On working in the Australian Government

A bit of a reflection after being in the Department for nearly 2 years now.

I work in a Government Department of approximately 3500 people. I have just been looking at some staff figures, and we have 180 people who have been in the Department since before I was born (1980), and there are about 900 people who have been with the Department for over 10 years.

Considering our Department has doubled in size in the past 5 years or so and there has been a lot of change, I find impressive the staff retention rate. Staff seem quite proud to work here, and as a result there is a lot of Corporate Knowledge in the Department and the staff are knowledgable in what they do.

Staff are looked after in that they have good training programs, pay is on par with other Departments, there are always opportunities to move into other areas and increase your skills. There are opportunities for travel, working parents who can only work part time are well looked after, and we are one of the largest employers of indigenous staff, who work in capital cities as well as a lot of who work in remote areas in their communities and are invaluable to the organisation.

Staff are also very health conscious I have found. You always see people out playing soccer, touch football etc on the lawns of Old Parliament House at lunchtime, or walking and running around the lake. A lot of people ride to work, use the gym we have here, or do the lunchtime aerobics or yoga classes. It helps that we have reasonable showering and locker facilities as well.

Personally, my area can be a little frustrating, but there's always different things happening. I get to deal with a good cross section of staff, and there's opportunities for me to move into other areas. The people are fantastic, and I can honestly say that pretty much all of the section and executive managers I deal with are really good people.

It's nice to finally be in a job that I enjoy and feel as though I could work in for a very long time, and also know that they'd welcome me back with open arms if we ended up going overseas for a period!