CSIRO Regional Footprint: a steady decline

1. CSIRO Regional Footprint: a steady decline

2. Regional Site Closures Regional sites have gone from 44 to 22. Regional footprint cut by half!

3. Decline in Staff Numbers - Chiswick

4. Decline in Staff Numbers – Griffith

5. Decline in Staff Numbers - Atherton

6. Issues - Lack of support staff • The RSS process has had a huge impact on regional support staff. Support staff have seen their hours cut and job descriptions changed from human resources/finance to personal assistant whilst still being unofficially expected (by HR) to continue in these roles. This has taken its toll on staff morale and the roll out of SAP has meant that these staff have been locked out of being able to access HR related information. An example of problems that have arised from this is no access to check whether staff in regional sites are being correctly paid (e.g. the remote allowance is often “forgotten” and not paid to new staff), no ability for anyone (including supervisors) to monitor casual hours has led to a number of casuals exceeding their annual hours. Some sites have had hours cut so that there is not actually any staff to man reception or answer phones and this task has fallen to be shared by other officers. IT support has been cut or has to be paid for out of research projects rather than by IM&T. It is a constant battle to retain support staff in regional and revolving job descriptions based on the last round of “reforms” should not be the only way regional research programs are able to have on site support staff. Dr Rose Brodrick CSIRO Plant Industry

7. Issues - One division sites • It appears that divisions are unwilling to commit staff to new sites as they see themselves then becoming involved in the maintenance and management, in the most general sense, of those sites.  This is a real impediment. Staff ought to be able to move easily to regional sites without divisions feeling that this will create an extra burden upon them. I think this is all part of the ongoing uncertainty and lack of support for regional sites by CSIRO. If regional sites had strength and stability then this would not be an issue, in the same way staff moving between city sites is not seen as an issue. 1) Matrix management is not serving small laboratories well. Funding can be moved away by theme leaders without responsibility for the staff repercussions. Staff at small labs cannot easily move into another group as can occur in large labs. 2) Regional labs tend to undertake multidisciplinary research that does not easily fit into single themes or portfolios, leads to difficulty in internal CSIRO funding (external funds can be easier to obtain than matching internal!) and fractured management 3) There is no clear management authority/responsibility for regional labs in the current CSIRO management structure Dr Evan Christen Principal Research Scientist CSIRO Land and Water & Sustainable Agriculture Flagship

8. Issues - Funding • There are three funding issues: 1. Disempowerment of researchers in the North, whereby all the research priorities (and funding) is determined by people (Theme leaders) in the south who have no particular interest in the north. 2. Lack of coherent northern strategy - funding is an epiphenomenon arising from independent descisions made by southern-based Theme leaders based mostly on southern priorities. 3. Fragmentation. Our work is very much interdisciplinary and integrative, and does not fit neatly into any particular Theme or Flagship. As an example, we have a highly integrated team looking at savanna fire management from biodiversity, GHG and Indigenous livelihood development perspectives, but this is fragmented in the matrix through SAF, CAF and BRABA. Dr Alan N Andersen Chief Research Scientist CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences

9. Issues - Travel Allowance issues and Childcare Access The issues we see with travel are two-fold:1) While we don't mind doing the occasional day or two away for CSIRO, many staff are spending a week or more away (for instance at Parkes and/or Marsfield) each month. This is a long time to be away from family and presents a significant inconvenience. An added burden for staff who frequently travel is that they pay rent or rates, phone and electricity connection service fees, etc., at home, but they are not at home to utilise it. The current $15/day for incidentals is intended to cover minor out of pocket costs, CSIRO currently has no mechanism to compensate staff who travel.2) There is no formal arrangement to ensure staff who travel outside of normal working hours are able to claim flex/toil for the time they spend travelling on behalf of CSIRO. While we hope most managers would informally give staff flex time this is not always the case and we have had an experience here where a staff member has been denied the appropriate amount of flex for an out of hours work trip. Childcare access A further comment, specific to regional sites, is that in general we would travel more frequently than most staff at city sites. There are exceptions and some senior managers and scientists to an awful lot of travel, but in general I think the statement is true because, for instance, every time we need to attend a course or meet with divisional colleagues (who are mostly based in Marsfield), travel is necessarily involved.Likewise at Myall Vale they have cotton trials as far afield as Emerald, Bourke and Hillston, and there is a large amount of travel involved for them as well. David Brodrick (Delegate, Research Projects Officer - CASS)

10. Issues - Training issues The disadvantages that come with working at regional sites are varied and challenging when it comes to professional development / training entitlements of CSIRO staff in comparison to city sites. • Issues that need to be addressed are • Providing Professional development opportunities in their geographical area. • Time / costs associated with travel for professional development purposes to city sites, such as accommodation, child care and out of pocket expenses which are not considered in the programming of courses or Project costing. Regional Staff have to commute the day prior and travel late at night after courses / training, which raise OH&S concerns if driving. A one day workshop may equate to three days, if travel involved. • Networking for professional development at regional sites is limited especially in areas of expertise, which leads to limited research collaboration; personal and professional development within CSIRO suffers. • The APA process has failed to capture training / professional development requirements of CSIRO staff and flag potential / future requirements, needs for regional staff. • Opportunities to attend Professional development / training are limited by funding & the CSIRO approval processes that often negate applying / asking for consideration. • Internal CSIRO Professional development programs are considered too expensive to attend on limited funding when other laboratory resources are more critical. John Pengelly (Delegate, Environmental Chemist) Wodonga

11. Other Issues – At a glance • Minimum staff numbers • One CSIRO (lack of consistency) – when compared with city sites • CSOF level promotion stagnation – this comes as a result of low numbers and funding issues.

12. Unique Contribution of Regional Sites They don't just serve the region, they serve the nation.  Australia as a whole is diminished when they close. A vision of purpose for regional sites… "CSIRO as central in the nation-building project, embedded in the regions with vital internationally-competitive science and partnerships to build and exchange capability across the tertiary sector and provide deep innovative capacity regarding challenges of national significance in regional industries and communities including farming, Indigenous, tourism etc. - CSIRO's regional footprint as its greatest strength." Dr Rosemary Hill Senior Research Scientist/ Biodiversity Planning Northern Australia Futures Group

13. Media

14. Media

15. Media • http://www.johnwilliams.com.au/news-room/media-releases/231-no-job-cuts-at-chiswick-csiro • ABC Radio National interviews with Sam Popovski

16. Asks • Agree on a standard on counting staff numbers for a site. That is staff numbers should not include students/associates/fellows/casuals (rarely around) etc • Committment to freedom of information. HR/Finance provide staff figures for each regional site, site closures over years, figures on science funding and correlation to closure of sites/staff. • One key contact, management/committee to agree on one contact from management that the committee can deal with now and at any future meetings • Management elaborate on Megan's monday mail article commenting on more partnerships of sites

17. CSIRO's mondaym@il - 25 October 2010 – Our national footprint One of the highlights of my job is the regular site visits I do. With a national footprint that extends to 52 locations and regional centres across Australia, CSIRO is an important part of the landscape. Our 2011-2015 strategy looks to build on our footprint through our second strategic imperative – 'Prepare Australia for the future by building national and global scale critical mass of capabilities, data and infrastructure in our core research domains'. One of the ways we intend to do this is through national precincts where co-location with other organisations enables us to build critical mass. I am also working with our leaders to ensure our regional centres are vibrant and have strong partnerships for the future. Another important element is to continue to build our transformational capability platforms. These platforms are being kept vibrant through initiatives such as the Advanced Future Fibres Research and Innovation Centre which is a co-operative venture within Deakin University at Geelong. Our vision is that Divisions are the powerhouses of the future, building for future impact and new themes in Flagships where CSIRO continues to lead discoveries but always thinking of impact. The great work, recently celebrated at the CSIRO Awards Ceremony, being done within Plant Industries and the Food Futures Flagship on wheat genomics is an example. We must all embrace the value Courage to explore new horizons so that we are open to taking responsibility to create an environment where innovation thrives. RegardsMegan Clark Chief Executive