Hume City Council aspires to be an Employer of First Choice. Hume CEO, Darrell Treloar said Council’s commitment to staff is evidenced by the many programs run by Council to ensure employees are supported and encouraged.
“Council holds graduation ceremonies to recognise and celebrate the achievements of all employees who graduate from training courses; an annual award and recognition evening is held to reward outstanding achievements by individuals and teams; customer service excellence is celebrated through employee of the month and innovation award schemes; and a number of innovative work and family balance initiatives have been developed, to name a few,” he said.
Council provides a wide variety of family friendly and employee support policies, including 16 weeks paid maternity/adoption leave, a comprehensive Employee Assistance Program, flexible leave and work arrangements and a Corporate Health and Wellbeing Program. The needs of Hume City Council’s diverse, multicultural and multi-religious workforce are recognised through the provision of access to facilities to enable employees to practice their religious beliefs.
Council also makes a very strong commitment to the training and development of all employees, investing around $1 million per annum. Council’s Corporate Training Program ensures that all employees have the opportunity to acquire or develop the skills and knowledge to effectively perform their jobs, or to undertake accredited training. There are more than 3,500 participants in Council’s training programs annually (or 2.5 programs per staff member, including part-timers and casuals). Council has established a comprehensive leadership development program for its 100 leaders, including the conduct of regular leadership forums, mentoring and a training program to enhance personal, interpersonal and technical leadership competencies.
In order to continuously improve, Council undertakes annual employee surveys and analyses the results involving teams and employees all across the organisation, benchmarking its performance against other Councils participating in the Australian Business Excellence Framework.
Council has also developed six key culture attributes as a result of issues identified in employee surveys. Collectively the attributes form ‘Our Hume Culture’ and define the desired culture of Hume City Council. The attributes of “Valuing People and Diversity”; being “United and Seamless”; fostering “Learning and Improving” and “Effective Leadership”; and ensuring “Results Orientation” and “Customer Service Focus”, are regularly communicated throughout the organisation and included in performance reviews and in the selection and recruitment process. ‘Our Hume Culture’is included in Council’s Enterprise Agreement, reinforcing organisation-wide ownership of and commitment to the attributes.
