Council partnerships lead to improved services
In Queensland the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) has recently formed a new company with Queensland Partnerships Group called LG Shared Services. Aiming to assist councils in streamlining and improving their operations, LGAQ believes that the benefits of sharing services are clearly being recognised by governments and the corporate sector in Australia and overseas.
LGAQ President, Councillor Paul Bell, points to the fact that, “many councils, through design or necessity, have already started the process of sharing across boundaries, with staff, resources and expertise.”
He said that collectively, councils will be better positioned to address the challenges of staff shortages, skills and knowledge gaps while continuing to deliver high levels of service. There is no doubt that addressing the staff shortages and skills gaps requires a concerted effort by all councils.
In this edition, we have covered various initiatives and programs put in place by individual councils, Local Government Associations and professional groups, private sector and academic institutions, to enhance the capacity and skills of people involved in Local Government. This commitment to training and development covers staff and elected members, as well as various community programs assisting individuals, groups and local businesses.
Staff shortages and the skills gap will continue to rise, particularly with the increasing retirement of baby boomers. In spite of recent examples of some over zealous employers pushing the new Work Choices legislation to extreme lengths, the fact remains it is fast becoming an employee’s marketplace. As such, it will be the employers that look after, nurture and encourage their staff – through worklife balance programs, capacity building and mentoring, career path design and so forth – that will sought after as “employers of choice”. Employers who take their workers for granted will soon find it very difficult to recruit.
Councils are ideally placed to take the lead and demonstrate to the other businesses in their area that making your workplace “a great place to be” is the linchpin of any strategy to address staff and skills shortages.
