Duties, loyalties and biases

Who the guide applies to

Use this guide if you work in or for a Victorian public sector organisation.

We use the term employee to cover:

• employees
• contractors, consultants and labour hire employees required as part of their contract to comply with your organisation’s conflict of interest policy
• anyone else your employer’s conflict of interest policy covers.

Conflicts of interest

A conflict of interest exists if you have a private interest that could influence, or reasonably be seen to influence, how you perform your public duties. The conflict can be:

• actual – there is a conflict between your private interests and public duties
• potential – you have a private interest that could foreseeably conflict with your public duties in the future
• perceived – it is reasonable for people to believe that your private interests could influence your public duties, now or in the future.

For more information see key things to know and do.

Identifying and declaring a conflict

Conflicts of interest must be avoided if possible. But it’s common for them to occur. Many people have conflicts of interest during the course of their employment.

If a conflict exists, you must:

1. Identify it.
2. Declare it in writing to your manager on your organisation’s Conflict of interest – Declaration and Management Plan form (or similar name).
3. Follow the approved conflict of interest management plan, which your manager will develop in consultation with you.
4. Notify your manager of any changes that may affect the plan or its risk level.
5. If in doubt, seek advice.

Useful questions to ask

To help identify a conflict of interest, some useful questions are:

• Does my private interest intersect with my role? If so, could this create a perception of bias or favouritism in the exercise of my duties?
• What would a fair-minded member of the public make of the situation?
• Could my involvement in this matter cast doubt on my integrity or that of the organisation?
• If I saw someone else in this situation, would I think they have a conflict of interest?
• If my actions were covered by the media, could it embarrass me or the organisation?
• In other words, does it pass the public perception test (the ‘pub’ test)?

When in doubt, talk with your manager.

Your interests can conflict with your duties as an employee

We all have private interests. A common type of private interest is a duty or loyalty to another organisation, group, person or cause.

If you have such an interest, this may or may not give rise to a conflict of interest with your public duties as an employee.

There is no typical level of risk for a conflict of interest between your public duties and your duty or loyalty to other organisation, group, person or cause.

Whether there is a conflict of interest – and if so, the severity of the conflict – will depend on factors such as:

• your organisation’s functions
• your work role as a public sector employee
• your work environment. For example, working and living in a small community
• the nature and level of your duty or loyalty to the other organisation, group, person or cause.

Example

Public sector organisation Z is responsible for implementing a particular government policy relating to the environment. You are part of a local community group that opposes that policy.

Scenario 1

If you are an employee of organisation Z and your work duties involve implementing that policy, you have a conflict of interest – most likely a strong one.

Scenario 2

If your work duties do not involve implementing that policy but you work in another field of policy development that may relate to or affect the environment, speak with your manager about whether you have a conflict of interest.

Scenario 3

If you are an employee of organisation Z but your work has nothing to do with implementing those policies, you won’t have a conflict of interest in that respect.

Scenario 4

Similarly, if you work for public sector organisation ZYX that has nothing to do with implementing those policies, you won’t have a conflict of interest.

Conflict of duty

Many public sector employees hold official positions in other organisations. For example, you may be on the committee of a local sporting team.

Having this type of private interest – that is, a duty to another public or private sector organisation (paid or voluntary) – only needs to be declared if it’s a conflict of interest.

Remeber that your organisation’s outside employment policy may require you to seek approval if you’re engaged in outside employment.

A conflict will exist if it’s reasonable for people to believe that the duty you have to the other organisation could affect the way you perform your public duties as an employee.

If so, a conflict of interest must be declared.

If in doubt, speak with your manager.

Example

Your public sector work duties involve making or influencing decisions about which sporting clubs will receive a grant to improve their facilities.

You are a member of a club that is applying for a grant.

This raises a conflict of interest which you must declare.

In this scenario, it is likely that the public could reasonably perceive you have a private interest in the outcome of the grants application that could conflict with your public duties.

The conflict of interest management plan will almost certainly remove you from:

• taking part in any discussion or decision-making about whether your club is awarded a grant
• being present when these discussions or decisions occur.

It is also likely to remove you from any discussion or decisions about other applications in this grants process. This is because the other applications are competition for your club in obtaining grants from a limited pool.

Conflict arising from a loyalty

Most employees have private loyalties of some degree or another. These can be loyalties to organisations, groups, people or causes.

Sometimes, this can raise a conflict of interest with an employee’s public sector duties.

If this occurs, the conflict must be declared so that a conflict of interest management plan can be developed.

Example

You are a member of an animal rights group that is opposed to any use of animals in research experiments and advocates for a total ban on such experiments. You are dedicated to this cause.

Scenario 1

Your manager, who is unaware of your dedication to this cause, asks you to develop a policy that will determine in what circumstances certain animal experiments can occur.

Even if you are sure that you won’t let your loyalty to the animal rights group and its cause affect how you perform your public duties, you must declare a conflict of interest.

This is because you have a perceived conflict of interest. It would be reasonable for people to believe that you are or could be influenced by your private interest.

Scenario 2

You work in a public hospital as an occupational therapist.

It is highly unlikely that your loyalty to the animal welfare cause will be a conflict of interest with your public sector duties.

Unless something unexpected arises, there is no foreseeable way your private interest could affect your actions and decisions in your work role.

Unless it does, there is no need to declare your private interest.

Conflict arising from bias

It’s not uncommon for people to have a bias for or against an organisation, group, person or cause. For example, a bias in favour of, or against, a former employer.

Like all private interests, a bias will only need to be declared if it raises a conflict of interest with your public sector duties.

Example

You recently left your former employer of many years to take up a job with a public sector organisation.

Your former employer is tendering to supply certain services to your new employer.

Scenario 1

In your public sector role, you will be involved in the tender and selection process.

It would be reasonable for people to believe that you may have a bias for or against your former employer. You must declare a conflict of interest.

Scenario 2

Your job with your public sector organisation has nothing to do with tender process or the area the services are being procured for.

You dislike your former employer intensely and would hate to see them be successful in the tender process. But you don’t need to declare this private interest, as there is no conflict of interest with your public sector duties.

Why it’s important to identify conflicts

The Victorian public needs to be able to trust that the public sector is operating:

• with integrity and impartiality
• in a professional and apolitical manner.

In your role as an employee you need to place – and be seen to place – the public interest before your private interests.

Your employment obligations provide the framework for doing so, including:

• the Code of conduct for Victorian public sector employees (or similar code if you work for a special body)
• your organisation’s policies, including its conflict of interest policy.

Declaring and dealing with conflicts

If a conflict of interest arises, you must declare it, so your manager can develop a conflict of interest management plan in consultation with you. (In some organisations, you may be asked to prepare the initial draft.)

What is in the plan will depend on the risk level, such as the nature and severity of the conflict of interest.

The plan should be proportionate to the risk level.

The plan is based on the risk mitigation strategies in your employer’s conflict of interest policy. These strategies are likely to be similar to those in our model policy. These are, from lowest to highest response level:

• Record and monitor
• Restrict
• Remove
• Recruit
• Relinquish or resolve.

Management plans as a precautionary measure

Sometimes, it may be prudent to develop a conflict of interest plan as a precautionary measure. For example, if there is a risk of a perceived conflict of interest.

Such plans will often be based on the strategy of ‘record and monitor’.

An example of where it may be useful to develop a conflict of interest plan as a precautionary measure is if the employee is a former registered lobbyist or former government affairs director.

Further examples

For further examples of situations where a conflict of interest (actual, potential or perceived) may exist see our key definitions.

More information

For more information:

• seek advice from the conflict of interest contacts set out in your employer’s policy
• see your employer’s conflict of interest policy and guidance.
• see our guidance on conflict of interest – key things to know and do.