Sustainability Report 2006/07Learning and development
This year our investment in learning and development initiatives for our people was significant. On average, we spent $3000 per person for programs identified in individual development plans including learning and development planning outcomes, job-specific training, the leadership development program and part-time study support.
First international exchange
Melbourne Water participates in secondment exchanges to develop the skills of our people and bring expertise and different perspectives to projects. This year we completed our first international secondment.
Melbourne Water land management coordinator Adrian Murphy spent three months working with Yorkshire Water on improving water quality in a particular catchment.
“For three weeks, myself and the catchment manager walked pretty much every part of the drainage network in the catchment to get a hands-on feel for the area,” he said. “I feel like my work made a real contribution not only to Yorkshire Water, but to the relationship between Yorkshire Water and Melbourne Water.”
Nicola Richardson, from Yorkshire Water, worked with Melbourne Water over the same period, reviewing Melbourne Water’s strategic direction on drinking water quality. Another secondment exchange with Yorkshire Water is planned for 2009.
Environmental scholarship
Water supply operator Brian McNeil spent two weeks on the Great Barrier Reef working on a research project as part of Melbourne Water’s Ambassadors for the Environment scholarship.
The scholarship, a partnership with the Earthwatch Institute, is designed to provide our people with development opportunities, help them continue working towards sustainability and demonstrate constructive behaviour.
The Queensland Parks and Wildlife research project involved the Hawksbill turtle, which is critically endangered due to the harvesting of eggs and degradation of nesting and foraging habitats. Brian’s work included catching, measuring, weighing and tagging the turtles and entering data.
Graduate program
Melbourne Water’s structured graduate program continued to develop, with 22 graduates working in a variety of roles across the three years of the program. We recruit eight graduates a year. This year we provided two secondment opportunities – at Sydney Water and Sinclair Knight Mertz (SKM).
Reward and recognition
Some 313 Melbourne Water people were recognised through our Great Work, Great People reward and recognition program. The program provides formal and informal methods of recognition for individual, team and community contributions, and enables employees to nominate their peers.
Among our people recognised this year were Kate Wilson, for her sustained work to develop and document a strategy for improving the grit and screening area of the Eastern Treatment Plant; and KS Tan, for his initiative and innovation in developing a model to improve assessments of water resource options.