Treasury Board recently informed PSAC of changes to the Program and Administrative Services Occupational Group Structure (OGS) review timeline and next steps. 

The OGS review is an effort by Treasury Board to modernize classifications in the core public administration by updating and replacing outdated occupational group definitions and job evaluation standards. Members working in the public service can find out more by visiting the Classification Renewal GCintranet page.  

New date for implementation 

The target date for the implementation of the new PA Group definitions and job evaluation standards has been pushed back to June 2024 from the original October 2022 date. 

The new date is dependent on departmental and systems readiness and could change, but the timeline will be confirmed as the new target date approaches. 

PSAC will continue to ensure that consultation takes place and that our members are kept informed throughout the process.  

Preparations underway 

Departments and agencies of the core public administration are preparing for PA conversion by ensuring that position information in HR systems is accurate and up to date and that job descriptions are ready to be evaluated. 

PA group members may receive updated job descriptions or may be asked to comment on proposed job descriptions. We encourage you to contact your union local or PSAC component for guidance if you have concerns about your current job description. 

In some cases, departments may be adopting “interdepartmental standardized job descriptions.” These are generic job descriptions that apply to similar positions in multiple departments and agencies. Even though these job descriptions cross organizational boundaries, the recourse for any issues related to them would be internal to the departments where they are applied.  

How will this affect my job classification?

At this point, the employer’s work of evaluating job descriptions using the new tools is not complete, so we don’t have information on how individual positions will be classified under the new system.  

Later in the conversion process, PA Group members will receive advance notice of the anticipated classification of their positions from their human resources departments. We will provide you with information on what to expect before this stage in the process begins. For now, you can find a high-level overview of the anticipated composition of the new PA sub-groups in our previous update. 

We will keep you updated as the implementation moves forward. You can also reach us with your questions at PA-OGS@psac-afpc.com.