An interview with Anthony Langley, Manager People and Performance, Bayside City Council, Victoria
Bayside City Council’s Manager People and Performance, Anthony Langley, said Councils
need to constantly focus on how HR programs can assist individuals and the organisation in achieving their goals.
“A number of challenges will present themselves to Councils in the future and the key to overcoming them will be the way staff are valued within the organisation,” he said. “The ageing population is one such issue. At Bayside, a significant number of staff are mature aged workers, with some 53 per cent aged 45 years or more. The ageing population will most likely result in shortages of staff in various occupations. There is a need for succession planning and an increased focus on attraction and retention of staff to address this.”
In the past year, Bayside has developed a Succession Planning program, which builds talent within Council through the introduction of a coaching program, promotion of secondments, career planning workshops and expanding leadership programs.
“Recently, I also prepared a paper on the Ageing Workforce and presented it to our Senior Management Team,” Anthony Langley said. “The paper suggests a number of possible initiatives, such as a staff alumni program, phased retirement options, return to work pool for projects and temp assignments, financial planning and planning for retirement seminars, and inclusion of grandparents leave as an option under Council’s sabbatical leave guideline. We will now consult with our workforce to determine what they would like to see in place.”
Anthony Langley said initiatives like these will be critical to Councils attracting staff in the future.
“Councils need to constantly consider how the organisation can remain competitive across a range of areas,” he said. “For Local Government, we often have to look at a range of nonfinancial benefits, such as flexible hours, corporate health programs, training opportunities, secondments, salary sacrifice options, paid parental leave or purchased leave arrangements.”
“Comprehensive training and development programs should also be in place. Councils should support and encourage staff to complete tertiary studies and constantly review what the organisation offers. Training prepares people for future challenges. Leadership training is particularly important as it helps to cultivate future leaders across the organisation.
“I have found face to face interactive workshops with smaller groups, are the most effective training method, as they allow for practical exercises. Bayside has also had an e-learning system in place for the past seven years, which works extremely well, particularly in relation to compliance training.”
Anthony Langley said other challenges in HR include keeping up to date with HR changes.
“There have been a number of IR changes over the past few years and with a new Federal Government we are likely to face more change in the near future,” he said. “Developing a healthy organisational culture, focusing on communication and living the values and behaviours of the collective organisation will ensure that Councils work through the changes as smoothly as possible.”
