Non-APS agencies operate within a unique operating environment. With many being in smaller size in comparison to their larger Portfolio Departments, they are often required to do more with less. In a competitive labour market, recruitment and attraction is a key challenge for many smaller non-APS agencies that are looking to secure and retain the best talent. Humanify HR Consulting was proud to partner with this non-APS agency, to undertake an independent review of People, Culture and Talent functions for the Board.  

Humanify HR Consulting was engaged by this non-APS agency to complete an independent review at the request of the Board, with the aim of identifying any opportunities that exist to ensure the agency can continue to build the workforce for the future, in the context of the current competitive employment market.  

Review Focus

The independent review identified opportunities and proposed possible solutions to remedy gaps in the existing approach against three core focus areas: 

• talent attraction; 

• talent acquisition; and 

• employee retention.  

The review was conducted with a focus on best-practice HR and governance principles to provide assurance to Board Members that existing processes are fit-for-purpose and where opportunities are identified, that solutions are proposed to address gaps.  

Recommendations of this review were practically focused, considering resourcing of the current HR function, including the size and capacity of the agency. Additionally, at all stages, the review carefully considered the status of the agency as a non-APS agency and the flexibility that exists to adopt the best elements of APS and private-sector recruitment processes.  

Review Outcomes

The review was undertaken working in partnership with senior leaders of the agency, including several interviews with hiring managers and new employees.  

Parts of the existing recruitment process were examined, including the current procedure, process maps, selection reports, job adverts, recruitment templates – right through to exit interviews, employee engagement survey data and employment agreement templates.

The review outcome was that the agency was performing well against the core focus areas, with seven opportunities for improvement identified. These opportunities ranged from a review of existing recruitment policies, and better utilisation of social media for profiling the work of the agency, to providing more training to hiring managers on recruitment and selection best-practice. 

“This project was important, as being engaged to complete an independent review for an agency Board is a real position of privilege and trust that we certainly don’t take for granted.  Here at Humanify HR Consulting, our Senior HR Consultants have extensive experience working with smaller non-APS agencies, so we are very familiar with the unique environment they operate in.  Presenting the findings of this review to the agency Board was a great experience, as they were all highly engaged, and you could see they were committed to innovating and adopting the recommendations included in the review to continue to make the agency a great place to work” says Humanify HR Consulting Founder and Managing Director, Sarah Queenan.

Partnership Snapshot

Non-APS Agency

Duration

1 month (part-time)

Outcome

The delivery of an Independent Review to the Agency Board.