Good afternoon,
I am responding to the request for submissions from interested and affected parties to inform the making of the Determination. My role is Director (redacted). My response to questions are as follows:
1. What level of adjustment to the values of the remuneration bands should the Tribunal consider?
Considering state government politicians have just received a 2.5 per cent pay rise my submission is that all executives should receive the same adjustment to their remuneration bands.
2. Are there any other matters the Tribunal should consider when making the Determination, in addition to those listed in the VIRTIPS Act?
This state is still recovering from a pandemic that the executives of state government agencies have continued to work through. Our work load has increased double and triple fold in certain circumstances. We have been required to continue delivering our accountabilities while we manage a large workforce that have had to relocate from offices to working from home, we are continually checking in on staff wellbeing, adapting an entire workforce to a new way of working, ensuring mental health and safety for all staff virtually while our departments continue to deliver valuable resources to the public of Victoria.
Our deliverable have increased dramatically by state government injecting billions of dollars into the construction economy to create jobs. The has resulted in a huge increase in the amount of recruitment, procurement and construction activity to our workloads compared to steady growth over previous years. The increase in pressure to deliver everything immediately to demonstrate that this government is still delivering during this pandemic and election cycle is also a huge burden on executives.
Executives also have our own lives and families to try and take care of at the same time. We have children studying from home, elderly relatives locked down and suffering isolation, and an increasing public mental health issue across all age groups.
Executives did not receive an adjustment to remuneration last year and now that super contribution is rising to 10% within fixed renumeration contracts with no bonus scheme, our take home pay is further reduced. When you compare the cost of living rising to our take home pay reducing, we are substantially worse off with an extensive amount of additional responsibility and accountability in this last 12 months. At this stage there is no incentive to continue working in state government if your efforts and sacrifices when called upon are not recognised or acknowledged by government.
Looking forward to a favourable adjustment for all state government executives.
Regards
(redacted)
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