The City of Armadale, Western Australia, has an outstanding track record of recruiting and developing a skilled workforce by providing a wide range of training for its staff.
The City offers traineeship in Certificate III or IV in Finance and Irrigation, study assistance for staff to undertake undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications, as well as a staff scholarship program to assist staff to obtain a degree or postgraduate course in selected fields. The fields identified are based on positions which have a limited pool of candidates available, for example Building Surveying, Engineering, and Environmental Health.
The City offers up to three scholarships of $3,000 per year towards study fees, for a three-year period. Now in its second year, the program is assisting five staff members who are working towards degree qualifications and a master’s qualification.
Through the program, the City is also pleased to support women in engineering, with two female staff members working towards a BSc Civil & Structural Engineering, with one receiving the Engineering Institute of Technology Academic Excellence award for the highest academic achievement for online undergraduate students.
In addition to academic training, the City also provides its staff with a range of online Awareness Courses including Staff induction, WHS Induction, Customer Services, Procurement Practices, Freedom of Information, Code of Conduct (Accountable & Ethical Decision Making) and Recordkeeping.
These courses have all been developed in-house by the subject matter expert and the Organisational Development’s Learning and Development Team to provide staff with up to date training on the City’s policies and practices.
The City’s Organisation Development Team were also instrumental in the formation of a Learning and Development Network Forum, which brings together 26 councils across Western Australia.
The City has created an online community for the Learning & Development Network Forum through GovTEAMS, which is the digital collaboration and networking tool for government. This brings teams together across government and allows invited industry partners to connect, share and work together across organisational and geographical boundaries.
