Job Fact Sheets: Support Staff

Use the Job Fact Sheet Checklist and Job Fact Sheet Template .

Choose a “working title” that clearly and accurately describes the responsibilities and scope of an individual job assignment, and thereby provides a more immediate understanding of the position. The working title should use terms that are most easily recognized and understood both internally and externally.

Please note, the following titles cannot be used for support staff roles. Positions with these titles perform duties at a senior/managerial level and are not part of the NASA bargaining unit:

• Manager (Assistant Manager)
• Director (Assistant Director, Associate Director)
• Officer (some exceptions may apply, e.g. Peace Officer)
• Chief
• Other titles that apply under another Collective Agreement at the university

For positions with supervisory duties, consider titles such as:

• Team Lead
• Lead

Titles must be compliant with the operating model. Functional specialist titles such as HR Consultant or HR Advisor are not permitted. Please consult your HR Partner about what titles are appropriate for the role and compliant with the operating model.

Provide a summary of the purpose of the position including the type and level of work performed. The aim is to describe why the position exists in one or two sentences.

Group the work into four to eight key areas of responsibility; identify three to five activities that fall within each.

With the implementation of the new operating model, functional specialists only exist within central portfolios (Centres of Expertise and Shared Services). Outside of approved exceptions, the use of the terms: human resources, finance, IT and communications in both the Key Responsibility Area headings and the activities that fall within them is prohibited.

Provide specific information on the skills, education, and abilities required for an individual to competently perform the position. The List of Qualifications offers a number of examples to choose from. 

Ensure that the essential or required qualifications are listed clearly and separately from the preferred (but not necessary) qualifications.

Describe the amount of direction and control received from supervision or standard practices and precedents. Include consideration to the ingenuity, creativity and original thought required. Identify the decisions and recommendations made by the position and indicate the amount of supervisor direction required.

Describe the extent of losses to the unit/department/university which result from mistakes in judgment or poor decisions (e.g. time lost, money lost, injury, damage, effect on people, delays). Describe typical instances and provide examples. Identify how the position directly affects results and the extent to which stakeholders are affected by those results.

Identify the people inside and outside the university with whom the position regularly conducts business. Indicate the frequency of contact and the nature of the contact (i.e. how they are affected by recommendations, decision making and action(s) taken).

If the position does not supervise others, please state “not applicable”.

However, if supervision is a component of the position, describe the degree to which the position is responsible for the work of others (assigning/monitoring work, recruitment, orientation, training, coaching, performance appraisals, performance management).

List numbers and working titles of positions directly supervised, and indicate number of full-time equivalent, part-time and casual employees supervised.

Identify the degree, frequency, severity, intensity, and continuity of physical activity or visual concentration.

List any hazardous working conditions. Only the conditions or hazards inherent in the nature of the work are considered. This would not include differences in building structure, age or office space, etc., but rather the conditions related to the performance of the work itself.