FEATURE
The new workflow uses Workato to retrieve information directly from multiple sources and consolidate case notes from applicants and respondents into a master report.
FWC said the process now takes around two minutes, representing a roughly 30-fold improvement over the previous one-hour workflow.
“ Our associates used to spend at least an hour pulling case information from multiple systems and compiling it manually,” Deep said.“ That now takes two minutes. When you’ re dealing with people waiting on outcomes for unfair dismissal or workplace safety, that kind of time saving has a direct impact on how quickly we can serve them.”
For a tribunal handling dispute that can have significant consequences for individuals and employers, the objective is not simply to make back-office processes faster. Reducing administrative workloads could also shorten the time required to progress cases.
Avoiding the productivity trap
Pope argues that AI productivity projects need to go further than simply calculating the number of employee hours saved.
The Genie catches issues before our users do and that changes the entire dynamic for my team.
Instead, FWC is attempting to decide in advance how employees should use the capacity released by automation.
“ I’ m very careful with giving time to people without a specific directive,” Pope said.“ We’ re not giving time back for people to decide what to do with it – they could fall into the trap of doing the same old things. We’ re replacing that time with things we’ ve already identified.”
That approach changes the calculation around AI deployment. Rather than treating automation primarily as a headcount or cost reduction exercise, FWC is looking at where human expertise can provide greater value once repetitive administrative work has been removed.
The strategy also reflects the Australian Public Service AI Plan 2025, which set out ambitions to give public servants access to Generative
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