HR Toolkit - Work and Structure - Change Management

The Client

The Human Resources Group of a large local government organisation in South-East Queensland.

The Brief

To develop a toolkit for HR Advisors to use with internal clients to address workload, work structure, work and job design issues across a variety of policy and operational groups.

The toolkit was to be a practical resource to help HR Advisors to work with managers on

• Reviewing resource allocations
• Making sure work design and structures make best use of staff resources
• Aligning work priorities and business plans and available resources
• Addressing workload concerns
• Ensuring that Position Descriptions align to the work
• Ensuring that change arising from structure and workload management issues is managed effectively

Our Response

Our methodology actively involved the end users of the toolkit in developing it. As end users, the Human Resource Advisors were interviewed to ensure HR Advantage fully understood their needs, the needs of their internal clients, and the problems which would need to be resolved using the toolkit. This informed the nature, design and documentation of the toolkit.

This project was completed within a 5 week timeframe.

The tools developed covered techniques to work with managers and staff of work units covering:

• The role of the Human Resource Advisors as consultant in working with managers on workload, work structure, work design and job design issues
• Diagnosing workload problems, identifying barriers and strategies to address, understanding the symptoms and addressing the causes
• A model for Human Resource planning, using a workforce planning approach with supporting templates
• A process for conducting work area reviews using a participative work design process, with a range of supporting tools to use, including work mapping, timetables, PD reviews etc
• Change management models and guidelines to support successful change efforts

The Results

A user-friendly toolkit for Human Resource Advisors presented in a briefing by HR Advantage to familiarise Advisers with the tools and how they could be used. This briefing was well received by the Advisers and the Human Resource Manager.

This project highlights our ability to work in partnership with in-house Human Resource groups and to develop suitable materials to equip other experienced human resource management practitioners in undertaking their work.