Section 8 of the Public Sector Act 2009 requires each public sector agency to establish and administer an effective performance management and development (PMD) system. To support this requirement, the  Premier’s Direction and  Commissioner’s Guideline outline new standards to ensure that public sector agencies have effective performance management and development systems in place, and that all public sector employees participate in performance management and development reviews at least biannually.

This means that all South Australian public sector agencies:

HR practitioners have a key role to play in the development, implementation, management, review and improvement of their agency’s PMD system and related process/s. This responsibility can best be described as follows:

  • Support the chief executive or agency head in the design and management of the agency’s PMD system/s;
  • Provide executives, managers and employees with information, support, coaching, advice and guidance in relation to the development, implementation and evaluation of agency performance management and development processes;
  • Provide advice and assistance in relation to the management of unsatisfactory performance;
  • Assist to facilitate a resolution of any grievance between employee and line manager in relation to the performance management and development process, where support is requested;
  • Report on the uptake of the PMD process in their agency in line with reporting requirements and to the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment; and
  • Support the periodic review and evaluation of the agency’s PMD system.

The  Direction of the Premier: Performance Management and Development stipulates that agencies implement PMD systems that, at a minimum, incorporate PMD reviews with all public sector employees.

The requirement for biannual reviews therefore applies to all public sector employees including executives and casual employees.

Agencies may consider the use of a modified process (e.g. group performance plans) to ensure that casual employees participate in PMD.


The appropriate management of unsatisfactory performance is integral to the success of a PMD system but should be viewed as a distinct subset of this system.

Unsatisfactory performance should be dealt with as soon as performance issues are identified that cannot be dealt with through the processes geared towards performance optimisation.

Please refer to the  Commissioner for Public Sector Employment’s Guideline: Managing Unsatisfactory Performance (including misconduct) for further guidance in managing unsatisfactory performance.

The Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment’s website, and specifically the Performance Management and Development web pages, provide both managers and employees with information sheets to support them to optimise their performance conversations.

The Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment (OCPSE) will also promote relevant training and other initiatives that will support the development of manager and employee skills in performance management and development via the OCPSE website.