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Union perspective on Jacqui Curtis Australian Financial Review puff piece
You may not have seen the Financial Review’s interview with ATO Chief Operating Officer Jacqui Curtis. It is available here: [ Meet the woman trying to fix the public service people problem AFR 180221 ]
These types of interviews are known as puff pieces because they are unduly flattering. There was no counter view provided to it, so the ASU wrote to its author Tom Burton to offer a union perspective on the issues raised in the article.
Our email to the AFR is included below my signature block. There is nothing quite like balanced reporting. Unfortunately, in this case, we did not see it.
From: Jeff Lapidos
Sent: Friday, 19 February 2021 1:36 PM
To: Tom Burton
Subject: Union perspective on Jacqui Curtis interview
Hello Tom
Please consider the following comments on your interview with Jacqui Curtis – happy to discuss.
Seeking hard evidence on wfh
Consider the ATO’s 6 month pilot. The ATO has not provided its staff or their unions with any details of the 6 month wfh pilot. Jacqui announced the pilot without any notice or consultation. It allowed staff to work a maximum of 40% of their regular hours at home. This was subsequently changed to 60% for some ATO sites, in some cases for a limited period of time. The reason was that sites such as Adelaide, Penrith and Parramatta could not allow safe physical distancing with only 40% working from home. The ASU had to press ATO People to allow exceptions to the 40% maximum in extenuating circumstances. We then found a remarkably hard interpretation of extenuating circumstances which made it surprisingly difficult for anyone to get approval to work at home for more than the maximum. So we took the situation of three ASU members who are each over 70 to the Fair Work Commission. The ATO changed its position at the conference last Friday. We followed up with an email to Jacqui on Tuesday. I have included a copy below my signature block. We still have not received an acknowledgement or response to this email. In case you might think Jacqui could have looked the email, it was copied to the Deputy Commissioner and two Assistant Commissioners in ATO People. I am confident the email was seen and discussed at their level.
ATO pivot to pushing money out of the door – we responded rapidly
Jacqui might not have mentioned to you the ASU has taken the ATO to the Federal Court over its implementation of its COVID working from home arrangements last March/April. The ATO did not tell us at the time that it considered these arrangements were outside the working at home provisions in the ATO Enterprise Agreement. The COVID arrangements allowed the ATO to bring staff back into the office without notice. Our EA requires a minimum of one weeks notice to bring staff back temporarily. Our law suit alleged misrepresentation, breach of our Enterprise Agreement and adverse action.
The mobility challenge?
Why is Government fixated on this issue? Some roles, like HR, lend themselves to mobility across the APS and across the private sector. But the ATO is full of accountants, lawyers and others who work with complex legislation and have to make fair decisions about people who may be in difficult circumstances, work which we do to benefit Australia. Why would we go elsewhere in Government, unless it is to complement our skill set? It takes many years to develop the skills and experience needed to do the complex work the ATO needs to address. Artificial demands or expectations for mobility run contrary to the ATO’s need for highly skilled and experienced staff.
Too many internal promotions!
We agree that too often ATO staff end up in roles for which they are not suited. Unfortunately, the ATO does not have systems that provide effective means for staff to transfer into other roles that would better suit them. The ATO is very proud of its graduate program, justifiably so. It has no similar programs for other employees, despite our repeated requests. But we see program graduates getting preference in promotions over others who have far more experience, and arguably greater skills. The ATO has great diversity amongst its existing ranks, but many find getting recognition is difficult against those who have participated in the graduate program. The ASU would welcome a change to how skills and experience are valued. We do not agree that there is anything unexpected when skilled and experienced ATO staff win positions on merit against applicants from outside the ATO. However we do see the ATO offer non-ongoing contracts to people in the private sector who then have a steep learning curve to obtain permanent employment. As for the ‘whiteness’ of the SES, you can find a preponderance amongst the SES in Jacqui’s own area of responsibility.
A concluding thought
We do not agree that HR in the ATO needs to be innovative and creative to be trusted advisors. We would prefer they do their traditional jobs properly and effectively. Australia would be better for it.
Yours sincerely,
Jeff Lapidos
Branch Secretary
Australian Services Union – Taxation Officers’ Branch
From: Jeff Lapidos
Sent: Tuesday, 16 February 2021 12:41 PM
To: Jacqui Curtis
Subject: ASU thanks and request
Ms Jacqui Curtis
Chief Operating Officer
Australian Taxation Office
Dear Jacqui
The ASU thanks you for supporting the agreement made by the ATO at the Fair Work Commission last Friday to approve three ASU members, who are each over 70 years of age and therefore at high risk of serious illness if they contract CVOID, to continue working at home for 100% of their regular hours. Each of these employees very much appreciates the ATO’s reconsideration of its position. We are sure your support and understanding of the issues helped achieve this resolution of everyone’s concerns.
The ASU now requests you reconsider the ATO’s general position on extenuating circumstances so it will approve employees requests to work at home for 100% of their regular hours if they are at high or moderate risk of serious illness if they contract COVID* until they have a reasonable opportunity to be fully and effectively vaccinated. We ask that the ATO approve similar requests from employees who have caring responsibilities for others who are at high or moderate risk of serious illness if they contract COVID until they too have a reasonable opportunity to be fully and effectively vaccinated. The ASU is confident that ATO employees generally will applaud the Office if it makes this change generally available.
We are available to discuss this request with you or your representative.
Regards
Jeff
* According to the Commonwealth Department of Health advice for people most at risk.
HELPING PUBLIC SERVANT: JACQUI CURTIS
