A drastic turnaround in performance at one of the public service's most beleaguered departments has prompted bosses to investigate the role of working from home in the change.
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The Veterans' Affairs Department has significantly increased productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic, with data showing a two-fold increase in the processing of certain claims.
While a recent survey found public servants reported an increase in productivity while working from home, the results from Veterans' Affairs may be the first hard data that proves the benefits.
While some veteran advocates agree there has been improvement since a damning Productivity Commission report was released in July last year, there remains room for progress.
Considering the noticeable boost in processed claims during the pandemic, with up to 90 per cent of staff working from home at times, department secretary Liz Cosson says Veterans' Affairs must now establish what benefits arose during the pandemic and how to keep them in place.
Late last month the Public Service Commission ordered public servants back to the office, a move criticised for not properly considering the benefits of flexible work arrangements introduced during the pandemic.
Veterans making a permanent impairment claim previously waited months for their case to be assigned to a delegate, however a department spokesman said during the pandemic the wait had been reduced to four weeks or less.
Between July 2019 and February, the department finalised an average of 726 permanent impairment claims per month, according to the spokesman. In contrast, between March and June, an average of 1379 permanent impairment claims were finalised.
Permanent impairment claims finalised under different legislation also roughly doubled during the pandemic, from 584 per month to 1086 each month.
Finalised liability claims under both sets of legislation experienced more modest growth during the pandemic.
In an interview with The Canberra Times, Ms Cosson said having 90 per cent of the department equipped to transition to working remotely had assisted the increased workload.
Staff surveys reflected a positive attitude among the team and a pervasive determination to assist veterans through a turbulent period during the pandemic, she said.
National military compensation expert at Slater and Gordon, Brian Briggs, agreed the department had demonstrated improvements, particularly during the pandemic and in relation to permanent impairment claims.
However, he said the delays for liability claims being assigned to delegates, at four to five months, were still far too long.
Areas where Mr Briggs has seen improvement include the department acknowledging claims have been received within a few days, the acceptance of electronic signatures and delegates being overall more proactive.
"I don't know why but delegates seem to be working better at home than they are when they're in their offices," Mr Briggs said.
"They seem to be happier and then their emails are a lot less, regimented and harsh. They seem to have suddenly become more compassionate during COVID."
The department was slammed following the suicide death of army veteran Jesse Bird, with a coronial inquest determining it had acted with a lack of care and attention when handling his case.
Ms Cosson is candid when she admits the past failings of the department.
"I acknowledged [to the inquest and Mr Bird's family] that we contributed to Jesse's situation," she said.
"What was really important for me when we started that inquiry was having a look at what we needed to change. One was that our system in this department didn't serve our staff well."
The department has since begun to roll out a new IT system which allows staff to view a veteran's entire profile and history to better provide access to services and improve veterans' experiences dealing with the department.
"What we do know from speaking to a number of veterans, not just Jesse's case, is sometimes they felt the staff were adversarial and we noted we need to do something about the culture," Ms Cosson said.
She said the department had invested in a cultural change program involving education, training and engaging with the veteran community. She said a key takeaway was that caring for employee well-being allowed staff to better deliver for veterans.
According to Mr Briggs, where the department needs to improve is in reducing decision error rates and by increasing consistency among delegates with better training.
He said some cases are assigned to delegates who are able to finalise the matter in several weeks, are proactive and have a sound grasp of the underlying legislation.
There are others who Mr Briggs said he needs to educate on the law and take too long to reach a decision. He said he was generally pleased that when concerns were escalated they were dealt with, but this just served to add to delays.
Ms Cosson said her focus remained on getting decisions right in the first instance.
- Veterans and their families requiring support can contact Open Arms on 1800 011 046.
- Lifeline 13 11 14.