Department of Jobs urged to engage with uncertainty

Department of Jobs and Small Business Secretary Kerri Hartland has urged public sector employees to take appropriate risks in order to foster innovation.

Speaking at a launch event for Public Sector Innovation Month, Hartland told her department’s staff that to achieve their objectives they must engage with uncertainty.

“Eliminating all uncertainty is not an option. It is unaffordable and will prevent us from undertaking much of our work,” she said.

Hartland also outlined some of the ways the department is innovating, noting that the 2017 APS employee census survey found that the agency performs nine percentage points higher than the APS average on innovation.

Recent examples include a project within the Empowering YOUth Initiative — the program to help young people on their transition to work — that uses virtual reality to help participants understand and prepare for work in the disability sector.

Another recent project used behavioural economics to help the department better tailor online tools and resources to help job seekers find employment.

The department is also developing projects using technologies including machine learning and virtual assistants, and its Employment Systems Group has been adopting agile development approaches since 2015, Hartland added.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Nmedia

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