Our 2025–2028 Census Action Plan builds on our progress from our 2023 and 2024 plans.
We have built a 3-year action plan with annual review to enable us to monitor workplace and cultural improvements over time and make meaningful change across our department.
We aim to be a model employer that promotes wellbeing where we proactively support our people and continuously strive to provide a safe and inclusive workplace. Our goal is to ensure we have an engaged, high-performing team that can do our best work.
Our purpose
Our purpose is to help the government build a better future for all Australians through enabling a productive, resilient and sustainable economy, enriched by science and technology.
How we will deliver
We will harness the benefits of our geo-dispersed workforce and maintain a culture of being curious, connected, collaborative and caring, allowing people to feel valued and perform at their best.
We will uphold the highest levels of integrity in all that we do, acting with honesty, transparency and accountability.
We will continue to adapt and grow
We are committed to regular workforce planning and capability program development. We will maintain our adaptability and look for opportunities to use new technologies in the way we work.
Our focus areas
We will focus on improving our communication, workload management, change and effectiveness and efficiency scores over the 2025–28 Census cycles.
Communication
We will:
- prioritise transparency and communication with staff through times of change.
And we will continue to:
- target and deliver all messaging in line with our communication strategy
- build connection across our geo-dispersed workforce and leverage the diversity of our workforce and workplaces identified through the Work our Way project
- communicate the strategic direction and priorities of the department to build the relationship between our people’s work and the broader DISR context
- build on our internal communication capabilities to ensure we are communicating effectively and with influence.
Workload management
We will:
- conduct regular business strategy and workforce planning to ensure the right work is prioritised and key resources allocated.
And we will continue to:
- review and update departmental delegation instruments to ensure decisions are being made at the right level and work is distributed to the appropriate person
- have ongoing role discussions between managers and their teams to proactively manage and ensure role clarity, appropriate workloads and the safety and wellbeing of team members.
Change
We will:
- engage with internal change management expertise when managing complex change
- increase promotion and use of change management resources and support.
And we will continue to:
- maintain a change management toolkit that includes practical checklists for good change management
- improve manager change management capability by using our Capability Framework and providing foundational change management training.
Effectiveness and efficiency
We will:
- foster a culture where staff feel safe to experiment and innovate and have time to discuss lessons learnt.
And we will continue to:
- explore access to and use of assistive and generative technology to increase efficiency
- review and update business risk registers to reflect an appropriate risk appetite and identify opportunities to innovate.