Employment Equity in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada — Annual Report 1999-2000

• Introduction
• The Office of the Auditor General of Canada
• Our Employment Equity Environment
• Implementing Employment Equity
• The Employment Equity Numbers
• Our Employment Equity Plan
• Appendix — Statistics

Introduction

This Annual Report on Employment Equity in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada highlights employment equity activities during the period 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000. It also presents information on the representation of designated groups as at 31 March 2000.

The Office of the Auditor General of Canada

Enabling Legislation

The Auditor General Act, the Financial Administration Act and a variety of other acts and orders-in-council set out the duties of the Auditor General as they relate to legislative auditing and monitoring of federal departments and agencies, Crown corporations and other national and international organizations.

Independence from Government

We are different from departments and agencies through our independence from the government of the day and our reporting relationship to Parliament. Our independence is assured by a broad legislative mandate, freedom from certain controls over our budget and staff, and a ten-year term for the Auditor General. The first independent Auditor General was appointed in 1878.

Application of the Employment Equity Act to the Office of the Auditor General of Canada

The Office of the Auditor General of Canada falls under the Employment Equity Act, section 4.(1)(c) as a portion of the Public Service of Canada — set out in Part II of Schedule I to the Public Service Staff Relations Act — employing 100 or more employees.

Our Vision and Mission

Our vision and mission statements guide the work of the Office.

Our Work

The principal activity of the Office is legislative auditing — providing reliable, relevant and timely assurances and other information on financial and program performance to help legislators hold government accountable.

Our Organization

The Office is organized into three branches — Audit Operations, Corporate Services and Executive — along with the Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. Most of the staff work from the head office in Ottawa. Regional offices are located in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal and Halifax. We have a specialized workforce, with roughly two thirds of our 538 employees at the middle manager and auditor levels.

Our Employment Equity Environment

Our Values

Employment equity is an underlying value of the Office of the Auditor General. Our Strategic Framework includes five principles that guide us in achieving our mission. One of these principles — Caring about people — includes the following statement:

We value the talent and diversity each individual brings to the Office.

In 1995, a Strategic Framework initiative was launched to identify ways in which staff can work toward day-to-day demonstrations of the people skills that lead to creating a respectful workplace.

Every two years, we identify a corporate goal that we believe supports a respectful workplace in which staff having varied backgrounds and abilities are respected and valued.

In November 1999, the Auditor General announced our newest goal — Dialogue. This goal was chosen to encourage our staff to stay connected with each other by listening, understanding and working together. Over the year, a number of workshops were held to support this goal.

Our Structure

In January 1998, we updated our Strategic Framework and added a new employment equity strategy — to identify under-represented groups and take action to meet Office goals. This strategy has been incorporated into our Human Resources Corporate Plan.

In March 1998, we created a new senior committee — the Human Resources Committee. This committee is responsible for monitoring the implementation of both our Human Resources Corporate Plan and our Employment Equity Plan.

Our Employment Equity Committee is committed to ensuring equal opportunity in the workplace for all employees, including, but not limited to, members of designated groups.

There are sub-committees established for each of the four designated groups. The Employment Equity Committee reports to the Human Resources Committee.

Implementing Employment Equity

Implementation of the Legislation

Our Employment Equity Committee and its sub-committees represent the interests of designated groups in the Office. This committee has existed in our Office for many years. Each year, it has organized events and activities to promote awareness of employment equity and diversity issues in the workplace.

Our first step in implementing the requirements of the legislation was to organize and complete a self-identification survey in April 1997. We then completed a workforce analysis to determine the degree of under-representation of members of designated groups in each occupational group.

This analysis is updated each year. The results at 31 March 2000 are presented in this report.

Employment Equity Records

We have implemented procedures for the maintenance of orderly and accurate employment equity records. We have also developed information vehicles and practices to keep our employees up-to-date on employment equity matters. For example, our INTRAnet provides all employees with easy access to current employment equity information. Periodic notices are sent to remind all employees of their right to self-identify at any time. All new employees are asked to complete a self-identification questionnaire when they arrive.

Activities and Events

In addition to promoting a corporate environment that supports employment equity values and ideals, a number of Office activities took place that supported designated groups and promoted an equitable work environment (see Figure 1).

Figure 1

Employment Equity Activities

Throughout the year, the Office also celebrated a number of events to recognize and heighten awareness of diversity issues. These included seminars and presentations to observe:

• International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
• International Day of Disabled Persons
• International Women's Week
• Women's History Month
• National Aboriginal Awareness Week

This past year, we participated in the inaugural conference of the National Council of Visible Minorities (NCVM) and in the Task Force on the Participation of Visible Minorities in the Federal Public Service. We are proud that one of our employees was elected secretary-treasurer of the NCVM.

Retention and Development

In 1999-2000 we implemented additional measures to assist in retaining members of designated groups. We developed and delivered a new training curriculum for all employees and ensured that issues around diversity and equity were well covered. We also began work on a succession plan for our Office that will help address employment equity goals.

In addition, we have undertaken a review and update of all of our human resources policies. We started this year with our respectful workplace policies.

The Employment Equity Numbers

The data in this report are as at 31 March 2000.

Tables 4 through 7 show comparative numbers as at 31 March 1999. Tables 8 through 10 show the numbers of people hired, promoted and who left during 1999-2000. Table 11 shows the cumulative distribution of salaries for employees in each designated group.

Our employment equity numbers have been prepared on the basis of the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system, developed by Human Resources Development Canada. This system comprises 14 Employment Equity Occupational Groups (EEOGs) — as defined in Schedule II of the Employment Equity Regulations — and 522 NOC unit groups.

Figure 2

Classification of OAG Employees under the National Occupational Classification System

Classifying our employees under this system shows that we have a very specialized workforce:

• The 538 employees in our Office fall into 6 of the 14 Employment Equity Occupational Groups (EEOGs).
• Within these EEOGs, 437 employees (81.2 percent) fall into 5 of the 522 National Occupational Classification (NOC) unit groups (see Figures 2 and 3).
• Most of our employees (65.6 percent) are concentrated in 2 NOC unit groups — Middle Managers (NOC unit 0414) and Auditors (NOC unit 1111).

Figure 3

Distribution of Employees by Major NOC Unit Groups

The following comments highlight the data in the Appendix.

Designated Groups Representation

We have compared our representation in each designated group to the most recent workforce availability figures provided by Human Resources Development Canada — the 1996 Employment Equity Data Report. We have used national figures for this comparison.

Representation in Hirings, Promotions, Separations and Salary Distribution

This annual report includes an analysis of the numbers of employees hired, promoted and terminated, and the degree of representation in those numbers, of persons who are members of each designated group.

Our Employment Equity Plan

In the past, our Employment Equity Committee developed an employment equity plan that outlined activities and initiatives intended to increase awareness of equity and diversity issues and to improve opportunities in the workplace for all employees.

Developing the Plan

In 1997-98, a new Employment Equity Plan was prepared to meet the specific requirements of the Employment Equity Act, section 10. Our Plan covers an initial three-year period, 1998-99 to 2000-01. It includes short-term numerical goals to reduce under-representation of the designated groups over that period. The Office's Executive Committee has endorsed these short-term numerical goals.

Consistent with the Plan, a detailed employment systems review was conducted in summer 1998. This review built on the results of the general systems review conducted in 1997 and focused on the occupational groups in which under-representation has been found. It examined those policies and practices relating to recruitment, selection, hiring, development, training, promotion, retention, termination and accommodation.

The objective of the detailed systems review was to find explanations for under-representation and to provide a reasonable basis for corrective action. The consultants' report, received in October 1998, concluded that the Office was a highly principled and professional organization that was addressing its human resource management challenges in a thorough and competent manner. The review found that we have given considerable attention to employment equity matters and that there are some areas that require further effort. The report contained a number of recommendations addressing employment systems barriers for members of designated groups.

The Plan was updated in 1999-2000 to provide for short-term measures to eliminate employment barriers identified by the detailed systems review. Policies and practices were developed and implemented to provide increased opportunities to the employment equity designated groups.

There are a number of areas where new and expanded activities could offer greater employment opportunity to the designated groups:

• Succession planning
• Recruitment outreach
• Secondment program
• Mentoring program
• Career management and counselling activities
• Training and development
• Accommodation provisions
• Performance management
• Partnering activities

Consultation and Communication

During 1998-99, year one of our Plan, we began consultation with employee representatives, including bargaining agents, on the assistance that they could provide on communication with employees and the implementation of employment equity.

In year two, 1999-2000, the Human Resources Committee approved Version II of the Plan. This updated Plan was made available to all employees on our INTRAnet.

When we update our Plan in 2000-01, we will take into account the action plan proposed by the Task Force on the Participation of Visible Minorities in the Federal Public Service in its March 2000 report “Embracing Change”.

We make every effort to ensure that our consultation initiatives are meaningful and appropriate in terms of the Employment Equity Act. The Office of the Auditor General of Canada is committed to employment equity ideals. Our challenge is to reflect these ideals in both our workforce and workplace.

We believe that our Employment Equity Plan, as implemented, will constitute reasonable progress toward implementing employment equity as required by the Act.

Appendix — Statistics

Technical Notes

Report Coverage

This report contains information on our indeterminate employees and term employees of three months or more as at 31 March 2000. Employees who were on secondment to other organizations are also included in our numbers. Employees who were on leave without pay from our Office at 31 March 2000 are not included in the population. Because of the rapid turnover of students and casual employees, no information is reported on them.

Data on People in the Designated Groups

All data, other than those for women, were obtained through self-identification, the process by which people identify themselves as being from one of the other three designated groups. The data on women were obtained from other human resources information.

The completeness and accuracy of employment equity data depend on employees being willing to self-identify and on being given the opportunity to do so.

Our self-identification process, including the questionnaire completed on a voluntary basis, began in April 1997. Employees who joined the Office since then were provided with the questionnaire when they began working.

At any time during the year, any employee may complete or revise a self-identification questionnaire, available from our Human Resources Group.

On tables 3 to 7, we show our representation as a percentage of the workforce availability, with comparative figures for the prior year. We believe this is the best single statistic to show how well we are doing in achieving a representative workforce.

We provide information by Employment Equity Occupational Group (EEOG). On tables 4 through 7, we also provide information for the two National Occupational Classification (NOC) unit groups that comprise the majority of our employees — Middle Managers (NOC Unit 0414), which is part of EEOG 2 (Middle and Other Managers) and Auditors (NOC Unit 1111), included in EEOG 3 (Professionals).

List of Tables

Table 1

Representation of Designated Groups in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada

Table 2

Distribution of Employees by Designated Group and Region of Work

As at 31 March 2000

Table 3

Representation of Designated Groups by Employment Equity Occupational Group

As at 31 March 2000

Table 4

Representation of Women by Employment Equity Occupational Group and Two Largest National Occupational Classification Unit Groups

As at 31 March 2000

Table 5

Representation of Aboriginal Peoples by Employment Equity Occupational Group and Two Largest National Occupational Classification Unit Groups

As at 31 March 2000

Table 6

Representation of Persons with Disabilities by Employment Equity Occupational Group and Two Largest National Occupational Classification Unit Groups

As at 31 March 2000

Table 7

Representation of Persons in a Visible Minority by Employment Equity Occupational Group and Two Largest National

Occupational Classification Unit Groups

As at 31 March 2000

Table 8

Hirings by Designated Group and Employment Equity Occupational Group

1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000

Includes employees hired into term positions (three months or more) and indeterminate positions.

Table 9

Promotions by Designated Group and Occupational Category

1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000

Includes promotions and reclassifications.

Table 10

Separations by Designated Group and Employment Equity Occupational Group

1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000

Table 11

Distribution of Employees by Designated Group and Salary Band

As at 31 March 2000