Official Language News

Working in a bilingual organization or unit: Personal and Central Services

Did you know? According to Treasury Board policy (Directive on Official Languages for People Management), in regions designated as bilingual for language-of-work purposes (more commonly known as “bilingual regions”), personal and central services must be available in your OL of choice. Personal services are those that affect you on a personal level (your health and well-being, personal development, career), such as pay and benefits services and career counselling services. Central services are services that are essential for you to perform your duties, such as information systems services and translation services.

OL and Leadership

In examining the status of linguistic duality in the federal public service, the Borbey-Mendelsohn report stressed that leaders play a key role in creating an inclusive work environment. Throughout consultations, employees indicated that they felt greater freedom to use the language of their choice when their senior managers, including Deputy Heads, set the tone within their organizations by encouraging the use of both languages and themselves using both languages on a regular basis.