Workforce data is a critical enabler for the development and implementation of workforce planning and strategic human resources. To get an accurate workforce snapshot, organising roles by tasks performed can support the identification of critical roles and business areas that require workforce planning measures. The APS Job Family Framework (the Framework) is a tool that groups occupations by task-similarity to create occupational segments of the workforce. Segmenting your workforce enables your agency to:
- Understand its workforce profile
- Understand the type of work undertaken
- Benchmark against the labour market and broader Australian economy
- Identify critical job roles
- Identify key workforce risks and challenges
- Anticipate future workforce demand and supply challenges.
There are 3 tiers in the Framework – job family, job function and job role. The Framework provides flexibility for agencies to develop job profiles at the fourth tier.
An updated Framework
In 2025, a strategic review of the Job Family Framework was conducted, and an updated version is set to be released in the coming months. This review aligns the Framework with the newly released Occupation Standard Classification for Australia (OSCA) formerly known as ANZSCO (Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations).
The review identified opportunities to calibrate and streamline the Framework whilst ensuring consistency, statistical balance and feasibility. This review consulted extensively with key stakeholders including a working group of subject matter experts, the APS Professions and key agency stakeholders across the APS.
Key changes include:
- Structural changes to align with OSCA and to enable accurate labour market benchmarking
- A review of the families and functions to ensure statistical feasibility
- Updates to roles and role descriptions based on agency.
The primary benefit of these updates is to increase accuracy in analysing the APS job families. For example, the APS Centre of Excellence for Workforce Planning’s job family analyses use reported job family data to obtain a snapshot of the APS workforce and benchmark those trends with the broader Australian labour force. This analysis provides evidence to support the identification of workforce risks and subsequent risk mitigations.
To see our most recent job family analysis head to the Workforce Planning Community of Practice GovTEAMS page!
Using job family analysis to support strategic HR initiatives
Workforce analysis is fundamental to workforce planning and other strategic HR initiatives and assists in providing the link between workforce data, insights and the organisation strategy. Workforce segmentation supports labour market analysis and environmental scanning, informing capability building, recruitment and retention strategies.
Job family mapping and analysis can provide insights into:
- Skill gaps of the existing workforce and strategies to meet future demand
- Oversupply of certain skillsets
- Underutilised critical skillsets
- Current unmet labour demand for unbudgeted roles, and assists in risk assessment for business delivery.
Stay engaged!
The Centre of Excellence will be launching the updated Framework in the coming months with a suite of resources and masterclasses to support agencies. These resources will cover everything from how to get started to detailed-oriented agency application. These resources will also cover when the changes will come into effect.
Register your interest for the upcoming masterclass, and if you have any queries, contact apswfp@apsc.gov.au.