As staff are a key resource on which its reputation is based, the University strives to attract, develop and retain the highest quality academic and professional staff.

During 2014, staffing strategies focused on supporting the University's pursuit of excellence and building the capacity of University staff at all levels to show leadership, adapt to change, and build a culture of inclusivity.

In recognising a need to generate staff renewal to support its longterm strategic vision, the University offered a Voluntary Early Retirement Scheme. This scheme was targeted at providing capacity to align the University's staffing profile with its teaching, research and operational priorities and resulted in more than 60 retirements. The scheme forms part of a broader program directed at positively managing the University's age profile.

1. Equity and diversity
2. Policy, staff development and organisational development and employee relations
3. Work health and safety

Equity and diversity

The University's strong performance in this area makes a significant contribution towards the ongoing promotion of a workplace and a learning environment that prizes inclusivity, respect, fairness and dignity. Winning the prestigious 2014 Australian Human Resources Industry Award for Cross Cultural Management and being ranked in the top 10 Employers by Pride in Diversity (PID) for LGBTI inclusion, signals UWA as an institution that goes beyond compliance by proactively addressing systemic barriers and demonstrating equality and inclusion leadership in the sector and beyond.

Its performance in developing an equitable and diverse workforce ensures the University, as an employer, is tapping into the widest available pool of talent. A broad consultative process will be undertaken in 2015 across the UWA community to develop an exciting five-year UWA Equality and Inclusion Strategy befitting a world-class institution.

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Policy, staff development and organisational development and employee relations

In 2014 the University celebrated 20 years of the Leadership Development for Women Program, demonstrating the University's continued commitment to developing women to take on leadership roles and challenging the traditional organisational culture. The book Leading the Way captures and celebrates the many and varied achievements of this program. Leadership programs were also offered to support key university initiatives such as the Education Futures program and the Biozone program which was across several faculties focused on biomedicine. The introduction of the Catalyst Program enhances the leadership and development program with focus on mid-career researchers.

Another key project in 2014 which supported staff development and leadership was the roll-out of the Performance and Development Appraisal (PDA) process combining of the Performance Development Review (PDR) and Performance Appraisal Report (PAR) processes into one. This outcome will further strengthen staff performance and foster continued career development of all staff throughout the University.

Following lengthy negotiations, the University and the National Tertiary Education Industry Union (NTEU) finalised negotiations for both the Academic Staff and Professional and General Staff Agreements. The Agreements were approved by the Fair Work Commission and became effective 13 August 2014. Negotiated matters included refining the organisational change model, increased funding to the Professional Staff Development fund, improvements to casual employment conditions and changes to the workload models for academics.

Building on the introduction of an online recruitment management system (eRecruitment) in 2013, the University continued to develop its strategic recruitment and attraction capability during 2014 including the appointment of the Manager, Recruitment and Attraction. Greater promotion of current staff benefits and wellbeing offerings was achieved through the very successful Staff Benefits and Wellbeing Expo held in March 2014.

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Work health and safety

The University, Senate, senior management and other officers are committed to the University's safety management system and accountable for ensuring a safe, supportive, protective and healthy working environment. This is achieved to the highest standards by ensuring that health and safety management is a key priority in all areas of planning, implementation, measurement and review within our places of work.

During 2014 there were 345 incidents and injuries reported with 38 accepted workers' compensation claims and 18 people required time off work with a total of 159 work days lost (average time lost was 9 days). By comparison, in 2013 there were 325 incidents and injuries reported with 50 accepted workers' compensation claims and 24 people required time off work with a total of 347 work days lost (average time lost was 14 days). Detailed information on the work health and safety, injury management and health and wellbeing program priorities, activities and reporting is provided in the University Safety Committee Annual Report.

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Reportable key performance indicators—2014

¹ Lost time injury/disease (LTI/D) incident rate = number of LTI/D divided by FTEs x 100.

² Lost time injury/disease (LTI/D) severity rate calculation = number of injuries > 60 days divided by LTI/D x 100.

³ Return to work (RTW) within 13/26 weeks calculation = percentage of LTI/D with a RTW outcome within 13/26 weeks.