The Australian Public Service Commission is working on a strategy to tap into the labour market outside Canberra.
The secretaries board future of work sub-committee is developing the APS Location Strategy and Action Plan, with the expectation it will be finalised by the end of this year.
The strategy, which will be principles-based and not mandatory, will encourage agencies to hire talent without requiring that talent to move to Canberra.
An APSC spokesperson told The Mandarin the strategy would help the APS have “the right people in the right places”.
“It recognises the APS is facing workforce pressures and it is proving challenging to attract and recruit workers, with skills shortages being particularly acute in the Canberra-based labour market, and a limited number of people prepared to move to Canberra from broader labour-markets,” the spokesperson said.
Further, the APSC said it would focus on attracting and retaining relevant skills where they are in the jobs market, “rather than managing the workforce location solely on our existing property footprint”.
Presumably, this means the strategy would include approaches to remote work or working from home.
According to the most recent State of the Service report, 38.3% (60,997) of the APS is based in the ACT. Although this is not where the majority of where the APS is based, it is the largest cohort of all the jurisdictions.
The APSC said it will be helping agencies identify in-demand skills across the service, including an analysis of where geographically those skills are based in the job market.
The chief operating officers committee is also providing advice to the APSC on the plan’s operational risks and opportunities.
The location strategy also seeks to tap into more diverse talent pools, with the APSC naming First Nations employees, people with a disability and culturally and linguistically diverse employees as cohorts where location is “particularly important”.
Consultation is ongoing in order to identify practical steps “to improve systems and policy settings to support a talent-driven approach to workforce and property planning”.
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