A highly engaged, customer-focused, innovative and agile workforce underpins our ability to deliver fair and efficient revenue management services for Victorians.
Our People, Culture and Capability Strategy makes sure we meet our strategic goal of encouraging and developing excellence in our people. A diverse, safe and respectful workplace makes sure our people can give their best to the community they serve.
In 2024–25:
- we employed 969 people (931 full-time equivalent)
- we welcomed 142 new starters and provided 505 internal career opportunities
- our staff completed an average of 22.7 learning hours
- we developed our Positive Workplace Action Plan and Mentally Healthy Action Plan, and continued to implement actions from our Gender Equality Action Plan, Diversity and Inclusion Framework and refreshed Disability Action Plan.
People and performance
As a leading government employer, we continue to demonstrate strong performance against key benchmarks.
The annual People Matter Survey outlines our performance against other organisations in the Victorian Public Service (VPS). The comparator group is made up of a range of other VPS organisations, including major departments.
Our performance is consistently well above the VPS average on key metrics, including:
- recommended place to work (82% for the SRO, compared to 62% for the VPS comparator group)
- staff satisfaction (75% for the SRO, compared to 65% for the VPS comparator group)
- organisational integrity (73% for the SRO, compared to 65% for the VPS comparator group)
- staff engagement (71% for the SRO, compared to 65% for the VPS comparator group).
Recognising our people
We are committed to providing a positive working environment where staff are supported, valued and want to stay.
One in 3 of our staff have worked with us for 10 years or more, and people stay with us for 9 years on average. People Matter Survey results show 61% of respondents plan to stay 5 years or more compared to 43% for the comparator group.
Our annual Dedicated Service Awards recognise the loyalty of our long-serving staff.
In 2024–25, we celebrated:
- 13 people who reached 10 years of service
- 15 people who reached 20 years of service
- 5 people who reached 30 years of service
- 4 people who reached 40 years of service
- one person who reached 50 years of service.
Our corporate awards program continued to acknowledge the great work of our staff. The awards pay tribute to individuals or teams who deliver new initiatives, increase efficiency, display teamwork and leadership, and demonstrate our behaviours and values.
Over the past 12 months, we offered 505 internal career opportunities (89 promotions, 112 transfers and 304 higher-class duties).
In 2024–25, our turnover was 8.1% for permanent staff who retired or chose to pursue other opportunities, lower than the most recently available VPS rate of 16.7%.
Diversity
We continue to implement actions from our Gender Equality Action Plan, Diversity and Inclusion Framework and refreshed Disability Action Plan to continue fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce.
We measure our diversity and inclusion achievements through People Matter Survey results and human resources data.
- 18% of respondents to the People Matter Survey identified as being born overseas.
- 14% of respondents to the People Matter Survey were aged 55 or older.
- 56% of our workforce is female, and women hold 48% of leadership and management positions.
- In the People Matter Survey, inclusion was rated 82% compared to 77% for the VPS comparator group.
In 2024–25, we employed 3 interns as part of a new initiative with Vision Australia for people with a vision impairment.
We also worked closely with Indigenous groups to rename a meeting room in both our Melbourne and Ballarat offices using words from the local Aboriginal languages, as we continue to enhance the inclusion and engagement of First Nations peoples and culture across our organisation.
Learning and development
We continue to invest in our people by offering a wide range of learning resources and development opportunities.
In 2024–25, staff completed 21,150 hours of learning – an average of 22.7 hours per full-time equivalent. This demonstrates our strong commitment to continuous improvement, and ensures our workforce remains skilled, adaptable and equipped to meet current and future challenges.
We delivered:
- 129 professional development workshops covering 24 topics for more than 2,000 attendees
- 35 tax-technical training modules
- compulsory artificial intelligence (AI) training to ensure all staff understand how to use AI in a way that is ethical, responsible and upholds the Victorian Public Sector Values and Code of Conduct.
In the People Matter Survey, 78% of respondents said they were developing and learning in their role (compared to 72% for the comparator group).
Health and safety
Respect at Work legislation has introduced a positive duty on employers to prevent and eliminate specific forms of unlawful conduct, while new regulations require Victorian workplaces to identify and control psychosocial health hazards.
In response, we have developed a Positive Workplace Action Plan and a Mentally Healthy Action Plan to identify actions that address these changes. These plans build upon the significant amount of work we already do to ensure a safe, healthy and inclusive workplace for our people.
Our workplace safety benchmarks align with the Safe Work Australia measures. We only had one new claim in 2024–25, against a target of 3. Our WorkCover premium rate is 0.7685%.