Through its program ourbrisbane.com, it is anticipated that within two years one quarter of all Council’s customer contacts will take place on line. As a consequence, it is predicted that about 25 percent of data transaction positions, which are generally held by women, will be phased out. To address this, Council has introduced a program that will assist female employees to upgrade their skills in Information Technology (IT), enabling them to apply for newly created IT jobs. To date, 250 women have expressed interest in the program.
As well as providing awareness training for the internet, participants will be able to enhance their IT skills to various levels of competency through to university courses.It is expected that this training will reduce the number of contractors Council currently uses to fulfil tasks in the IT area.
As part of the Living in Brisbane 2010 vision, living and working with advanced and affordable technology is a key platform. This program aims to increase the competencies of staff employed in the least skilled, office based environments. It will deliver a more highly skilled workforce and, at the same time, provide employees with greater career opportunities both within Council and externally.
With many staff showing great interest in this program, Council is clearly demonstrating its desire to support its people through major change resulting from rapid advancements in Information Technology.
