Planned Resources recruit across the niche markets of planning, engineering, architecture and design, property, and government support. We operate across private and public sectors in Melbourne, Victoria, and Australia.
Diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) has become a popular framework that organisations have been implementing and focusing on in recent years.
The constantly increasing need to promote and encourage full participation of all people in the public sector (which employs roughly 2.4M or about 11% of the Australian workforce), especially within Local governments who are at the forefront of providing essential community services, the importance of successfully building teams that reflect and represent these values of the community and understands its unique needs cannot be understated.
Planned Resources frequently work on recruitment campaigns to assist local governments and other public authorities/agencies who want to incorporate and emphasise on these aspects throughout the entire process. So how is recruitment effectiveness measured in the context of DEI within the public sector and local government? Let’s dive into this topic on what organisations should focus on to ensure the successfulness of their campaigns.
METRICS THAT MATTERS
Common recruitment performance indicators have been established for a long time across various industries, such as:
- Recruitment advertising and employer branding indicators
- Time-to-fill
- Cost per hire or cost to hire
- Quality of hire
- Source of hire
- Offer acceptance rate
- New hire retention rate
- Candidate experience
However, each campaign will have its specific nature, goals and priorities (whether it’s the time pressure to fill a role that’s essential in keeping the community services up and running, or whether it’s an opportunity to build a mid to long term talent pool for the organisation).
In majority of cases, the most crucial metrics relating to these circumstances in the public sector are often:
- Time-to-fill: Local government agencies often provide essential services to the community, and certain positions may be critical for maintaining these services. Monitoring the time-to-fill for key roles ensures that essential functions are not disrupted, and the community continue to receive the necessary services in a timely manner.
- Cost-to-hire: Local governments usually have unique challenges around budget and funding, the money spent on the recruitment process either through internal or external resources should always provide great value for money and bring the most benefits/value to the community it serves. Managing this cost is also an important focus of modern internal recruitment team as there can be multiple vacancies to fill at the same time which eats into the HR or hiring department’s annual budget. Allocating the right budget, monitoring and optimising spend on the recruitment process is thus, not only responsibilities of the HR team, but also the senior management team and department leads.
Apart from that, with many legislations and regulations coming into effect such as the gender equality act, equal opportunity act, fair work act, privacy act, age discrimination act, disability discrimination act – public sector organisations are at the forefront and must lead by example by incorporating these values and taking actions to improve DEI in their own workplace. Therefore, it’s important to consider other metrics such as:
Community Impact Metrics: In the context of local government, it’s important to consider the impact of new hires on the community. This could involve assessing how well new employees contribute to community engagement, public service delivery, and the overall well-being of residents. Metrics might include feedback from the community or the success of initiatives led by newly hired staff. Although this can be extremely hard to quantify, taking qualitative feedback and review from the community could be a reference.
Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Metrics: Local governments are typically committed to serving diverse communities, especially in Australia multicultural and multiracial context. Tracking metrics related to diversity and inclusion in the candidate pool and pipeline ensures fair representation and equal access to employment opportunities, and that the ultimate hires reflect the (local) community it serves. This includes monitoring the representation of different demographic groups during the candidate sourcing and hiring process to promote fairness and equity in hiring. Some important questions to ask are:
- Are opportunities accessible to everyone?
- Are reasonable adjustments to the hiring process offered to applicants who are of disadvantage?
- What is the gender ratio in the applicant pool?
- Are some questions to ask when planning to track these metrics?
While the core metrics such as Time-to-Fill, Quality of Hire, and Cost-per-Hire remain relevant, the emphasis on these metrics might be adjusted to align with the unique goals and responsibilities of local government or public sector entities. At times, local governments may place a strong emphasis on other aspect such as transparency and community involvement, making metrics that not only measure cost, quality, diversity, inclusion and equity, but also measure relevant community impact and engagement.
Regularly analysing a combination of these and other relevant metrics that incorporate an organisation’s strategies, focuses and adherence to workplace policies and regulations will enable organizations to continually optimize their recruitment strategies and harvest the most from each and every recruitment campaign.
Written By: Cindy Tran, Business Manager – Public Sector
About Planned Resources
Planned Resources has assisted in recruitment campaigns for Victorian local councils and state agencies for over 13 years. Our expertise in built environment recruitment – including town planning, engineering, design and property – has enabled us to become a trusted partner for public sector organisations.
Local Government Contacts
Cindy Tran, Business Manager – Public Sector Recruitment
0406 849 717
cindy.tran@plannedresources.com.au
Ash Fajerman, Local Government Recruitment Consultant
0449 938 399
ash.fajerman@plannedresources.com.au