employees may no longer be required within the government sector for direct or

indirect delivery of those services. Arrangements for transfer of responsibility for service

delivery can include options for transfer of direct service delivery staff to the relevant non-

government organisations but do not generally include options for transfer of back office or

other support staff.

The GSE reforms establish new settings that support recognition and retention of

valued experience and capability

The Government Sector Employment Act 2013 (GSE Act) aims to create a more agile and

capable public sector workforce, aligned to government service delivery priorities. The GSE

reforms have brought a new focus on capabilities, rather than non-essential specific

knowledge or experience, as the basis for determining whether staff meet the requirements

of different roles. These new provisions can be used to promote retention and re-assignment

of valued staff wherever possible. The Act’s assignment and transfer provisions enable the

flexible deployment of workforce resources across the sector.

Strategy scope

The application of the Strategy is in circumstances where there is a significant transfer of

service delivery functions to non-government organisations.

The Strategy applies to the government sector.

The Strategy does not replace or impinge upon the operations of the Managing Excess

Employees (MEE) Policy, or similar policy, which operate in all other circumstances of

organisational change and will apply where efforts to find placements under this strategy

are unsuccessful.

Principles

The key Principles underpinning the Strategy are:

a) The Government sector acts as a single employer in collaborating to find suitable

alternative roles.

b) Line agencies will have primary responsibility for developing strategies in keeping

with the model described here, assisted by information and coordination services

from central agencies.

c) The strategy is proactive and forward-looking, linked to projections of workforce

capability needs closely aligned with future organisational objectives over a period of

time. It is not, in the main, a strategy to fill immediate vacancies.

d) The search for suitable alternative roles should be based on the capabilities required,

rather than the similarity of functional area or role.

e) Placement in home and other agencies should be achieved by means of joint, agreed

action which should commence as early as possible.

f) Placement of staff must be based on a rigorous joint assessment of capabilities and

relevant experience. This is a key distinguishing characteristic when compared with

current practice in managing excess employees.

g) Any costs associated with placements, such as assessments or training/

development, should be met by the home agency and included in the transaction

business case.

h) Placement agencies must commit to engaging staff once assessments of their future

needs and the capability/ experience of the staff have been made and found to match

agency capability needs through a joint assessment process and those commitments

should be provided to the affected employees. The commitments will extend to

employment at a given grade and indicate an intended role but flag that details of the

specific role will be confirmed closer to the date of transfer.

i) The timetable for the plan to place staff in alternative roles should be flexible, taking

account of the home agency’s need to retain staff during the transfer period and the

placement agency’s need to fill roles.

j) The mobility and transfer provisions provided in the GSE Act should be used to

facilitate placements, which would normally be at the same or equivalent grade or

level.

k) The provisions of the MEE policy, or similar policy, will apply to any staff who are not

placed by means of this Placement Strategy.

Process overview Notes:

a) There may be more than one home agency and more than one placement agency involved.

b) This overview focuses on the steps to optimise redeployment of staff within the sector. Other steps and

measures will be taken as part of a home agency’s strategy to manage the workforce changes

including, for example, offering outplacement or retraining services to affected staff, encouraging

participation in recruitment exercises to whole-of-sector talent pools, etc.

c) NSW IR and the PSC will provide assistance as needed on other aspects of the change program.

The main process steps are as follows:

1. Government decision to transfer specific service delivery responsibilities to non-

government agencies is anticipated/ made, including expected timetable for

implementation.

2. ‘Home’ agency determines implementation plan, including workforce considerations

and potential for any staff transfer arrangements to non-government organisations,

subject to negotiations and industrial agreements.

3. Home agency assesses potential workforce reduction impacts in light of that plan

over the period of implementation, in both direct and indirect service delivery.

4. Home agency conducts high level assessment of numbers and functional/ capability

characteristics of staff who will not be subject to transfer arrangements and

determines whether it is likely to have capacity to absorb all of those staff at the

relevant time, given its ongoing needs.

5. If placement of all staff within the home agency appears unlikely, home agency

contacts NSW IR and the PSC to advise of its assessment.

6. PSC advises home agency of other agencies with relevant functional/ capability

areas based on an analysis of available workforce information.

7. Assisted by PSC and NSW IR, home agency enters into preliminary contact with

potential placement agencies to begin discussions about placements. Discussions

involve agreement on common process to assess potential for placement of staff.

8. Home and potential placement agencies use existing workforce plan or conduct

assessment to forecast needs in relevant functional and capability areas over the

relevant period. If one or more potential placement agencies identify capacity to

assist, they advise the home agency.

9. If broad agreement is reached between the agencies that there is capacity for

placements over the relevant period, and once official notice has been given to

affected staff of potential changes, the home and placement agency/ies establish

joint governance arrangements to manage the process to conclusion, based on the

pool of available placement opportunities (home agency and placement agency/ies).

10. Agencies agree to a joint methodology to conduct an assessment process of relevant

experience, prior performance and demonstrated capabilities for relevant staff. The

merit assessment to be conducted should comply with rule 30 of the GSE Rules

regarding merit assessment in relation to transfers.

11. Joint assessment processes are conducted. Agreement is reached on outcomes,

with the range of options for each assessed employee including: 1) decision to place;

2) decision to place subject to satisfactory completion of training/ development to

address specific knowledge gap; or 3) decision not to place. The first two types of

decision include timing for placement, determined by a balance between home

agency need to retain staff to manage transition and placement agency need to fill

vacancy at times consistent with its workforce plan.

12. Joint decisions are made on the placement of employees in the home or placement

agencies.

13. An agreed transition plan is drawn up and agreed between the relevant agencies.

14. Implementation of the plan is managed by the agencies concerned, with assistance

from NSW IR and/or PSC as needed.

15. NSW IR and the PSC will evaluate the success of the strategy, in consultation with

the agencies concerned, to determine its potential for wider application.