In 1999 the Workforce Profile (WFP) collection was endorsed by the Government. All NSW Public Sector agencies are required to participate, including State Owned Corporations and Government Trading Enterprises.

The WFP is a data collection on the characteristics of NSW public sector employment. It includes demographic information such as age, gender, EEO group membership, and work location, as well as employment information such as: hours worked, leave patterns, remuneration and mobility within the sector.

The WFP is collected four times a year; three quarterly and an annual collection at the end of the financial year. All agencies are required to submit and approve their WFP data by the due date so that evaluation, consolidation, analysis and reporting of the data is conducted in a timely manner. Business units that were small agencies with fewer than 200 employees, but are now amalgamated into larger departments, are no longer entitled to the exemption recommended in circular 26 Internal Government Red Tape Review.

The Workforce Information Unit (WIU) within the Department of Premier and Cabinet will produce reports in accordance with the new department structure. (See “NSW Public Sector: Allocation of bodies to super departments”). Each department will be responsible for revising procedures to collate and submit a single return encompassing all its entities.

The WIU has developed a number of tools and information sheets to assist NSW Public Sector agencies to prepare, maintain and submit their workforce profile data. This circular authorises the Data Specifications as the standard for items extracted from Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) and the data structure for electronic files transmitted to the collection.

The “Privacy Code of Practice” is the policy document of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, on information privacy for the WFP data. It is intended to satisfy the requirements of a Privacy Code of Practice under Part 3 Division 1 of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998. The WFP privacy protection requirements and suggested advice to employees is incorporated into the Data Specifications. The WFP is collected using a secure technology infrastructure and complies with the Government’s electronic information security objectives.

Brendan O'Reilly
Director General