This pilot was defined by providing frank and timely advice and high quality services to the Victorian community, and honing and promoting best practice – all key elements of the public sector value of responsiveness.
Background
When a significant event, emergency or changing government priority emerges and needs short term staff, the Victorian Public Service (VPS) must be ready to move employees into roles where the community needs them most.
VPS employees can now opt into the VPS Rapid Response Pilot, after discussing it with their manager, to support our state in times of need.
The pilot fills business support roles like communications and engagement, customer service and administration, data and reporting, finance and procurement, human resources, and policy and projects, using existing VPS expertise so that staff can get to work right away.
The pilot occupies a unique place in Victoria’s emergency management ecosystem. It complements but does not replace existing emergency management and surge workforce arrangements, and it does not fill front-line emergency management roles.
This form of workforce mobility is a recognised enabler of career development, improved collaboration and is an effective workforce management tool to quickly meet critical government priorities. Fostering this mobility is also important to ensure that individuals build a diversity of experience, expertise and skills.
Challenge
We can rarely predict a crisis impacting our community, but the public service must be prepared to help.
Before a significant event, Victoria’s emergency services, government departments and the Victorian Public Sector Commission must work together to prepare for staff to be deployed on very short notice.
This involves significant coordination across government, strategic human resource management, and having staff with transferable core skills ready to be matched to a role.
Result
The pilot has 700 employees ready to offer critical assistance in a significant event.
Since launching in October 2023, the Rapid Response Pilot has been activated three times.
Staff from multiple departments assisted the Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS) with their response to the severe weather events across Victoria in late 2023, early and late 2024.
Participants were tasked with supporting existing Emergency Response Victoria (ERV) teams in response to fire events at Pomonal and Beaufort, as well as post-fire and flooding efforts in Gippsland.
These staff provided critical support to the emergency response by putting their VPS skills and expertise to use. For example, participants in communications roles had the important task of communicating what support was available to local government authorities and communities affected by the fires and floods, while those placed in human resources roles did the critical work of coordinating shifts for people involved in the emergency response.
Participant feedback was that these roles were highly rewarding, allowing them to make a meaningful impact on the community and develop their professional skills. In the words of one participant:
“I felt a strong sense of pride in tangible impact… Knowing my contributions will directly support emergency response and recovery efforts was very gratifying.”