During the 2015-16 financial year :

Customer interactions phone 11,240.7 hours ( 468 days )

Number of phone calls received

Customer interactions face-to-face ( total )

Customer interactions face-to-face ( regional centres )

Customer interactions face-toface at ( Toowoomba centre )

159,199 calls

72,826 people

40,568 people

32,258 people

11,839 hours ( 493 days )

158,020 calls

69,292 people

39,180 people

30,112 people

The People and Organisational Development branch ’ s main objective is to develop a skilled , knowledgeable and empowered workforce , equipped to deliver quality services to our community . The branch focuses on providing support and assistance to all Toowoomba Regional Council employees to develop their capacities .

The People and Organisational Development branch look after the following functions across Council :

• Workplace Health and Safety

• Training and organisational development

• Recruitment and on-boarding

• Workplace and industrial relations .

Stakeholder Engagement and Communication

Toowoomba Regional Council is committed to providing services that support a diverse , productive and liveable region . We remain focused on providing numerous and varied opportunities for the community to contribute where appropriate to the decisions that shape our region by encouraging engagement and consultation .

The Stakeholder Engagement and Communication branch ( SEC ) act as a support to the organisation in all aspects of outgoing communications and stakeholder engagement activities . The team provide engaging , inclusive community engagement activities that encourage strong participation by facilitating two-way conversations with our community on major projects and Council services . Every voice in our region is valuable and by engaging the community , we can provide opportunities to influence our region ’ s future and find out what is valuable to our residents and visitors .

The team also provide advice on branding , the development of traditional and digital communications and build pride throughout the region by sharing the achievements of our community and important Council information . Working with local media , the SEC team is able to communicate key messages to reach a vast network of our community and share Council news as it breaks . Through the development of a contemporary website presence , the team maintain the ‘ one stop shop ’ of Council information online and the opportunity for our residents to self-serve .

With over 1,700 staff , the team are also responsible for internal communications including the maintenance of an intranet to ensure our Council team are updated on important information and can access resources quickly and efficiently .

Our web presence is often residents ’ and visitors ’ first impressions of the Toowoomba Region and with the development of a new website , this year saw a growth in online visitors with an average of 51,316 users per month . This is a growth of over 6,000 users per month compared to 2014-15 and shows the transition and need from the community for contemporary , online resources .

This financial year we optimised our social media channels and invested resources to grow our online communities . This has seen a significant growth in followers and engagement across our online portfolio :

• Over 6,000 new Facebook likes

• Over 800 new Twitter followers

• Over 1,800 new Instagram followers

• Almost 400 new pins and 40 new followers on Pinterest

• Over 30,000 people enjoyed Council News , information on major projects and regional events on our YouTube channel

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TOOWOOMBA REGIONAL COUNCIL Annual Report 2015 - 2016 Our organisation CHAPTER 3 67