Recognising employees are its most important asset Brisbane City Council believes getting the best people and developing a highly skilled, flexible workforce is best assured by merit based career moves.
As well as promoting quality improvement throughout the organisation, merit based recruitment and selection is an essential ingredient in ensuring principles of equal opportunity are applied in all areas of the workplace meeting standards demanded by the wider community.
To deal with instances where a staff member is aggrieved by a promotion decision, an Appointment Review Committee was established early in 1995. The various unions were asked to each nominate a Council staff member to the Committee. Management also nominated representatives.
Chaired by Pat Hickey, each review panel comprises the Chairperson, plus one union and one management representative. The staff member making the appeal can ask for a replacement Committee member if they are not satisfied with the panel selected. Each panel must have at least one male and female member.
Results to date include far quicker appeals and fewer appeals being lodged. Replacing an adversarial based system, this new mechanism has reduced stress and disruption for staff and workplaces. It has also been well accepted by Council staff, unions and management.
Appeals on appointments have dropped from 22% to 8.4%. The costs and length of the appeal process have also been cut dramatically. Moreover almost all decisions by the panels have been unanimous.
For further information contact Pat Hickey, Chairperson of the Committee, telephone (07) 3403 4140.
