When a staff satisfaction survey at Balonne Shire Council revealed that employees lacked a sense of identity an Employee Values Working Group was formed to address the issue. The aim of the group was to develop a set of values that resonated with employees, that inspired employees and that described how employees worked at Council. Critical to the success of the Working Group was the knowledge that the values developed would be by employees for employees, with no influence from management.
All areas of Council were invited to nominate employee representatives to be on the Working Group. Seven employees were selected from administration, workshop, parks and gardens, and construction. The initial meeting to discuss the purpose of the group was facilitated by Human Resources. Subsequent meetings were entirely driven by the members of the group with the HR officer present to keep the group on track and their goals clearly in sight.
The Working Group has achieved several key milestones to date.
All employees have been consulted on their choices for the values.
The five most popular choices were presented to the Executive Management Team.
A communication plan has been developed to roll out the values across the workforce over the next few months – including posters, emails and variable message boards at the main depot. A logo will be created to be used across all Council documentation (where relevant), stickers will be printed for vehicles and ‘tool boxes’, messages for toolbox talks, mousepads and screensavers.
The 5 values nominated are:
H Honesty
E Ethics
A Accountability
R Respect
T Teamwork
