City of Palmerston continues to haemorrhage staff, as vacancy rate climbs to almost one-in-four

Nearly a quarter of all roles at a Top End council are vacant, with the council turning to labour hire to fill the yawning holes. Nearly six in 10 of those who remain have been there for less than a year.

Palmerston Civic Plaza. Picture: City of Palmerston

A Top End council continues to haemorrhage staff, with a new report indicating nearly one-in-four roles are currently vacant, with the gaps being plugged by labour hire staff.

The City of Palmerston’s latest ‘People and Place’ report, tabled at Tuesday’s council meeting, paints a dire picture for the organisation, which provides services to approximately 41,000 residents.

According to the report, the council is actively recruiting for 20 unfilled positions and has a staff vacancy rate of 24.6 per cent, although once “short-term resources” are factored in, the effective vacancy rate drops to 10.25 per cent.

As at March 31, of the council’s 100 employees, 10 per cent were labour hire.

The council continues to bleed more staff than it recruits.

In the January–March quarter, it hired nine new staff, but fifteen left the organisation.

Institutional knowledge is also short on the ground – the report also reveals that 58 per cent of all staff have been with the City of Palmerston for less than a year.

“Recruitment and retention of staff remains a significant challenge for the City of Palmerston … like other organisations nationally,” the report stated.

“To fill these critical vacancies, the City of Palmerston has been engaging recruitment agencies to leverage their expertise and extensive networks to identify and attract qualified candidates.

Results of the City of Palmerston's most recent staff engagement survey, taken in October 2023. Picture: Supplied

“Council is also actively marketing its job openings through various channels, such as online job boards, social media platforms and local newspaper.

“To support operations, we have backfilled many of the vacant roles through short term arrangements while ongoing recruitment is undertaken.”

The report said the council would use ongoing enterprise agreement negotiations – the current agreement expires this month – as a “strategic opportunity to further enhance its ability to attract and retain top talent”.

The report said the council will make a submission on the subject of staff attraction and retention to an upcoming House of Representatives committee inquiry into local government sustainability.

A council spokesman claimed that staff vacancies had been on a “downward trajectory” in 2024 (although the vacancy rate has risen by more than five per cent since the NT News last reported on the subject in January).

“The City of Palmerston continues to recognise the challenging environment in which we are competing for talent nationally and in the local market,” he said.

“[We] understand that ongoing vacancies place increased pressure on existing staff and that staff are our greatest asset.”

Last month, an ex-staffer of the council told the NT News the lack of staff was heaping the pressure on those that remained.

“Myself and others were expected to perform multiple different roles in different fields at high levels,” she said.

“And if we did not perform at the highest of levels for any of these multiple jobs, or meet what were often impossible deadlines, [the fear] of performance management and termination would become very frequent.”

The council’s most recent staff engagement survey, taken in October 2023, found that only two-in-three staff felt satisfied overall with their workplace.