Our evolution to sustained excellence

So how did we go from the lows of the Inquiry into the City of Perth (Inquiry), to achieving a state of sustained excellence in less than five years?

The point of reflection

In 2020, the City of Perth began an evolution to excellence in response to the recommendations stemming from the Perth Inquiry. The case and approach for change was overseen by newly appointed CEO Michelle Reynolds and a new Council led by former Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas.

In less than four years, the City completed all 215 City-assigned recommendations, completing the final items by the end of the 2023/24 financial year.

Critical to this success was the CEO-led ‘Evolution to Excellence’ transformational plan that guided our response to the recommendations, while restoring the City’s reputation for excellence in service delivery, and for delivering major projects on time and on budget.

A chance to recalibrate on our own terms

Concluding our response to the Inquiry gave us an opportunity to embark on a new era of sustained excellence by first asking our people how we can work smarter, more effectively, and in better support of each other.

In 2023/24, the City completed a Council-approved Organisational Service Review to look into ways to recalibrate our business to best support each other, our community, and our capital city. Staff had multiple inputs into the Review, which looked at our ways of working from all angles, including processes and workplace cultural practices. The Review outcomes were presented to Elected Members.

We have since rolled out identified improvements to our business, including the establishment of the Engagement and Activation Alliance in early 2025 to better support a sustained delivery of world-class events programming and impactful partnerships that activate Perth and attract ongoing investment.

Other work stemming from the Review included implemented of a new Economic Development Strategy (endorsed by Council in August 2025), and development of an International Engagement Strategy.

Performance starts with a positive workplace

Undertaking considerable structural, operational and procedural change can have an impact on staff morale and wellbeing. To support our staff through the response to the Inquiry and beyond, we have invested heavily in our people from a range of angles including development, training, and health and wellbeing.

Investing in our people

• Our Work, Health and Safety system is structured, compliant and underpinned by an active commitment to continuous improvement, including with respect to employee experience and workplace culture. It is applied through a practical framework that is supported by best practice, organising our efforts around the five key pillars of:

1. Management commitment and documentation
2. Hazard identification and awareness
3. Risk assessment and risk management
4. Training and consultation
5. Monitoring and reporting

• Overall investment in staff through workplace culture and wellbeing initiatives was increased to $1.328,664 in the 2025/26 Budget, up from $1.245,733 the previous financial year. This includes funding for leadership development, professional development and WHS training, staff performance shaping, our dedicated Employee Assistance Program, and our staff healthy lifestyle subsidy.
• To further improve our ability to actualise staff input, we are investing $40,000 annually in Culture Amp, a leading employee experience platform that supports ongoing engagement with employees and delivers data-driven insights from employee feedback.
• By way of celebrating and promoting high performance and respectful team-orientated behaviours, we hold quarterly Spotlight Awards, where managers and peers can nominate colleagues who have demonstrated excellence in their role and service to community. Award winners are selected from each Alliance, ensuring all City services are uplifted and held to a high standard. In addition to the quarterly awards, we provide end-of-year Awards for staff who have consistently excelled across the year.

Avenues for staff input into our ways of working

• Surveys and focus groups offer staff the opportunity for confidential input into their experience in the workplace. The City has undertaken the following approaches since establishing the Evolution to Excellence:
  
  
  • 2022 Employee Experience Survey
  • 2023 Pulse Survey
  • 2024 Focus group discussions
  • 2025 Pulse Survey
  The 2025 survey found that most employees expressed positive sentiments around coworker interactions and supervisor relationships but that some work was needed to support the fair application of policies and processes across the City. In response, the City ran a September Pulse Survey on how we apply policies and procedures to enable staff to provide more feedback on ways to improve in this area. Of the 33 per cent of total staff who responded to the survey, the majority responded favourably or were neutral towards the way we manage and apply our policies and procedures. Despite this positive response, the City is establishing leadership forums to upskill leaders in HR capabilities, and rolling out a new emerging leader program.
• The CEO hosts an Annual CEO Roadshow, meeting with each Alliance individually to celebrate wins from the year, and speak to the year ahead in relation to the commitments made in the Annual Budget and Corporate Business Plan. Staff are actively encouraged to take the opportunity to ask questions about their work and all matters pertaining to their roles, day-to-day operations and entitlements.
• Since August 2024, staff have had year-round access to physical and digital Suggestion Boxes at Council House and our Operations Depot that provide a discreet, anonymous (if preferred) avenue for staff to raise ideas, concerns or proposed improvements to all things pertaining to the City, including employee experience and workplace culture. All submissions are reviewed by the relevant business area, with a formal response provided that is sighted by executive and the CEO, before being published transparently on the Intranet. This approach demonstrates visible leadership attention and organisational accountability in responding to points raised by our team.

Oversight of staff safety, wellbeing and workplace culture

• The City reports quarterly to the Audit, Risk and Improvement Committee (ARIC) regarding work health and safety, employee experience and workplace culture. The Committee comprises the Lord Mayor, five Councillors and two independent members. The last two reports were provided to ARIC in May and at the 24 November ARIC meeting. The reports noted only nominal areas for improvement with respect to workplace practices. There are no known systemic or major areas of concern, and the oversight of ARIC in this area is sufficient in managing the very low risk matters noted in the last two reports. At each meeting, the City welcomes feedback from ARIC regarding the format and content included in the quarterly report and will adjust reporting as needed.
• Tracking data for complaints and grievances suggests our grievance process is operating effectively by identifying conflict and enabling appropriate interventions that contribute to a healthier and more respectful workplace culture over time. The data shows the system is accessible and functioning as intended.
• Our Workplace, Health and Safety system is embedded in our Strategic Risk Register, ensuring executive visibility and accountability. Metrics currently indicate a stable workforce, effective incident management practices, and a proactive safety culture, including with respect to staff wellbeing and workplace culture.
• The 2024/25 Equity, Diversity, Access and Inclusion Framework Annual Survey highlighted the City’s respectful workplace culture:
  • 15 per cent increase in agreement with the statement: ‘The City of Perth respects individuals and values their differences
  • 35 per cent increase in agreement with the statement: ‘The City of Perth fosters a workplace that allows me to be myself at work without fear’ (representing a strong uplift from the baseline of only 31 per cent overall noted in 2021).

Towards 2036 and beyond

Strategic direction and planning ultimately defines how we feel about the work we complete every day in support of community.

Our current Strategic Community Plan has framed our work plans since the Inquiry. We are required to undertake a major review of our Strategic Community Plan every four years to ensure it remains relevant, responsive and aligned with the evolving needs of our community.

The City of Perth Act 2016 also requires us to lift our gaze beyond the needs of our local government district to the future needs of Perth as a capital city.

We see the major review as much more than a legislative requirement. It’s the chance to lead aspirational thinking for our staff, community and capital. To elevate this opportunity we have rebadged the work as the Perth Capital City Plan: Towards 2036 and Beyond (PCCP).

We understand the importance of this plan in shaping how we thrive internally as a team, and externally as a growing, globally connected, inclusive and future-focused capital city, into the next decade and beyond.

Our people were the critical first point of engagement in the development of the PCCP, with extensive internal engagement undertaken to ensure our staff had clear, accessible and inclusive opportunities to have their say on our future focuses, as well as how we work together to deliver our shared goals. All internal engagement was completed before external engagement commenced.

Input from our internal and external engagements are currently being analysed and will be presented to Elected Members in December 2025 for their consideration and input into the draft PCCP.