Page 3937 - Week 11 - Thursday, 26 September 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
creating new and interesting ways to cultivate the directorate’s values of respect, integrity, collaboration and innovation.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the thousands of CHS and directorate staff for their engagement in the values refresh work. We know that having these shared values established is just the end of the beginning, and there is still much to do to ensure that the values are embedded and lived by staff every day. But knowing what you should expect of your colleagues and being empowered to call it out when people are behaving inappropriately is an important foundation.
We have all been concerned about allegations of bullying and harassment that have arisen prior to and during the culture review. Effectively managing such allegations is crucial to building trust and embedding cultural change, but we also know that rebuilding trust within each organisation so that people feel safe to formally report issues will not happen overnight. That is why the recent establishment of the employee advocate position is so important.
The Employee Advocate has been established to support staff within the ACT Health Directorate and Canberra Health Services. The purpose of the role is to assist staff who are experiencing workplace conflict, bullying, harassment or interpersonal issues in the workplace. The employee advocate provides support and advice about options available, assists staff to confidently progress options, arranges facilitated conversations to repair workplace relationships, organises mediation to settle longer term disputes and refers matters for further assessment or investigation if needed.
Other roles that have been established at Canberra Health Services include: the human resource business partners; the manager, workplace inclusion; and the director, workforce planning. This directly responds to recommendation 14 of the review, which stated that the three arms of the health system should review their human resources staffing numbers and functions to improve the timeliness of and confidence in HR procedures.
The ACT Health Directorate and Canberra Health Services are also developing a methodology and approach to consistently managing staffing concerns. At the same time Calvary has reviewed and updated its policies and procedures around the prevention of bullying, harassment and discrimination.
In addition to the governance and oversight work and the very practical work with staff I have described, considerable foundational work has been done to ensure that we can keep building on the efforts to date. The culture review implementation branch has been established with expertise in people and change, project management, communications, human resource management, engagement and workforce data. The purpose of the branch is to support the development and shaping of a system-wide approach to reforming our culture. This is complemented by the commencement of a project director, positive workplace culture at Canberra Health Services.
There has been considerable investment in the development of a partnership with the Australian National University’s Research School of Management that will provide expertise founded in an evidence-based approach to supporting people working in
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video