Section 4: Our Workforce

Public sector values and employment principles

The Public Administration Act 2004 established the Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC). The VPSC’s role is to strengthen public sector efficiency, effectiveness and capability, and advocate for public sector professionalism and integrity. Respect Victoria maintains policies and practices that are consistent with the VPSC’s employment standards and provide for fair treatment, career opportunities and the early resolution of workplace issues.  

Respect Victoria advised its employees on how to avoid conflicts of interest, how to respond to offers of gifts and how it deals with misconduct. All director appointments in Respect Victoria are only finalised once the appropriate Conflict of Interest and Declaration of Private Interests have been completed.  

Employment and conduct principles

Respect Victoria is an equal opportunities employer and is governed by the relevant legislation including the Equal Opportunities Act 2010, Human Rights legislation, the Gender Equality Act 2020, and Fair Work Act 2009. Respect Victoria is linked with the Gender Equality Action Plan and the Diversity and Inclusion framework developed by DFFH. Respect Victoria abides by the principles of merit and equity in selection and recruitment of staff. Employees have been correctly classified in workforce data collections. 

Our people

In 2024-25 Respect Victoria focused on attracting and retaining a highly capable, diverse and specialist workforce, aligned to our organisation’s purpose, and led by performance-oriented leaders. We refined and improved our onboarding and induction processes and resources to ensure that new employees get the best start possible at Respect Victoria.  

During the year, we continued to deliver on our People Plan 2023 – 2028, including launching a Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan and a Safety, Health and Wellbeing Action Plan. The Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan focuses on six key areas: culturally and racially marginalised people, First Nations peoples, people with disability and neurodiversity, gender equality, LGBTIQA+ communities, and life ages and stages. The Safety, Health and Wellbeing Action Plan focuses on three key areas: employee wellbeing, physical and psychological safety, and injury and emergency management. The two plans are underpinned by the Diversity Council of Australia’s research, and safety legislation and best practice respectively. The plans identify initiatives to maintain our safe and inclusive workplace.

We invested in our team’s development through a Leadership Development Program for the Respect Victoria leadership team; attendance at key sector conferences; and employee-organised “brown bag” sessions on a range of topics, including primary prevention of sexual violence and harassment on public transport; the Baby Makes 3 program; and the Respect and Connect Healthy Relationships in Schools program.

Respect Victoria is committed to creating a culturally safe environment where everyone can bring their authentic selves to work. Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion is embedded throughout our work. In 2024-25, all employees had the opportunity to participate in training on trans and gender diverse inclusive practice, along with activities for NAIDOC Week, RUOK Day, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence, Midsumma Festival, International Women’s Day, and National Reconciliation Week. We were recognised externally through the AFR Best Places to Work and the Inspiring Workplaces Awards, and obtained Australian Workplace Equality Index Bronze Accreditation. We also supported young people through the Western Chances program and YES Traineeships.

As part of our commitment to reconciliation, we launched our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan in December 2024. To continue our focus on social procurement, we also maintained our Kinaway Chamber of Commerce membership and delivered our first ever Social Procurement Framework. 

Workforce data

The following table discloses the headcount and full-time staff equivalent (FTE) of all active public service employees of Respect Victoria, employed in the last full pay period in June of the current reporting period (2025) and in the last full pay period in June of the previous reporting period (2024). 

Table 5: Details of employment levels in June 2025
Note 1: Payroll services are provided to Respect Victoria by DFFH.

The following table discloses the annualised total salary for Respect Victoria senior employees, employed in the last full pay period in June of the current reporting period (2025), categorised by classification. The salary amount is reported as the full-time annualised salary. 

Table 6: Annualised total salary, by $20,000 bands, for executives and other senior non-executive staff.

Occupational Health and Safety

We are committed to ensuring all staff and other individuals in the workplace remain safe and healthy at work in accordance with the obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Act 2004 and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2007.

Incident management

During 2024-25 there were two notifiable incidents. Notifiable incidents are those which require the OH&S Officer to be informed. Minor changes to practices were implemented arising from lessons learned to mitigate the risk of these incidents reoccurring. In the previous two reporting periods (2023-24 and  
2022-23), there were no notifiable incidents recorded.

There were no recorded major incidents during the 2024-25 financial year. This is consistent with the previous two reporting periods (2023-24 and 2022-23), when there were also no major incidents recorded.