When Town of Victoria Park, Western Australia, made the tough call to close their facilities in response to COVID-19, several employees were left without meaningful work.
Over the course of the pandemic the Town created a culture of business and employment continuity, unearthing hidden talents which bolstered their delivery of essential services.
Council created several workgroups to manage the crisis, including the Business Continuity Group; a cross-functional team, tasked with ensuring continuity of the Town’s core services.
As the pandemic evolved the group guided the Town’s workforce through work from home, return to work and redeployment of staff unable to perform their regular duties.
During this time over 20 employees expressed interest in redeployment to different service areas which included Administration, Communications, Engineering, Urban Forest and Waste Services.
Janet Hercock is one such employee who benefited from these opportunities.
Traditionally Functions Coordinator, Janet was redeployed to Planning and Maintenance.
“This experience motivated me to seize opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise,” she said. “It became a fun-filled rollercoaster of challenges and learning experiences”.
Her thoughts were echoed by Leisure team members Adrian Borthwick and Derrin Kee.
Redeployed as Customer Service Officer to the Town’s COVID-19 Management Group, Adrian said, “Redeployment provided me a chance to apply my knowledge in different areas of the organisation, meet new people and learn new skills”.
Derrin described similar experiences, expressing his gratitude for the support.
“I’m so grateful for the opportunity to use and develop my videography skills on such a wide range of projects.”
Since COVID-19 arrived, Council has adopted several new practices and broadened flexible work options to further support its workforce and community.
As restrictions ease, and organisations begin to find their ‘new normal’, the Town has committed to continually grow from the experiences of the past few months.
