• Overview
  • Who we are
  • Our sustainability approach
• 2006/07 in Review
• Chairman and MD’s report
• Water
  • Overview
  • Coping with drought
  • Protecting catchments from fire
  • Supply of drinking water
  • Key performance indicators
• Sewerage
  • Overview
  • Eastern Treatment Plant
  • Western Treatment Plant
  • Sewerage transfer
  • Managing biosolids
  • Statewide trade waste
  • Key performance indicators
• Waterways
  • Overview
  • Challenges of a very dry year
  • Improving river health
  • Drainage and flood protection
  • Other works and initiatives
  • Key performance indicators
• Recycled water
  • Overview
  • Recycling west of Melbourne
  • Recycling east of Melbourne
  • Key performance indicators
• Protecting our natural environment
  • Overview
  • Energy and greenhouse
  • Waste assessment
  • Biodiversity
  • Key performance indicators
• Our relationships
  • Overview
  • Protecting the past for the future
  • Metropolitan retail water partners
  • Getting to know communities
  • Educating and informing
  • Working with the community
  • Key performance indicators
• Our people, our workplace
  • Overview
  • Developing a preferred culture
  • A safe place to work
  • Encouraging sustainable behaviour
  • Other results and initiatives
  • Our workforce
  • Key performance indicators
• Our business
  • Overview
  • Sound financial performance
  • A triple bottom line approach
  • Best practice review
  • Business efficiency
  • Key performance indicators
• Governance and risk management
  • Our governance procedures
  • Risk management
  • Statement of obligations
  • Board of directors
  • Organisational structure
• Statutory information
  • Statement of Corporate Intent
  • Key performance indicators
  • Publications
  • Freedom of Information
  • Bulk entitlements
  • Committees
  • Whistleblowers' protection
  • Other statutory information
• GRI – content index
• Independent assurance statement
• Financial statements
  (PDF, 434kb)
• Feedback form
  (PDF, 1.8mb)

Our workforce

At 30 June 2007, our total workforce was 645, which represented a 5.05% increase in employees in the year since 1 July 2006.

The percentage of women in the organisation increased from 23% in 2003/04 to 28% in 2006/07. In our graduate program, we have 38 participants, including 18 women (two are on secondment to Melbourne Water from Yarra Valley Water and Sinclair Knight Mertz). Of those, 16 have engineering degrees (many have double degrees combined with science, arts or commerce studies).

The average age of Melbourne Water employees at the end of 2006/07 was 42 – a slight increase from 41 in 2005/06. The average age of new starters in 2006/07 was 33 years (no change from the previous year). Throughout the organisation, we continue to have 15% of our employees aged 55 years or more.

We have responded to the challenges of our ageing workforce by:

• Maintaining our commitment to the engagement of trainees. In 2006/07, we engaged four trainees and three of these were appointed to ongoing positions at the end of their traineeship. Since 2000, Melbourne Water has engaged 24 trainees, offering employment to 15 (63%) at the end of their traineeship
• Identifying people who plan to retire and recruiting replacements before their departure. This approach, which was used for a range of roles and in several teams across the organisation, significantly helps skill and knowledge transfer
• Maintaining our strategy of job rotations within and between teams or groups. This strategy was found to successfully promote skill and knowledge transfer and development
• Making available flexible working arrangements for people who want to continue working but not necessarily full-time. Part-time work and 48/52 programs are among the options available
• Continuing our structured graduate program
• Introducing a pilot program to provide training and coaching support to our people to prepare for and take advantage of internal job opportunities. This program will focus on experienced employees who may not have participated in a selection process for some years, but will be available to all employees.

Length of service

In 2006/07, the average length of service of our people was 11 years compared with 12 years in 2005/06. This is attributed to continued high levels of recruitment and new starters in 2006/07.

The proportion of Melbourne Water people with less than five years experience has increased from 36% in 2002/03 to 47% in 2006/07. Much of this increase is due to the expansion of our responsibilities for waterway management and commitments for increased capital programs.

Staff turnover

We continued to maintain a strong level of recruitment activity in 2006/07 with 81 new starters. Most recruitment activity occurred as a result of:

• Increased expenditure and commitments to deliver the current capital program
• Delivery of the Port Phillip and Western Port Regional River Health Strategy
• Increased resourcing for programs that receive external funding (e.g. Clearwater)
• Succession planning – recruitment of new starters to facilitate knowledge transfer
• Graduate program intake
• Continued adjustment to expanded waterways and drainage boundaries.

Staff turnover (excluding redundancies and managed departures) for 2006/07 was 8.6% compared with 6% for 2005/06, which is within acceptable industry norms (between 5-10%).