Purpose and scope

Purpose

These guidelines provide guidance on mobility through assignment in the Public Service under the provisions of the Government Sector Employment Act 2013 (GSE Act), enabling movement of non-executive employees within a public service agency and of executives across all public service agencies to provide employee development opportunities and improved deployment of workforce resources to meet organisation needs.

The guidelines are subject to existing industrial instruments and should not be used in place of the NSW Government Workforce Mobility Placement and Employee Transition Policy, including the requirement to prioritise the placement of impacted and excess employees into suitable roles.

Refer to the Glossary in glossary and appendix for an explanation of terms used regularly throughout these guidelines.

Scope

These guidelines help agencies apply the Government Sector Employment provisions that allow employees to move by assignment within the Public Service. They apply to: 

• Public Service non-executive employees within a Public Service agency
• Public Service senior executives within and between Public Service agencies

Movements covered by these guidelines may occur through:

• an assignment or subsequent assignment to a role under section 38 of the GSE Act (for senior executives) or section 46 (for non-executives)
• a temporary assignment under Rule 11 of the Government Sector Employment (General) Rules 2014 (GSE Rules), which applies to both senior executives and non‑executive employees

These guidelines do not cover:

• movements of Public Service non-executive employees between government sector agencies, including between Public Service agencies (known as transfers or secondments under section 64 of the GSE Act).
• movements of Public Service senior executives between Public Service and non-Public Service government sector agencies (known as transfers or secondments under section 64 of the GSE Act).
• movements of Public Service senior executive and non-executive employees into other sectors, for example the Commonwealth Government, State owned corporations, other state governments, the private sector, or the not-for-profit sector (known as non-government sector secondment between NSW government sector agencies and other relevant bodies under section 66 of the GSE Act).

For information on transfers and secondments, refer to sections 64 and 66 of the GSE Act, Part 6 of the GSE Rules and the transfer and secondment guidelines.

Important note

While sections 64 and 66 of the GSE Act can be used for senior executive movements between government sector agencies, the policy intent is that movements between Public Service agencies should be made as assignments under section 38. The use of section 66 should be limited to movements between the government sector and a non-government sector body as defined in section 66(6), and section 64 should be used for transfers and secondments between government sector (non-Public Service) agencies.

Mobility context

The GSE Act and the GSE Rules include a range of mobility provisions to help agencies meet workforce needs and to support employee professional development and career progression..

Mobility provides a way for employees to experience new areas of work, increase their knowledge and develop new capabilities, and enables new ideas to be brought into a workplace. A highly skilled and mobile workforce supports an organisation to respond quickly and effectively to changing work priorities.

Before an employee is assigned to a role, the agency must make sure they meet the essential requirements of the role, as set out in the role description (for example, required qualifications or licences).

When deciding how to fill a role, agencies should consider their workforce needs, including short and long‑term priorities, employee capabilities, turnover, and the diversity profile of the agency.

Workforce planning context

The assignment provisions in the GSE Act and the GSE Rules support effective workforce planning and workforce management. 

Effective workforce planning is essential to recruiting, developing and deploying a workforce that can meet both current and future agency priorities. It requires managers to maintain a clear and current understanding of the capabilities of their existing workforce and to translate their agency’s strategic direction and priorities into the capabilities required in the short and long term to achieve agency objectives.

What does "classification of work" mean under the GSE Act?

Under sections 45 and 46 of the GSE Act, non‑executive employees are employed within a pre-existing classification of work set by the agency head and employees can be assigned to different roles within that classification.

A classification of work can cover any type of work and any grade, as determined by the agency head.

For assignment purposes under section 46 of the GSE Act, a classification of work includes roles within the agency that are comparable in grade, salary or remuneration and capability requirements as determined by the agency head.

In broad terms, a non‑executive employee may be considered for assignment to another role within their agency where the role has comparable salary or remuneration, requires essentially the same capability levels to the employee’s current or previous role, and the employee meets the role’s essential requirements and focus capabilities. The focus capabilities for the new role may differ from those of the employee’s current role.

Roles within a classification of work can have different essential requirements and focus capabilities, and not all employees will be suitable for every role. For example, a classification of work may include roles such as project officers, policy officers and finance officers at the same grade. If a finance officer role requires a chartered accountant qualification, only employees in the classification who hold that qualification can be assigned to that role.

A classification of work may also include roles with comparable grades and capability requirements, even where salary or remuneration is set under different industrial instruments.

Where roles have comparable capability requirements and work value but different salary or remuneration, an assignment to a role with different remuneration within the same classification of work should meet these conditions:

• The maximum salary or remuneration of the new role’s grade is no more than 5 per cent higher than the maximum salary of the employee’s current role.
• The employee’s current salary or remuneration falls within the salary or remuneration range of the new role.
• The employee is placed on the closest salary or remuneration point in the new scale that is equal to or higher than their current salary or remuneration.
• The employee’s salary or remuneration must not be reduced as a result of the assignment without their written consent.
• If the maximum salary or remuneration for the grade (i.e. the highest increment the employee may progress to in that grade) in the new role is less than the maximum that the employee could progress to in the employee’s current role, the employee’s written consent is required. 

What is a role?

Section 3 of the GSE Act defines a role as the duties and responsibilities of an employee.

Organisational structures and roles reflect an agency’s priorities at a point in time. They describe what needs to be delivered and the capabilities required to perform the work. Roles may be established to meet short‑term priorities or for ongoing functions.

Reviewing roles

Roles and organisational structures should be reviewed regularly to ensure they continue to align with agency priorities and workforce needs. Role review may occur when:

• a role becomes vacant
• organisational priorities or functions change, or
• as part of broader, agency‑wide workforce planning.

A role vacancy provides an opportunity for managers to consider whether:

• there is an ongoing need for the role in its current form
• a different combination of roles or classifications would better deliver required outcomes, and
• the selected focus capabilities remain appropriate for the work to be performed. 

Guidance on developing and reviewing role descriptions is set out in the Role Description Development Guidelines, and a web‑based role description template is available on the Office of the Public Service Commissioner website. 

Where role review is likely to affect a significant number of employees, agencies should refer to the requirements of the NSW Government Workforce Mobility Placement and Employee Transition Policy.