The structure changes to three directorates – Fire and Emergency Management (F&EM), Operational Training and Volunteerism (OT&V) and Financial Services, have now been finalised.
The exception is the Volunteer Support Program, with consultation continuing until tomorrow, 16 September.
As I announced last month, one of my priorities in setting our future direction has been to make sure we have the right organisational structures in place to best position us to deliver our services to the community and support brigades to do their job.
While the journey towards structure change has been a long one, I acknowledge that the latest phase of finalising the structures has not - and there has been some concern expressed about that.
However, continuing the uncertainty for directorates and individual members into 2016 was not an option.
I thank everyone for their input and feedback into the consultation process, which was extended by a week and officially ended on 10 September. This has meant we have also extended the structure implementation date by a week to 12 October.
Now the structures have been approved, the next step in the process is matching staff to roles. This process is starting this week, with ACOs, Operations Managers, Executive Directors and senior managers working closely with impacted staff. This will be followed by an Expression-of-Interest process for new positions.
The structures approved by ELT are now on our Intranet, along with FAQs, information about the matching process and position descriptions.
With the new structures to be implemented from 12 October, we are adopting a streamlined matching process to support transition to the structure. Merit and equity-based matching process principles will guide our decision-making.
I want to reiterate that not being matched to a position in the new structure does not mean you do not have a job – you will remain an employee and have options open to you. Further information is available in our FAQs and I urge anyone with concerns to speak to their manager.
Author: Michael Wootten