By APS Workforce Planning
Did you know that 43% of employees reported skills or capability gaps within their workgroups (2021 APS Employee census), and 71% of agencies reported critical skills shortages (2021 APS Agency Survey). Deepen your understanding of workforce planning through the APS Centre of Excellence for Workforce Planning and APS Academy, and learn about the APS workforce, the changing labour market and how to strategically leverage workforce insights.
Who are we?
The APS Centre of Excellence for Workforce Planning (the Centre) sits within the APS Academy. Our program of work is internationally recognised and an IPAA award finalist, and we offer a range of services to enhance the workforce planning capability of agencies across the APS.
Strategic workforce planning supports organisations to get the right people, in the right jobs, at the right time. It enables organisations to prepare for current and future needs such as the size of the workforce, the deployment of the workforce and the knowledge, skills and competencies available to achieve its mission and strategic objectives.
Strengthening the strategic workforce planning capability across the APS supports the implementation of Delivering for Tomorrow: the APS Workforce Strategy 2025 – the first whole-of-service workforce strategy, launched in March 2021.
What do we provide?
The APS Centre of Excellence for Workforce Planning develops standards, recommendations, tools and strategic workforce insights to support APS agencies in their workforce planning journeys. Most recently the Centre has launched an advisory service to provide customised, hands-on workforce planning support to individual agencies.
The Centre is also responsible for developing workforce planning capability through the delivery of a regular suite of capability building programs.
For those new to workforce planning (WFP), or wanting a review of the foundations, our Workforce Planning Start Up Program provides a series of 4 modules that will take you through the workforce planning life-cycle. Since its pilot in March 2021, we have had over 28 agencies participate in the Start Up.
For those looking to progress to the next step, we have a series of Workforce Planning Boost (practitioner level) courses as well as a series of courses on change management delivered in partnership with the Department of Home Affairs.
Check out our offerings below!
Centre of Excellence course offerings via APS Academy
| Start Up – for introduction to WFP | Boost – for experienced WFP practitioners |
|---|---|
| Establishing Workforce Planning | Identifying Critical Job Roles |
| Storytelling with Data | Organisational Design/Job Design and Workforce Optimisation |
| Occupational Segmentation | Futuring and Scenario Planning |
| Implementing Workforce Planning | Demand and Supply Forecasting |
| Program Management for Workforce Planning | |
| Change and Benefits | |
| Change Fatigue | |
| Agile Change | |
| Digital Change | |
| Change Lessons from the Field | |
| Expanding Your Change Management Toolkit |
These sessions provide opportunities to discuss, share knowledge and collaborate with colleagues from across the APS, offering a safe learning environment to explore activities-based learning facilitated by industry experts and supported by senior advisors from the Centre. Our survey results indicate that 92% of respondents said they developed the capability to support transitioning workforce through digital disruption and ongoing change.
Supporting partnerships and collaboration
The Centre works closely with state governments, tertiary institutions and professional bodies to develop and support strong strategic partnerships.
Currently, we are working in partnership with the Australian HR Institute (AHRI) to create an employer-sponsored certification pathway for APS workforce planners who undertake capability development through the APS Academy – the first partnership of its kind! The Centre also hosts a GovTeams Workforce Planning Community of Practice, where you can find a host of additional resources including guides, tools, event links and updates. The Centre also hosts more opportunities to learn through our Community of Practice Induction, Establishment Management Masterclass, Job Family Cohort Analysis Workshop and Job Family Framework Ask Us Anything sessions, with many more in development and on the way to address the needs of the service.
Connect with us!
Want more information on our offerings? Contact us at the APS Workforce Planning inbox: APSWFP@apsc.gov.au. Or enrol now in the Workforce Planning Start-up program through APSLearn.