Annual Report 2018-19

Advertising expenditure

We had no advertising campaigns with a media spend of $100,000 or greater.

Building works

We did not have any buildings under our direct control and are exempt from notifying our compliance with the building and maintenance provisions of the Building Act 1993.

Consultancies over $10,000

We engaged 21 consultancies at a total expenditure of $818,872 (excluding GST). View details of individual consultancies at www.esc.vic.gov.au/annual-reports.

Consultancies under $10,000

We engaged three consultancies at a total expenditure of $17,950 (excluding GST).

Diversity and inclusion

We strive to create an environment that supports a diverse, inclusive and flexible workforce. We reviewed our recruitment materials on a number of occasions throughout the 2017–18 year to encourage a more diverse applicant pool.

We also celebrated the diversity of our employees with recognition or events held for National Reconciliation Week, IDAHoBIT day, Harmony Day and Wear It Purple Day.

Our Empowered Women’s Network and our pride network continue to grow and work with the organisation to ensure our practices are inclusive.

In 2018–19, we had two staff members (1.7 percent of employees) who self-identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

Employee relations

We are committed to ensuring that employee relations matters are treated fairly and promptly, and that employees are aware of our grievance processes. This year we rewrote our grievance policy and replaced our sexual harassment and bullying policy with a new fair workplace treatment policy. These new policies are supported by procedure documents. All staff were invited to comment on these new policies.

No employee time was lost in 2018–19 due to industrial disputes and no formal grievances were lodged.

Employment and conduct principles

We are committed to applying merit and equity principles when we appoint employees. Our selection processes ensure that applicants are assessed and evaluated fairly and equitably on the basis of the key selection criteria and other accountabilities.

We have correctly classified our employees in workforce data collections.

Ex-gratia payments

There were no ex-gratia payments in 2018–19.

Local Jobs First Act 2003

The Local Jobs First Act 2003, introduced in August 2018, brings together the Victorian Industry Participation Policy (VIPP) and Major Project Skills Guarantee (MPSG), policy which were previously administered separately.

Departments and public sector bodies are required to apply the Local Job First policy in all projects valued at $3 million or more in Metropolitan Melbourne or for statewide projects, or $1 million or more for projects in regional Victoria.

We did not commence or complete any such procurements in 2018–19.

Major contracts        

We awarded no major contracts greater than $10 million during 2018–19.

National Competition Policy

We complied with the National Competition Policy, including compliance with the requirements of the policy statement Competitive Neutrality Policy Victoria and any subsequent reforms.

Occupational health and safety

We continued to promote occupational health and safety through a range of measures in 2018–19, including our occupational health and safety policy, health and safety representative and an OH&S committee, which meets quarterly. We had no WorkCover claims in 2018–19.

Workcover statistics	2018–19	2017–18
Claims during 2018–19	0	1

Private interest declarations

Declarations of private interests were completed by relevant officers in 2018–19. New employees were required to complete declarations prior to commencement.