Back in 2015, we recognised that successfully transforming Inland Revenue's services meant investing in our people and changing our organisation design as much as implementing new systems and processes. Inland Revenue now has fewer management layers and fewer, broader capability-based roles. We've empowered front-line people to make decisions closer to the customer and resolve their issues faster. From here, we're focusing on growing capability and diversity in our workforce, on improving wellbeing, and offering a work experience and career pathways that are valued.
A workforce for the organisation we have become
With the final changes made to our organisation redesign, Inland Revenue has now moved all of our people into capability-based roles, based around transferable skills such as customer service, digital literacy and data and analytics. We can quickly bring together multi-disciplinary teams to implement Government priorities and solve problems.
Inland Revenue's 12 people capabilities
- Business Acumen and Partnering.
- Change Management.
- Complex Compliance Management.
- Customer Advisory.
- Data, Analytics and Insights.
- Design and Integration.
- Digital Literacy.
- Information and Knowledge Management.
- Leadership.
- Policy Quality and Agility.
- Quality Decision Making.
- Workforce Management.
Taking a more strategic, proactive workforce approach
Moving out of the transformation era, Inland Revenue is implementing long-term approaches to ensure we have the right capability in the right place at the right time. The market for talented people is currently very competitive and going to remain that way for some time, and unplanned attrition is a growing global trend.
To manage our short-term priorities, we have recruited front-line people throughout 2021–22 and will continue to into 2022–23. We also use partnerships with external suppliers where we need support for a specific purpose on a short-term basis.
Beyond the short term, we have a talent approach in place to attract and keep skilled people, with a strong emphasis on developing the people who are already with us. Inland Revenue benefits from a large number of people who join us via our customer contact channels and develop valuable customer experience. We've had good success in developing people to move into different parts of our organisation, in line with their career aspirations.
We're also putting in place longer-term workforce planning so we can be more proactive about attracting and retaining the capability we need in the future.
Reinforcing this, we've spent time looking at the strengths Inland Revenue offers as an employer. Our people tell us they value the flexible, supportive and inclusive workplace we offer, so we're emphasising this to current and future employees.
Investing to prepare our people for the future of work
Over the last 6 years, we've made a significant investment in enabling the future capability we need and building an adaptive workforce that's resilient to changes in technology and customer demand.
We've provided tools and learning to support our 12 capabilities and formal learning to upskill our people on new systems and products.
There have been many opportunities for our people to learn on the job by being a part of our transformation journey or working with different customer groups. For example, 193 people have been seconded to different roles in Inland Revenue this year, and 155 people have moved to different customer segments, supporting them to develop their capability.
Our learning approach recognises that people build their capability by doing different kinds of work and collaborating with others, as well as through as formal training events. Our people and their leaders have regular coaching conversations and tailored development plans.
How we're doing
When we look at the results of Te Taunaki, the 2021 Public Service Census, our people said they feel supported to do their jobs well. Approximately half of respondents thought their skills were a good match for their job and were satisfied with their career development here. A third of respondents felt ready for more challenges.
These findings reinforce the importance of planning more proactively for our future capability needs and embedding our performance approach so leaders and people can work together to align development plans and aspirations with future opportunities.
What our people said in Te Taunaki
- 68% of our people who responded to Te Taunaki said they have access to the learning and development needed to do their job well. +6% compared to the wider Public Service.
- 49% were satisfied with their career development opportunities. -3% compared to the wider Public Service.
- 54% thought their skills were a good match for their job. +3% compared to the wider Public Service.
- 33% said they're ready for more demanding work, which is the same as the wider Public Service.
- 96% used some form of flexible work, which is a top reason why our people join and stay with Inland Revenue. +17% compared to the wider Public Service.