Values week 2024

Celebrating Victorian Public Sector Values Week

Victorian Public Sector Values Week is running from October 14 – 18, 2024, incorporating World Values Day on the 17th. This year’s theme is Working with pride in the Victorian Public Sector.

Attend our Values Week event

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Victorian public sector staff can attend our Values Week event on Monday 14 October 2024, from 11am to 11:45am, online.

Hear Victorian Public Sector Commissioner Brigid Monagle and Terry Garwood, Department of Premier and Cabinet Deputy Secretary First Peoples’ – State Relations discuss how our public sector values shape our work every day in a conversation moderated by VPSC Senior Adviser Clare Cartledge.

This free event will be hosted by the Innovation Network. Register here.

A message from Victorian Public Sector Commissioner, Brigid Monagle

Professional headshot of Brigid Monagle, Commissioner.

Happy Values Week 2024!

Celebrated from October 14 to 18 across the public sector, to incorporate World Values Day on the 17th, this is a special time to recognise and take pride in the important ways we work.

Happy Values Week 2024!

Celebrated from October 14 to 18 across the public sector, to incorporate World Values Day on the 17th, this is a special time to recognise and take pride in the important ways we work.

As Victorian Public Sector Commissioner I am a champion of our values and people. It’s a wonderful job because I get to see the many incredible ways our staff deliver for our community (some of which are highlighted in our State of the Public Sector report).

At the core of this work are our values. Not our personal values – although these are important too of course – but the Public Sector Values, that bind us all in a shared way.

The seven Public Sector Values are: Respect, Responsiveness, Impartiality, Integrity, Accountability, Leadership and Human Rights.

They are not a lofty concept but tangible, practical and apply to all of us in every part of our working lives.

When you join the sector, you join a workforce of more than 367,000 people. We serve the people of Victoria by providing frank and impartial advice to government and implementing its policies, decisions and programs to deliver essential services from education right through to transport. Each of us is obliged by law through the Public Administration Act 2004 to do so consistently with the Public Sector Values.

The values are expanded on in the Code of Conduct. The code guides the way we work with the government of the day, community and colleagues. In setting out more detail about what the values mean in practice, it describes the behaviour that is rightly expected of us.

This week is a great opportunity to pause and consider how the values underpin your work every single day.

They define what is important to us and help frame decision making.

They are rooted in our humanity, in the best way to treat and work with others.

They are full of depth and nuance. For example, responsiveness is not simply replying to an email quickly but giving frank advice to government, delivering quality services and promoting best practice.

Integrity is more than just not doing the wrong thing. It’s about championing the right thing, being open, honest and transparent, using powers responsibly and speaking up or supporting colleagues to speak up when something raises concerns.

And working with respect ensures people are free from discrimination, harassment and bullying while also subject to kindness and understanding.

Working to these values means we’re doing our job better and making Victoria a better place to live for our community. They ensure the public can trust us, something we should always be striving for.

I’m so happy the Victorian Public Sector Commission is leading this week’s celebrations. I encourage you all to get involved in any way you can, whether that be sending a Values Thank You card to a colleague you admire, having a team gathering to mark the occasion or attending our special event here.

I also encourage you to reflect with pride on your contribution to the Victorian community and the privilege it is to work in these roles.

It’s the perfect moment to reaffirm our commitment to the things that matter most.

Thank you all for your work representing our values. I’m proud our sector is full of such great people.

Brigid Monagle
Commissioner
Victorian Public Sector Commission

Resources (including Values Thank You card emails)

Visual preview of a Values Thank You card email:

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Digital assets

Below, we’ve provided a variety of assets to help you promote Values Week internally and externally.

Values Thank You card email templates

To use the Outlook template, follow these steps:

Download the ZIP file using the provided link and move it from your downloads to your desktop
Right-click the ZIP file on your desktop and then select “Extract here”
You will now be able to see the Outlook template (.otf) files on your desktop
Simply double-click the .otf file to open it in Outlook to start using the template.