Appendix A: Common workforce metrics Workforce theme: Workforce availability Category Metric Sources referenced* Definition Formula Purpose Employment type (Category) Employment type profile -SOSR. -Statistical Bulletin. The breakdown of the organisation’s total workforce by employment types within the workforce. Employment types include: Ongoing—Permanent employees. Non-ongoing—Non-ongoing employees engaged for a specified term or task. Casual—Non-ongoing staff engaged for duties that are irregular or intermittent. Contractor—Workers paid through a third party. Can also be presented as the percentage of the total workforce by employment type. Note: The total workforce includes employment types not included in total headcount. For each employment type: Headcount (Employment type) Percentage breakdown For each employment type: Headcount (Employment type) / Headcount (Total workforce)*100 Useful for understanding the mix of your workforce in relation to types of employment arrangements. Useful for organisations that frequently utilise or have large proportions of non-ongoing employees (or contractors or casuals). Can be useful for examining seasonal or cyclical workload and ability to respond to surges in workforce demand. Headcount Total headcount Developed in consultation with APS agencies. The number of employees directly employed by the organisation at a point in time. Includes: - All full-time and part-time, ongoing and non-ongoing employees engaged for a specified term or task, including those on leave, such as maternity leave, long service leave, etc. Excludes: -*Non-ongoing staff engaged for duties that are irregular or intermittent (casuals). -*Workers paid through a third party (contractors). *If you opt to include casuals and contractors in your total headcount, this should be specified clearly. Number of ongoing employees + Number of non-ongoing employees (specified term/task) Indicates the number of employees working for the organisation, regardless of hours worked, other working arrangements or leave. Useful for workforce profiling as other workforce metrics are also provided in terms of headcount (recruitment and exit rates, for example). Headcount is useful when measuring data that relates to individuals (such as age, gender, diversity, etc.).
Workforce theme: Workforce profile Category Metric Sources referenced* Definition Formula Purpose Location Location profile -SOSR. -Statistical Bulletin. The breakdown of total headcount by geographic location. Can also be presented as the percentage of total headcount by location. For each location: Headcount (Location) Percentage breakdown: For each location: Headcount (Location) / Total headcount*100 Particularly useful for organisations with a widespread workforce. Also useful in linking to the external labour market (particularly regional and local labour markets). Useful to understand the trends presenting within the data for different locations, across various workforce themes. Occupational grouping/ Job family Occupational group/Job family profile -WFP Guide. -Job Family Model. -SOSR. The breakdown of total full-time equivalent employees by occupational group (or job family). Can also be presented as the percentage of total full-time equivalent employees by occupational group (or job family). For each occupational group: FTE (Occupational group) Percentage breakdown: For each occupational group: FTE (Occupational group) / Total FTE*100 Useful for better understanding the composition of the organisation’s workforce, to monitor occupational groupings or job families that are critical to business delivery, or of particular risk due to labour market shortages. Also useful for monitoring over- or and workforce allocations, etc. Useful to understand the trends presenting within the data for different occupational groupings or job families, across various workforce themes.
Recruitment (Continued) Average time to finalise selection exercises -SOSR. The average number of working days to finalise competitive selection exercises (for ongoing positions), from the date of advertising to when an offer of employment is made. Note: A selection exercises does not necessarily equate to one position. For example, a bulk selection round is counted as one selection exercise, even if more than position is filled through this process. Sum of total working days to finalise all competitive selection exercises (Ongoing positions) / Offers accepted(Ongoing positions) Useful for measuring the efficiency of selection processes, however does not account for the delay factor between an offer being made and the successful candidate commencing in the position. Average time to fill selection exercises -SOSR. The average number of working days to fill competitive selection exercises (for ongoing positions), from the date of advertising to the date the successful candidate commences in the position. Sum of total working days to fill all competitive selection exercises (Ongoing positions) / Offers accepted(Ongoing positions) Useful for measuring the time it takes to have new employees on board for positions that are vacant, and accounts for the delay factor between an offer being accepted and the successful candidate commencing in the position. Applicant rate (internal and external recruitment processes) -CLC Metrics (‘Applicant ratio’, pp. 72 – 73). The average number of applicants for internal and external recruitment processes. Total applicants (Internal/external recruitment process) / Total offers accepted Useful for gauging the resource requirement for conducting recruitment processes, and can also be indicative of the level of demand for various positions and the organisation’s capacity to compete effectively as a preferred employer. Secondments Secondment rate (in to and out of the organisation) Developed in consultation with APS agencies. The number of secondments of ongoing employees (in to/out of the organisation) as a percentage of total movements of ongoing employees.. Secondments (In/out) / Total movements*100 Useful for examining the availability of skills development opportunities for employees through secondments out of the organisation. Also useful for measuring the level of secondments to the organisation, which provide an alternative source for filling temporary skills demands and a source of new ideas, creativity and innovation.
Transfers Internal transfer rate -SOSR. -CLC Metrics (‘Lateral mobility’, pp. 58 – 59). The number of permanent lateral movements of ongoing employees as a percentage of total movements of ongoing employees. Lateral movements / Total movements*100 Useful for examining the availability of skills development opportunities for employees through lateral moves across the organisation. External transfer rate (in to and out of the organisation) -SOSR. The number of permanent external movements of ongoing employees (in to/out of the organisation) as a percentage of the total movements of ongoing employees. External movements (In/out) / Total movements*100 Useful for tracking the level of mobility in to and out of the organisation. Exits Agency exit rate -SOSR. -Statistical Bulletin. -CLC Metrics (‘Termination rate’, pp. 120 – 121). The number of ongoing employees who left the organisation during the period (voluntarily and as a percentage of the average headcount (ongoing) for the period. Includes: -Age retirements (s.30 of the PS Act) -Retrenchments (s. 29(3)(a)) -Invalidity retirements (s.29(3)(d)) -Other terminations of employment (ss 29(3)(b),(c),(e),(f),(g) and (h)) -Compulsory moves to a non-APS agency (s.72(1)(b)) -Resignations, and -Deaths -Promotions and permanent transfers to other organisations Exits (Ongoing) / Average headcount (Ongoing)*100 Useful for monitoring likely impact on departure, vacancy and replacement costs, including loss of corporate knowledge, skills and experience, and potential impact on workforce morale and workload. Can also be indicative of organisational insularity, and ineffective performance management processes.
Workforce theme: Workforce capability Category Metric Sources referenced* Definition Formula Purpose Performance management Performance appraisal participation rate -CLC Metrics (‘Performance appraisal participation rate’, pp. 164 – 165). -SOSR. The number of ongoing employees who received a performance rating during the period as a percentage of the number of ongoing employees eligible to receive a performance rating. Number of performance ratings (Ongoing)(End of period) / Headcount (Ongoing)(Eligible for appraisal at end of period)*100 Provides an indication of the extent to which individual performance is being managed, to ensure it aligns with organisational expectations. Can also be indicative of the effectiveness of the performance management process and the level of employee engagement. Performance rating profile -CLC Metrics (‘Performance rating distribution’, pp. 166 – 167). The breakdown of total performance appraisal ratings for ongoing employees by rating category. For each performance rating: Headcount (Ongoing)(Performance rating) / Total performance ratings (Ongoing)*100 Provides an indication of the extent to which individual performance aligns to organisational expectations. Can be useful in identifying training and development needs and opportunities. Can also be indicative of the effectiveness of the performance management process and the abilities of managers to deal with underperformance. Performance rating improvement rate -CLC Metrics (‘Employee upgrade rate’, pp.158 – 159). The number of ongoing employees whose current performance rating is higher than the previous cycle, as a percentage of the total number of ongoing employees who participated in the process. Headcount (Ongoing)(Improved performance rating) / Total performance ratings (Ongoing)*100 Can be useful in monitoring the success of learning and development strategies. However, can be affected by changes in employees’ positions. For example, a recently promoted employee might receive a lower performance rating than they did in the last cycle when they were in a position at a lower classification level.