M2025-11 NSW Government Workforce Mobility Placement and Employee Transition Policy
The NSW Government is committed to retaining valued and skilled employees and facilitating workforce mobility in situations where employees’ roles are at risk or no longer required as a result of, for example, significant restructures, machinery of government changes, adjustments to business and service delivery priorities.
Issued: by Premier
Key information
- Status
- Active
- Type
- Premier's Memorandum
- Identifier
- M2025-11
- Compliance
- Mandatory
- Created
- Updated
Who needs to know and/or comply with this?
- Departments
- Executive agencies related to Departments
- General Government Sector
- Separate agencies
- State Owned Corporations
- Statutory Authorities/Bodies
About
The NSW Government is committed to retaining valued and skilled employees and facilitating workforce mobility in situations where employees’ roles are at risk or no longer required as a result of, for example, significant restructures, machinery of government changes, adjustments to business and service delivery priorities.
In circumstances where impacted employees are determined to be excess to the requirements of the agency or department in which they are employed, the NSW Government is also committed to ensuring that those employees who are unable to be retained in the sector are appropriately transitioned.
The purpose of this Memorandum is to implement the NSW Government Workforce Mobility Placement and Employee Transition Policy, which will continue to promote a whole of Government approach to retaining talent, facilitating mobility and reducing recruitment and redundancy expenditure, to sustain and continually improve NSW public sector service delivery.
1. Purpose and Coverage
The NSW Government Workforce Mobility Placement and Employee Transition Policy (the Policy) consolidates M2011-11 Changes to the Management of Excess Employees and M2023-06 NSW Government Workforce Mobility Placement Policy and provides a streamlined approach to assist NSW Government agencies to retain talent, facilitate mobility and reduce redundancy and recruitment expenses, in circumstances where employees’ roles are at risk as a result of restructures, machinery of government changes, adjustments to business and service delivery priorities.
This Policy is not to take precedence over employees with injuries returning to work.
The Policy does not affect workplace mobility requirements under the Government Sector Employment Act 2013, the Government Sector Employment Regulation 2014 and the Government Sector Employment (General) Rules 2014 and does not replace provisions in current industrial instruments, legislation and active Policies, Guidelines, Circulars and Premier’s Memoranda.
2. Key features of the Policy
Key figures include:
- a 40-business day placement process period for impacted employees to be matched to vacant roles within the Government sector, prior to agencies and departments declaring an employee excess;
- a further 20-business day retention period for employees who are declared excess and who decline an offer of voluntary redundancy, to seek further placement opportunities in vacant roles within the Government sector;
- the responsibility of the Workforce Mobility Placement Team (the WMP Team) within the Premier’s Department to coordinate a whole-of-government approach to cross-sector mobility and to oversee the application of the Policy;
- the requirement for consultation to occur between departments, agencies, impacted employees and the WMP Team, during the stages of both the placement and retention periods (if applicable), including consultation on any impact on employees’ career aspirations, flexible working arrangements and financial position;
- a centralised placement process for identifying and placing employees into other roles in the government sector; and
- a five-day matching process period in which roles within the sector are not advertised externally until a matching process is undertaken for impacted employees.
3. Application
The Policy applies to the Government Sector, including Public Service agencies, Departments and Executive agencies as defined in section 3(1) of the Government Sector Employment Act 2013. State-owned corporations, including their subsidiaries, are strongly encouraged to apply the terms of the Policy.
The Policy applies to ongoing, non-executive, government sector employees.
The Policy does not apply to casual and temporary employees and senior executives. The Policy also does not apply to statutory office holders, including non-executive police officers.
Chris Minns MP
Premier