Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Director of Personnel's subject files
General material designation
- Textual record
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on provenance and form.
- Variations in title: Formerly titled as 'Director's subject files'
Level of description
Series
Reference code
COV-S105
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1931-1986, predominant 1948-1986 (Creation)
- Creator
- Vancouver (B.C.). Human Resource Services
Physical description area
Physical description
8.26 m of textual records
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Administrative history
City Council appointed the City's first personnel director on September 29, 1947, then authorized eight additional positions for the personnel office on December 8, 1947. At that time the mandate of the new department was to set standards for entrance into the civil service, to develop a job classification program, to conduct employee training, and to maintain attendance records. Personnel and personnel related units have carried out the following functions over time: benefits policy and administration; equal employment opportunity; labour relations; occupational safety; personnel policy development; position classification and pay determination; and staff development and training. Competences for these functions have fluctuated considerably as outlined below.
(1) Benefits policy and administration. Benefits policy development dating from the early 1960s was carried out by the Director of Personnel, with City Council as the decision maker on defined broad aspects. Since the early 1980s the Compensation and Benefits Division has been responsible for research and benefits administration.
(2) Equal employment opportunity. The Director of Personnel was involved in the early discussions on establishing an equal employment opportunity office before 1975, when Council established its special committee, the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee. The program resided within the Personnel Services Department until 1987, when it moved to the City Manager's Office.
(3) Labour relations. Council was the labour relations decision maker from the beginning and continues to be. The Personnel Director became responsible for labour relations analysis and communications by the early 1960s.
(4) Occupational safety. Employee accident prevention committee (Safety Committee) discussions began around the concerns of the Fire Department about 1950, spread to the Electrical Department/Division in the 1960s, was carried out on a regular basis by the Park Board from the early 1970s, and began to be administered by the Personnel Department's newly created Safety Division by 1972 (still in existence in 1997).
(6) Personnel policy development. The Personnel Committee was actively involved in policy development since the 1930s. The Director of Personnel was responsible for the day-to-day aspects of policy and procedures development, and policy documentation, from 1947 (policy pertained to job classification, regulations for entry into service, compensation plan development, appointments, promotions, transfers, salary adjustments, leave, payroll, insurance, superannuation, etc.).
(7) Position classification and pay determination. From 1982 this function has been carried out by the Compensation and Benefits Division. Previously City Council periodically charged a Commission on Civic Salaries with a broad evaluation exercise (1929 and 1945). In later years the Personnel Committee carried out analyses in conjunction with the Director of Personnel; exempt staff analyses have been carried out for Council by consultants (in recent years Council draws on the studies of the GVRD).
(8) Staff development and training. Staff training was a budget item within the Personnel Department from the late 1950s, and continues to be, though department specific training is not generally administered by the Personnel/Human Resources Department.
Before the Personnel Department was created in 1947, and up to 1965, personnel activities were spread throughout City departments.
The Personnel Department reported to the Personnel Committee 1947-1956, then to the Director of Finance (1957-1965), and subsequently to the City Manager (1965- ).
Divisions of the Personnel Department have been determined by broad functional groupings, which developed according to departmental growth and functional priorities. In 1997 the divisions are as follows: Compensation and Benefits Division; Employee Relations and Advisory Services Division; Occupational Health, Safety and Rehabilitation; and Staff Development Division.
Human Resource Services has had the following names:
- Personnel Department, 1947-1957;
- Personnel and Payroll, 1957-1965 (within the Finance Department);
- Personnel Services Department, 1965-1991;
- Human Resources Department, 1992-1995;
- Human Resource Services, 1995- .
The following individuals have served as head of the personnel office: B. H. Peterson, 1947-1966, 1972-1974; J. Stuart Don, 1966-1971; Don H. Pollard, 1974-1990; Eileen Stewart, 1990-1996; Marilyn Clark, 1996-1998; Mike Zora, 1998- .
Records in the Archives created by Human Resource Services consist primarily of Director's subject files (predominant 1948-1982) which relate to policy development on hiring, salaries, benefits, etc., as well as liaison with departments on specific hiring needs, liaison with unions, staff training, staff safety, and job classification developmen
Related Resources:
The earliest records relating to personnel decisions and policy development are in Council minutes (series 31, 1886- ); look in the indexes (series 32) under terms such as "Salaries" and individual position titles for the earliest period. Records documenting Council decisions on "exempt staff" (senior staff and others not in a union) from about 1947 are in series 35 (Council "in camera" minutes) and from the 1950s in series 56 (Council "in camera" supporting documents). There are files on salaries for excluded staff in the Clerk's series 20 (Subject files) under "Salaries" and "Finance" during the 1960s. Personnel Committee minutes are in series 33 (Standing committee minutes, vol. 56-58, 1930-1948); the Committee's working files are in series 27 (Special committee supporting documents). The Clerk's series 20 (Subject files, 1886-1975) contains files on union matters from 1921 (see the headings "Conciliation matters" or "Conciliation Board") and on personnel issues as they related to clerking for Council (under terms beginning with "Personnel . . . "). The most recent Clerk's files on personnel matters are in series 62 (Operational subject files, in the "Civic administration" subseries).
Custodial history
Scope and content
Series contains selected files from the Director's Office general filing system, including "subject files", "departmental files" (best represented 1943-1959, few kept after 1974), "labour relations files", and "employee insurance programs" (terms in quotes refer to records schedules). Documented are the following activities: policy development with respect to personnel matters of the City at large as well as on department specific issues concerning hiring, training, and safety; relations between the City and the various unions; policy on non-Union (i.e. "excluded") staff; the evolvement of employee benefits; special hiring made possible through outside funding, etc. Included here up to 1981 are files on surveys carried out by outside bodies and the City comparing personnel issues (as of 1982 these were carried out and filed by the Compensation and Benefits Division). "Departmental files" are not readily identifiable as such, e.g. "Legal" stands for "Legal Department". Files are arranged in order received, and within the various accruals, chronologically.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Access to some files in this series in restricted. See individual file description for details.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Two file lists are available. The first is according to original arrangement; every year a file on each subject was opened, so the order is by endyear, and therein alphabetically by file title. The second is alphabetically by subject, so that the full date range on a given subject can be easily located.
Associated materials
For records documenting earlier personnel functions of the City see the related records field of the Human Resource Services fonds level description. As of 1975, "Departmental files" have not been retained, see instead the Clerk's series 62 ("Operational subject files", within subseries "Civic administration", those file titles beginning with "Personnel"). The "Departmental files" contained copies of many "Authorization minutes of the City Manager" which authorized salary expenditures (see the Clerk's series 55). As of 1982, "Survey files" were kept by the Compensation and Benefits division (see series 423).