Course Series: Trusted Workforce Program
A practical series of three courses on building, operating and sustaining a trusted workforce. The courses are aligned with the needs of Australia’s critical infrastructure sectors, as set out in the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018, but are applicable to the workforce security needs of any organisation.
Designed to help organisations connect personnel security, enterprise security risk management, role design, and individual suitability in a defensible way.
Covering the full lifecycle — from recruitment, to ongoing suitability, through to secure offboarding. The intent is to enable the recruitment and management of people to enhance the security of assets and operations through a Trusted Workforce Program.
Course Overview
This course focuses on managing ongoing suitability and workforce behaviour risk as part of Pentagram’s Trusted Workforce Program. It supports organisations to move beyond point-in-time checks toward continuous assurance, where changes in people, roles and circumstances are actively monitored, assessed, and managed.
Designed for senior executives, security and risk leaders, people partners, HR professionals, line managers and others responsible for supervising or supporting workers in critical or high-trust roles, the course provides a structured guide to identifying triggers, interpreting behavioural and situational indicators, and responding in a way that is fair, proportionate and defensible.
Participants explore the role of reporting, education, expectations and organisational culture, and examine how psychological contract (quid pro quo) dynamics influence behaviour over time. The course also demonstrates how ongoing suitability is embedded into governance, documentation and access management, and how it applies not only to employees but also to contractors and other external partners. Practical templates support trigger and review frameworks, declarations, observation recording, escalation pathways and conditions management.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, participants will:
- Understand the role of ongoing suitability in managing insider threat and workforce behaviour risk in critical infrastructure environments.
- Understand how ongoing suitability fits within the Trusted Workforce Program and the broader employee lifecycle.
- Understand common triggers and review points, including periodic declarations, that may prompt suitability reassessment.
- Understand the importance of clear reporting pathways, speaking-up mechanisms, and manager responsibilities.
- Understand how expectations, education and organisational culture influence workforce behaviour and risk.
- Understand psychological contract dynamics and how perceived breach can increase insider threat risk.
- Understand options for managing increased risk over time, including conditions, support, escalation and documentation.
- Understand how ongoing suitability is embedded into governance and systems, and how it applies to contractors and other external partners where appropriate.
Learning Outcomes
After completing this course, participants will be able to:
- Design or refine an ongoing suitability approach that supports CIRMP personnel-hazard obligations and insider threat mitigation.
- Identify and document triggers, review points and periodic declarations that should prompt reassessment of suitability for high-trust roles.
- Establish or strengthen reporting pathways and speaking-up mechanisms that encourage early identification of concerns while minimising gossip and bias.
- Integrate expectations, education and communication about behaviour, integrity and reporting into everyday leadership and workforce practices.
- Apply psychological contract concepts to interpret emerging behaviour and inform proportionate, supportive responses.
- Use structured tools and templates to record observations, assess increased risk, apply conditions and escalate concerns in a defensible way.
- Embed ongoing suitability into governance, documentation, access management and broader assurance processes.
- Apply ongoing suitability principles to contractors and external partners whose roles provide access or influence within critical environments.
Private Coaching Session: Includes a one-hour private coaching session with the Pentagram Advisory team. During this session, we will provide tailored, practical advice specific to your organisation’s needs.
