Community. Engaged. Honest.

Three of the AIHW's longest-serving staff members were asked to describe the Institute in one word — these are their choices.

Between them, Judith Abercromby, Joanne Maples and Nigel Harding have clocked up nearly 70 years at the Institute, with the 'fossil' trophy (an abacus solemnly passed from one fossil to the next) for the oldest of the old-timers belonging to Judith. She has a mountain of fond and funny memories, like standing in a library with little else but carpet and a phone on the floor. Shelves were on order, but there were no journals or books. The library, like so many other things the AIHW has achieved over its 25 years, had to be built from scratch.

Then there were the possums, semi-regular visitors to the offices, who brought work to a halt by falling through the ceiling or sleeping on the only fax machine. Unfortunately, the building pest controller could only be summoned by sending a fax. These were the days when the AIHW was known as the Australian Institute of Health and occupied Bennett House, a renovator's delight, in Acton. Staff would have lunch at the old Canberra Hospital cafeteria. Judith remembers pacing around the hospital car park in the early stages of labour, and being greeted by AIHW colleagues arriving for the day's work. They were also the days when everyone had a sink and a mirror in their office as they occupied what had previously been the nurses' quarters.

Judith, Joanne and Nigel all agree that the Institute has always been 'different' to other public service departments and agencies, and in the early days was regarded by some as a 'quaint academic backwater'.

All have witnessed enormous growth: in staff, budgets and reputation. The staff has grown from fewer than 70 to about 350, and while Nigel says, 'the days when you knew everyone are gone', all believe that the Institute has retained a 'family' feel that sets it apart from many other workplaces.

They say one of the biggest changes, and at times hurdles, has been the move away from the Institute's academic roots — in the early days staff would often follow lines of research based on personal interest and planned 'with a few mates in the car park'.

'The Institute had an academic colour and focus and saw itself as a branch of academia,' Nigel says. It was a feeling that was enhanced by being located next to the ANU.

Joanne's strong feeling of an AIHW family is enhanced by the fact that she has had three children since she joined in 1988, including 'the first baby born to Institute staff'. What started as a temporary transfer to the Screening Evaluation Coordination Unit has become a career winding through a half-dozen positions in both statistical and corporate groups, to a position today in the Governance Unit.

She says one of the fantastic aspects of working at the Institute has been the flexibility to work part-time to suit her life circumstances, including raising her children.

Another thing she loves is the 'fantastic young people arriving each year with a range of skills and backgrounds to add to the expertise here already', although she laments that such 'beautiful young people' insist on 'wearing black or navy – like a standard APS uniform!'

She says while the AIHW has far more policies and procedures than in the 1980s, it has grown and matured well.

'We were set up to improve health information because there was such a dearth. I think there is a general belief that we are doing something that is valuable for informing public policy; this is what the Institute started with and it is still doing it today.'

Joanne flicks through the first annual report to show that many of today's arrangements were there from the beginning, including links with three collaborating units, national information committees and external funders.

Asked to nominate a milestone, she chooses METeOR. 'Taking this on was an important decision for the Institute. It was really innovative at the time, and internationally people looked at the Institute with envy.'

If she has a regret, it is that the Institute no longer has a Health Technology Unit, which was established in the first year to assess new and established health-care technologies.

Nigel left Brisbane to join the Institute in 1991, taking on the role as Publications Manager. His health interest stems from 2 years working as an orderly at the Royal Brisbane Hospital. There was no media or communications team when he started, so before long he took on the role of writing media releases 'because there was no one else to do it'. Today he heads the Communications, Media and Marketing Unit— a position he has been appointed to twice, after leaving the Institute for a couple of years to work at the National Health and Medical Research Council.

He says one of the Institute's greatest strengths is that it 'tells it like it is. Our integrity has ensured our survival.'

For him, the stand-out milestones have been the provision of more timely data, particularly hospital statistics that were 'years behind' when the Institute began, and the Institute's role in developing and reporting on national health performance indicators. The launch of the Aboriginal health and welfare report in 1997 was another highlight. 'The Governor-General launched it in Darwin and it was huge frontpage news everywhere the next day.'

He says one of biggest challenges has always been to communicate the results of the Institute's work in a way that 'can be easily understood and in a digestible fashion'.

Judith's career has spanned several areas of the Institute, from the library, website, intranet and publications to her current position as the head of the Ageing and Aged Care Unit, which she took up in late 2010. She says that 'after 23 years in corporate, it's good to see the other side of the Institute'.

Judith chose the word 'Community' to describe the Institute. In the past two-and-a-half decades she has moved offices and buildings numerous times, seen Directors come and go, and watched as units were formed and restructured. She says that through it all the staff's dedication to their jobs and friendships has endured.

'People here really care about what they do. I have a lot of lasting friendships that were formed here.'

The event that most sticks in her memory was when Dr Michael Wooldridge, then Health and Family Services Minister, launched the AIHW's first website in October 1996. 'We were not the first [government agency] to get a website, nor the last. But for me it was a particularly momentous occasion.'

Asked why they have stayed so long, all had pretty much the same answer: 'Because it is a nice place to be.'

 

Social. Progressive. Welcoming

Graduates Alex Ness, Genevieve Whitlam and Emma Petrie joined the Institute in November and like the AIHW 'old-timers' were asked to select a word describing their workplace.

Alex works in the Data Linkage Unit, laughs at the suggestion he is a data geek and says he found pretty much from his first day on the job that he 'fitted in better here' than at his previous workplaces.

He believes his word, 'Social', encompasses a range of Institute characteristics, including friendliness, a relaxed approach, an emphasis on work-life balance and an active sporting calendar. He points to the organisation's involvement in the Global Corporate Challenge as another indication of how well it encourages and supports its employees, and is still able to smile at the fact that he ruptured his Achilles tendon in January playing a game of social squash with a work colleague.

Alex was working as a research assistant at the Institute of Criminology when he applied for the AIHW graduate program. He has a psychology degree and says data analysis and research suit his personality more than the face-to-face side of the discipline.

At the moment he is working on a large-scale project looking at mortality rates for end-stage kidney disease, and believes the Institute offers a breadth of work opportunities that will enable him to develop his skills across many areas.

Genevieve is also a psychology graduate, but unlike Alex has worked as a family therapist in disability and child protection. After 5 years 'at the ground level watching families struggling to get food on the table for their kids', she decided it was time to see the other side of the picture.

She says, 'When you are working directly with clients, the collection of data can seem a process which is a bit removed from your core business. Now, working at the AIHW, I can see the importance of the accurate reporting and collection of this data and how it can inform policy.'

Inspired by her mother's career as a nurse, Genevieve's first job was as a carer for people with severe cerebral palsy.

'I have always wanted to do meaningful work.' While she does miss aspects of working with parents and children, she says the AIHW's work is meaningful in a different way.

'On the ground level you notice things that could be done better. Here, it is about the 'how'. How can we can support improvement?; the nuts and bolts of getting it to happen is a big challenge.'

Genevieve works in the Functioning and Disability Unit and is studying a double master's degree in public health and health management. She says if more people in need are to be helped, it's crucial that the systems between the client and service provision are more efficient. She believes the Institute has a central role in the dissemination of accurate data to inform policy and improve these systems and processes, hence her word 'Progressive'. 'We are trying to improve processes.'

Emma works in the Publishing Services Unit. She joined the Institute from ACT Health and before that worked for a Melbourne media training company after finishing postgraduate studies in editing and communications.