Functional responsibility:
The Personnel Administration Office was founded to perform the day-to-day activities associated with the functions assigned to the Public Service Commissioner by The Public Service Commissioner Act and the Public Service Act. In 1959, the Commissioner was assigned responsibility for:

• advertising vacancies in the Alberta public service;
• testing and examining qualifications of applicants for employment or promotion;
• preparing and maintaining lists of eligible candidates for employment, re-employment and promotion;
• preparing rules of procedure for recruitment and selection of employees by departments and other government agencies and assisting and advising boards and commissions with recruitment, selection and training;
• assisting and advising any agency of the government with regard to its staff organization;
• investigating and preparing reports regarding the staff organization in any agency;
• preparing classification and pay schedules for employees of departments and other government agencies, and preparing rules of procedures for classification and reclassification of positions and application of pay schedules;
• investigating and preparing reports on subsistence allowances, overtime and other non-wage payments to employees;
• preparing and keeping records of employment, attendance, qualifications and salary of all government employees, and obtaining department reports on employee performance;
• preparing and recommending to the Lieutenant Governor in Council regulations regarding sick leave, annual vacations, educational leave, and attendance; and
• assisting in the administration of The Public Service Act, The Public Service Pension Act and The Temporary Provincial Employees Retirement Act.

Beginning in 1962, the focus of the Office changed as the government initiated a decentralization of some human resources functions. At this time, a new Public Service Actassigned responsibility for creation of job classification schedules and pay scales to the Lieutenant Governor in Council. The activities of the Personnel Administration Office (in support of the Commissioner) were re-focused towards the articulation of general personnel policy, the development and monitoring of standards and procedures, and the provision of government-wide manpower planning and management advisory services. The Public Service Commissioner is also responsible for advising the Minister responsible for the Public Service Acton matters regarding personnel legislation, regulations, policy and procedures, and the development of coordinated training programs across the civil service.

Predecessor and successor bodies:
The predecessor to the Personnel Administration Office was the Public Service Commission, which had been responsible for creating procedures for the recruitment, selection, appointment and promotion of employees, the preparation of classification plans and pay schedules, and the preparation and administration of rules and regulations governing personnel in the public service.

Administrative relationships:
The Personnel Administration Office, through the Public Service Commissioner, has reported to the following Ministers:
Edgar W. Hinman 1959-65 (Provincial Treasurer)
Anders O. Aalborg 1965-68 (Provincial Treasurer)
Raymond A. Speaker 1968-71 (Minister of Public Welfare 1968-69, Minister of Social Development 1969-71)
Edward A. Hohol 1971-75 (Minister of Labour 1971-72, Minister of Manpower and Labour 1972-75)
Clarence M. (Merv) Leitch 1975-79 (Provincial Treasurer)
Greg P. Stevens 1979-86 (Minister responsible for the Personnel Administration Office)
Ian C. Reid 1986-89 (Minister of Labour)
Elaine J. McCoy 1989-92 (Minister of Labour)
Ralph P. Klein 1992-97 (President of the Executive Council)
Clinton E. Dunford 1997-present (Minister of Advanced Education and Career Development 1997-99, Minister of Human Resources and Employment 1999-present)

Administrative Structure:
The units of the Personnel Administration Office responsible for its principal functions were as follows:

• Recruitment and examination of candidates and employees: Recruitment and Selection Division, Departmental Services Division, Staffing, Development and Health Division
• Creation of classification schedules and pay scales: Classification and Pay Division - this function was transferred to the Lieutenant Governor in Council in Council in 1962, then to the Minister in 1971
• Allocation of positions within the classification plan: Classification and Pay Division, Departmental Services Division, Classification and Staffing Policy and Consulting Division, Employee Relations Division, Human Resource Policy and Consulting Division
• Development and implementation of training programs: Training Division, Training and Management Development Division, Organization Development Division, Staff Development and Occupational Health Division, Employee Relations Division
• Providing organizational analysis and consultative services to departments: Organization and Methods Division, Management Advisory Services Division, Organization Development Division, Classification and Staffing Policy and Consulting Division, Staffing, Development and Health Division, Client Relations Division
• Manpower planning: Personnel Planning Office, Organization Development Division, Staffing, Development and Health Division
• Labour relations, including representing the Government of Alberta in collective bargaining with its employees and grievance proceedings: Employee Relations Division, Human Resource Policy and Consulting Division
• Executive recruitment, compensation and manpower planning: Departmental Services Division, Management Services Division, Executive Management Planning and Development Program, Staffing, Development and Health Division, Executive Search Division
• Performing compensation research and developing benefits programs: Employee Relations Division, Human Resource Policy and Consulting Division
• Occupational health and safety programs for the Alberta civil service: Departmental Services Division, Staff Development and Occupational Health Division, Staffing, Development and Health Division, Human Resource Policy and Consulting Division
• Systems development and support: Secretariat, Systems and Planning Support Division, Information Management Division

Names of chief officers:
Public Service Commissioners:
John H. Holloway 1959-1965
Keith J. Robertson 1965-1970
J.L. English (Acting) 1970-1971
Keith J. Robertson 1971-1976
Jim E. Dixon 1976-2002
Shirley Howe 2002-present

• creating, maintaining and abolishing position classification schemes and pay schedules for both staff and management positions in the Alberta civil service,
• administering classification appeals and grievance hearings,
• representing the Government of Alberta in collective bargaining with unions representing civil servants,
• performing research on private sector and civil service wage and non-wage compensation in other jurisdictions,
• establishing policies and administering programs for non-wage compensation,
• providing centralized human resources management services to departments in the Alberta government,
• processing long-term disability claims for civil servants,
• recruiting staff, managerial, and medical personnel,
• liaison with the Public Service Management Pension Plan board,
• liaison with the Public Service Pension Plan board,
• administering occupational health and safety programs for civil servants, and
• creating and administering staff and managerial training and development programs.

The sous-fonds contains executive, administrative and operational records of the Public Service Commissioner's Office and the Staffing, Development and Health, Management Services, Employee Relations, Classification and Staffing Policy, Planning Services, Organizational Development, and Administrative Services divisions and Occupational Health and Safety Offices in Red Deer, Lethbridge and Edmonton. The sous-fonds is made up of correspondence, regulations, policy and procedures documents, manuals, records of hearings, briefing papers, appeal, classification, grievance, special placement program, and long-term disability case files, minutes and agendas of various boards and committees, position classifications, various lists, reports and statistics, survey response booklets, and maps.

The records have been arranged into the following series:

• Abolished positions records
• Occupational Health Services Branch Accident injury tracking system records
• Administrative services executive records
• Administrative records
• Alberta Temporary Anti-Inflation Measures Board records
• Public Service Employee Relations Board decisions
• Employee Relations Division benefits survey records
• Employee Relations Division collective bargaining records
• Employee Relations Division correspondence
• Planning Services Division employee transaction records
• Public Service Commissioner records
• Labour Management Services Branch grievance arbitration reports
• Information systems development records
• Employee Relations Division long term disability claims
• Management services administrative records
• Classification and Staffing Policy and Consulting Division classification and staffing records
• Classification Appeal Board records
• Employee Relations Division compensation research records
• Employee Relations Division administrative records
• Management services operational records
• Employee Relations Division master and divisional agreement negotiation records
• Management Services Division medical professionals recruitment records
• Labour Relations Branch ministerial briefing papers
• Staffing, Development and Health Division occupational health and safety program records
• Classification and Staffing Policy and Consulting Division pay equity records
• Employee Relations Division personnel regulations
• Management Services Division position review records
• Employee Relations Division pre-hearing grievance records
• Public Service Grievance Board records
• Public Service Management Pension Plan Board minutes
• Public Service Pension Plan Board minutes
• Employee Relations Division salary survey records
• Public Service Commissioner senior government officials salary records
• Special Placement Program client placement records
• Staffing, Development and Health Division staff development and health services records
• Position classification records
• Staff recruitment records
• Temporary Staff Services program records