Human resources and workforce development in councils
Tasmania’s councils employ over 4000 people in 155 different occupations across our towns, regions and major islands. The diverse array of roles and skills required includes engineers, planners, construction staff, accountants, environmental health officers, customer service and many more.
Challenges facing the local government workforce include an ongoing decline in the representation of employees under 30 years of age, a significant decline in apprentices and trainees and 69% of councils experiencing skill shortages and 50% experiencing skills gaps.
We have a long history of supporting councils with human resources and workforce planning matters.
How LGAT advocates for Tasmanian councils
Careers at Council – National Local Government Careers Website
LGAT has supported and contributed to the national collaboration between local government associations, led by our partners at Local Government New South Wales, to develop a National Local Government Careers website Careers at Council.
HR Toolkit
We commissioned the Workplace Behaviour Toolkit, a comprehensive suite of policies, procedures, advisory documents and other resources for councils to support workplace smooth functioning and resolve issues.
HR Helpdesk
We have negotiated a HR Helpdesk service for councils to get quick expert advice for their HR problems.
COVID-19 support
At the onset of the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, we supported Tasmania’s councils with timely and up-to-date information, resources, advice, and information sessions from human resources experts. We also facilitated collaboration and information-sharing between councils, providing a central point of contact and flow of information to and from the Tasmanian Government during the pandemic.
Workforce Planning Guidelines for Local Government in Tasmania
In 2016, we partnered with Burnie City, Circular Head and Waratah-Wynyard Councils to develop Workforce Planning Guidelines for local government in Tasmania. The guidelines support Tasmanian councils’ understanding of the benefits of workforce planning and build capacity to better plan for a changing workforce.
Local Government Workforce Future Skills Report Tasmania
We collaborated with local government associations across Australia to survey councils to assess and identify the current and emerging skill needs of Local Government. This information was used to develop the Local Government Workforce Future Skills Report Tasmania (2018) [PDF].
The report found that 69% of councils were experiencing a skill shortage and 50% were experiencing skills gaps, with significant shortages of engineers, town planners, environmental health officers and building surveyors.
We are supporting work to understand and address the shortage of Environmental Health Officers in collaboration with the Department of Health, Environmental Protection Authority, the University of Tasmania, and Environmental Health Australia, Tasmania.
All of these valuable resources are available in our member portal.