ATO restructure revealed to staff
The Australian Taxation Office has moved swiftly to try and instigate a wholesale restructure of its mammoth Service Delivery Group (SDG), as the revenue agency tries to consolidate and simplify overlapping or duplicated functions in its main customer-facing arm amid a big push to call in debts.
Tax employees and unions this week moved into the formal consultation phase for the giant administrative overhaul, which has officially kicked off just weeks after new commissioner of taxation Rob Heferen started in the top job, replacing Chris Jordan.
At least 5,000 ATO staff are understood to be subjected to the shake-up. Documents circulated to staff indicate Tax wants to place some customer-facing functions and roles common to different business lines into new ones, dubbed “Frontline Operations” and “Complex Operations”.
The descriptor for “Frontline Operations” says the new business line “provides efficient and effective frontline services for most taxpayers” and covers service centres for individuals, superannuation for businesses, debt assistance, and frontline support.
The descriptor for “Complex Operations” says that the new business line “takes action to support improved registration, lodgement and payment outcomes.
The distinction between everyday frontline operations and those that are designated more complex raises an obvious question as to whether clients will be ‘bunny-hopped’ between business lines rather than just escalated within them to deal with an issue.
“We are proposing to restructure Service Delivery to better support our strategic priorities and to align to our principle of operating together as ‘one Service Delivery’,” ATO acting chief service delivery officer David Allen told staff.
“Should the proposal proceed, we plan to stand up the new structure and realign teams based on their best fit. We do not anticipate changes to roles or duties for most Service Delivery staff.”
ATO restructure revealed to staff
By Julian Bajkowski
April 12, 2024
The Australian Taxation Office has moved swiftly to try and instigate a wholesale restructure of its mammoth Service Delivery Group (SDG), as the revenue agency tries to consolidate and simplify overlapping or duplicated functions in its main customer-facing arm amid a big push to call in debts.
Tax employees and unions this week moved into the formal consultation phase for the giant administrative overhaul, which has officially kicked off just weeks after new commissioner of taxation Rob Heferen started in the top job, replacing Chris Jordan.
At least 5,000 ATO staff are understood to be subjected to the shake-up. Documents circulated to staff indicate Tax wants to place some customer-facing functions and roles common to different business lines into new ones, dubbed “Frontline Operations” and “Complex Operations”.
The descriptor for “Frontline Operations” says the new business line “provides efficient and effective frontline services for most taxpayers” and covers service centres for individuals, superannuation for businesses, debt assistance, and frontline support.
The descriptor for “Complex Operations” says that the new business line “takes action to support improved registration, lodgement and payment outcomes.
The distinction between everyday frontline operations and those that are designated more complex raises an obvious question as to whether clients will be ‘bunny-hopped’ between business lines rather than just escalated within them to deal with an issue.
“We are proposing to restructure Service Delivery to better support our strategic priorities and to align to our principle of operating together as ‘one Service Delivery’,” ATO acting chief service delivery officer David Allen told staff.
“Should the proposal proceed, we plan to stand up the new structure and realign teams based on their best fit. We do not anticipate changes to roles or duties for most Service Delivery staff.”
Allen told staff the proposed changes will be “primarily a ‘lift and shift’ realignment of teams to a new structure” and do not directly impact higher duties or temporary transfers.
Allen told ATO staff no redundancies were planned and that “the proposed changes are a ‘lift and shift’ of existing roles, only aimed at realigning teams and branches to new reporting lines under a different structure.”
Employee representatives have sought to illuminate the thinking and detail behind the restructuring while not immediately rejecting it.
“Accepting the restructure in principle, we cannot understand why the ‘Lodgement and registration actions’ section is included in the ‘Complex Operations’ business line. The ATO’s work in securing lodgement of outstanding returns and activity statements, while very important, is not complex,” Australian Services Union Taxation Officers’ Branch secretary Jeff Lapidos told the ATO in correspondence about the proposed moves.
“Arguably the issue of default assessments has some complexity, but at the end of the day, the ATO needs only make estimates based on reasonable assumptions. It is up to the taxpayer to challenge the default assessment by demonstrating the correct figures,” Lapidos continued.
“Early lodgement work is quite straightforward. I am not aware that prosecution for failing to lodge, which can have some complexity, is something which Service Delivery does.”
There are also clearly concerns about the ATO’s internal management capability being dumbed down through the organisation apparently not needing senior officers to have specific technical skills.
The issue of senior and executive APS leadership eschewing technical competencies instead of generalist ones has flared repeatedly during investigations into major project and IT failures, for which there is now a joint committee of public accounts and audit (JCPAA) into APS IT stuff ups.
Notably, at the same time the ATO is restructuring, it is also looking for a replacement for outgoing second commissioner and chief information officer Ramez Katf, who finishes at the end of April.
On the capability front, the ASU did not hold back.
“The ASU has long been concerned about the capability of staff in Service Delivery’s operational areas. We see APS 3s and 4s daily rising to the challenge of balancing their obligations under the law with addressing the needs of taxpayers and their tax agents. Training and support at this level is fairly comprehensive,” Lapidos said.
“The capability issue we see is at the SES and Director level, both in terms of their technical knowledge and their ability to develop strategy. Their deficiencies in technical knowledge aggravate their deficiencies in developing strategic direction. This issue is greatest in the Debt area and is one of the most pressing problems facing the ATO.”
Lapidos said that “capability development needs to flow from the top down” and that the “ATO cannot expect capability to rise from the bottom up. The proposed restructure provides no explanation of how Service Delivery will address this issue.”
The ASU’s primary concern is that it is unknown whether the upper decks of the ATO have a handle on what’s happening in the engine room or its armoury.
There’s also a warning bell over retarding the ability of staff to skill up by recreating silos.
“There is another staff capability issue in having separate business lines for straightforward versus complex work. The ATO has traditionally relied on those with the most expertise assisting those with less capability. This works well when the two sides of the coin work in close co-operation,” Lapidos said.
“How do the best and brightest in frontline work demonstrate their ability to do complex work so they can win a transfer or promotion to complex?”
Lapidos said there was also a danger that a business line “with a focus on the most straightforward categories of work will only see straightforward cases, despite complex issues lurking in their midst,” asking how Service Delivery would address the issue of a hammer only ever seeing a nail.
Perhaps the more intriguing element of the restructuring is that it creates more business lines rather than fewer.
“Our hard-working Service Delivery Group plays an important role in servicing the community,” an ATO spokesperson told The Mandarin.
“Consultation with our people, unions and ATO representatives about a potential restructure of our Service Delivery Group commenced in early April. We understand that change can create uncertainty for our people.
“We will be seeking feedback from our people and unions before making a final decision including when a proposed structure may be implemented.”
The ATO spokesperson said the agency was “not planning any redundancies as a result of this restructure” and that “most people will continue their current roles in the new structure.”
“Additional consultation will be undertaken if roles change over time following the restructure.”
A new chief executive, an outgoing tech chief, and a bit of a fraud-debt bushfire searing its way into the ledger.
A little feedback on ingredients before making the omelette may go some way.
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