Our Culture

Maintaining integrity

At OPC we expect our staff to conduct themselves with the utmost integrity and to the highest standard of conduct. This protects the integrity of the Australian Public Service (APS) and enhances OPC’s safe and supportive culture. 

The standards of conduct are outlined in the APS values and APS code of conduct. This includes:

  • behaving honestly and with integrity
  • acting with care and diligence
  • treating everyone with respect and courtesy.

In addition, our conduct is guided by OPC’s Values which build on the APS values, and were co-designed with our people. They are:

  • we are trusted: we are respected as reliable and honest experts
  • we are professional: we deliver accurate, thorough and informed work to a high standard
  • we are responsive: we are adaptable and timely in delivering outcomes
  • we are collaborative: we work together to achieve shared outcomes.

Inclusive work environment

At OPC we are committed to being a diverse and inclusive workplace that represents and best serves the Australian community. We implement a Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, to support all our people to bring their whole selves to work. It aims to maintain OPC as a place where our people feel respected and valued, our workplaces are safe, our workforce is diverse and our culture is inclusive. 

We maintain an active and enthusiastic Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group, and with their support are making steady progress in achieving our Reconciliation Action Plan goals.

Our strategy is working. In the 2024 Employee Census, 86% of our people agreed that OPC is committed to, and actively promotes, a diverse and inclusive culture. 

Our inclusion is supported by an active consultation and engagement framework which ensures that there are a wide range of opportunities for people to be involved and to be heard.

We welcome applications from all eligible candidates. Candidates who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, come from a diverse cultural or linguistic background, identify as LGBTQA+, have a disability, are mature aged, or are carers; are wanted, needed, and encouraged to apply. 

Feedback Culture

OPC maintains a strong performance feedback culture. Sharing performance feedback in an environment that promotes professional growth, collaboration and achievement is the key to successful individual performance, which forms the basis for attaining team and organisational objectives. We understand a feedback culture to be where there is a widespread everyday habit of seeking and sharing feedback.

Work health and safety

OPC has a very safe working environment. We have held platinum plus accreditation with the Healthier Work Program for many years, and remain an accredited breastfeeding friendly workplace. 

Breastfedding Friendly Workplace

Our key work health and safety (WHS) risks are from computer use, fatigue, infectious illness and inappropriate conduct and we have safe systems of work in place to manage each of these risks. In addition, we actively control and monitor all other WHS risk in consultation with employees.

Read our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

Read our Reconciliation Action Plan

We value excellence and work hard

We take pride in doing high quality work. Each project is approached with rigour, and we have processes in place to ensure the work is as efficient as possible. We look to improve our processes and the support we provide to people to enable them to succeed. We strive for excellence and believe that a job worth doing is worth doing well. 

Our workloads are heavy, and externally set deadlines are often tight. Because of this, our work is fast-paced and we are often juggling multiple tasks. We are very conscious of the impact of this on our people, and so we monitor workloads closely, and do our best to provide support and recovery time after particularly busy periods.