PSA staff and your union delegate Trina Leask met again with Service NSW management as part of the weekly restructure meetings.  The following matters were discussed:

Parental leave

This question has been raised several times by members and PSA has sought further clarification on your behalf.   Please be aware that an employee on parental leave cannot be declared excess while they are on leave.

An employee on parental leave can be directly assigned to a role during stage 1 of the process.

If you are not directly assigned in stage 1, you can choose to participate in the stage 2 internal suitability assessment, however this is optional, and you are not required to do so whilst on parental leave.

You can still be considered for role matching at-grade even if you don’t express an interest.   If you do express an interest and/or get a role in Stage 2, you will move into that role after your return from leave.

If you don’t get a role in Stage 2, you will move onto the 8-week mobility program when you return from parental leave.  The Department of Customer Service (DCS) advises that you will be assigned a Mobility Advisor to help find a role either in DCS or across the public sector.  Service NSW are currently recruiting for Mobility Advisors to support employees through the process.

Information Sessions

There have been several information sessions, both formal and casual.  Service NSW believe people have reached information saturation.  Main feedback appears to be around core profiles, process improvement, role titles and naming conventions.

Voluntary Redundancies

PSA advises that:

1. The consultation period is still underway.
2. From consultation we move to Service NSW considering feedback and providing response to it.
3. Following that the next stage is implementation of the final structure.
4. People whose roles are impacted following implementation are advised and placed into the 8-week mobility program. The mobility program contains all available roles across government agencies, not just Service NSW or DCS. The government has declared that redundancy is a last resort, departments cannot offer targeted VR programs. All impacted staff who don’t get roles in stages 1 or 2 must go through mobility.
5. If you are not matched through mobility, you are declared excess and are managed under the Managing Excess Employees Policy (MEEP).
6. The MEEP allows for the offer of VR or redeployment. Taking redeployment gives time to apply for any other roles and allows you to accrue further entitlements (rec leave, extended leave, Superannuation).

No Internal Expression of Interest (EOI)

For staff who do not want to make an EOI for an internal role, Service NSW is considering the option of going straight to the mobility program. There will be further information on this.

Salary Maintenance

There have been some concerns about salary maintenance for those in roles graded 11/12. DCS has no ability to provide salary maintenance in other agencies that have different pay scales. You should be aware of this when looking at 11/12 roles through the mobility program.

Extension to Consultation

PSA has negotiated an extension to the consultation period. Consultation will now close on 26 July 2024.

Please remember to send your feedback, which we can submit de-identified for you, to member support quoting reference number 222518 by 25 July 2024 or, if you are submitting feedback directly to Service NSW yourself, please forward a copy to your union.

PSA is continuing to press concerns with senior management and government on your behalf and remains committed to supporting members through this process.

We will meet again with management on 25 July 2024. Please contact quoting reference number 222518 with any further concerns.