The Public Sector Standards Commissioner has published Standards that identify and define essential elements of the public sector employment principles. They apply to all public sector bodies and their employees. The standards articulate binding, minimum requirements for application of the principles, and support translation of the principles into sound and workable policies and processes.

The standards relating to the principles of fair and reasonable treatment and merit-based employment decisions are of particular note for the assessment of candidates to underpin recruitment decisions for the CEO role. In part these require:

  • decision-making processes that are fair, accessible, and applied consistently in comparable circumstances
  • decision-making criteria that are relevant, objective and readily available to the people subject to the decision
  • decisions and actions that are free of bias and unlawful discrimination
  • documentation that is sufficiently clear and comprehensive to render decisions transparent and capable of effective review
  • employment decisions that are based on the proper assessment of individuals’ work-related qualities, abilities and potential against the genuine requirements of the employment opportunity
  • decisions to appoint new employees or promote existing employees that are based on competitive selection. Processes are to be open and designed to identify a suitable field of qualified candidates
  • decisions to appoint new employees or promote existing employees from a limited field of candidates are only to be made where candidates are identified based on objective criteria.1

Footnote

  1. The complete employment principles are set out in the Public Administration Act 2004 and associated standards for application of the principles are issued by the Victorian Public Sector Commission.